Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that private educational institutions have grown at a faster pace than most public sector institutions. They have made a significant contribution to improving the quality of education in India, as constant financial backing is required to maintain scalability in the education sector.

Addressing students from RV Educational Group of Institutions on the 70th anniversary of RV Teachers' College and RV Teachers' Training Institute, Sitharaman said it is not easy for a private educational institution to flourish and expand, while providing quality education. It is wrongly perceived that quality education can be availed at an affordable cost or only in a government-run institution. Later, she also inaugurated a gymnatorium constructed on RV College premises.

The gradual growth in the education sphere is subsequently speeding up but it cannot be sidelined that it also has required money for expansion of institutions and to compensate for the growing pay scales of staff. Educational institutions in India have always been considered non-profit organisations which reinvest all earnings into further growth.

Sitharaman said, “My collegiate education has been in a Tier-II city in a private institution, post which I went to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). At no point did I feel inferior just because I came from a Tier-II city or small private institution.”

Adding emphasis to values under morality grounds, she said it is critical in the education system and it must be ensured that values remain universal and help widen the knowledge bank of students. Teachers play an important role in it as no online learning or automated system can teach value-based learning to a student that would add to the existing repertoire of the students.

Higher Education Minister Dr Ashwathnarayan CN also highlighted the benefits of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, stating that it has made the education system more skill-based. Calling the 21st century a knowledge-based society, he said quality education is the only way towards providing solutions to society’s problems.