Wipro Limited Chairman Azim Premji said the Centre should start investing more on education and focus on the quality of teachers in the public education system.
“I think the problem in government education system is not the infrastructure or the course material. It is the quality of training of teacher and equally important is the commitment of the government in public education,” he said. He was delivering the keynote address at the 19th Polestar Award function, organised by Polestar Foundation, an initiative by Intellect Design Arena Private Limited in Chennai.
“I do not think you ever heard of a Prime Minister visiting public schools. The Prime Minister visits states during a year of elections but very, very rarely you appreciate and see him spending time in a public education institution,” he elaborated.
Calling for more improvement in investing in education, he said, “We claim that we are spending 2.5 per cent (of GDP). But we do not even spend 2.5 per cent. Countries like China spends an excess of five per cent on education. So we are way behind,” he said.
“Empowering the teachers is more important in school education system. We graduate fewer teachers per year than what Finland does. Finland is a population of five million. Our population is of 1.3 billion,” he pointed out.