"We’re pushing for dramatic reform. We have to educate our way to a better economy."
US education secretary Arne Duncan (Chicago Tribune, July 6)
"Let there be creativity. Let there be competition among universities. It’s not the government’s policy to introduce uniform syllabus in universities."
Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal (Business Standard, July 13)
"I believe talent is distributed equally, but not opportunity. It is important for all of us to try and narrow that gap between talent and opportunity. Every child deserves to achieve his/her potential."
US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton at an education event in St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai (July 19)
"I am a 24-hour technology person. I am not that big at text messaging and I am impressed with the young people doing that. I get 10,000 friend requests everyday on Facebook. It gets so irritating."
Microsoft founder Bill Gates in Delhi (July 24)
"In an economy where knowledge is the most valuable commodity a person and a country has to offer, the best jobs will go to the best educated, whether they live in the United States, India, or China… In a world where countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, the future belongs to the nation that best educates its people."
US President Barack Obama (Economic Times, July 26)
"You can have all the knowledge, but you need different contexts in which to use that knowledge. A good university provides that. It isn’t a factory that creates the same kind of students by giving them the same kind of instruction."
Yash Pal, former chairman University Grants Commission (India Today, July 27)
"I believe we need to free education from the licence-permit raj. Let colleges set their own fees and salaries, and curriculum and exams and expansion plans. The current system obstructs the ethical and promotes the unethical through over regulation."
Rahul Bajaj, well-known industrialist and Rajya Sabha member (Times of India, July 30)