Agartala, Tripura: Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani will preside over a meeting of higher education ministers of the Northeast region tomorrow, as a part of the Centre's initiative to involve all stakeholders in formulation of the new higher education policy, said a minister.
Tripura's higher education minister, Tapan Chakraborty said that they would demand for increase in Centre's allocation for improvement of the higher education in the country from two per cent of the Gross Domestic Product to six per cent.
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"Only 18 per cent of the population gets higher education in our country, which is much less than many backward countries in the world. We will demand an increase in the allocation in higher education from two per cent of the GDP to six per cent in the meeting of higher education ministers of the North East region tomorrow," Mr Chakraborty told reporters.
Last Tuesday, Ms Irani had held video conferences with the higher education secretaries and officials concerned regarding the new higher education policies of the Centre, before her meeting with the ministers of the region, said the minister.
Earlier, the HRD Ministry had a sent a questionnaire containing 33 questions to the states to know the opinion of the respective governments regarding the new higher education policy.
The union minister will be accompanied by two union secretaries, BS Oberoi and SC Khumtia, who will arrive here tomorrow and visit NIT-Agartala first. The meeting of the higher education ministers of the region would be held at noon.
