I have lot to learn: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Rahul Gandhi delivered his maiden speech on the Budget in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

In his speech, Rahul sought a thorough overhaul of the educational system in the country.

He said that the education system needs to remove the mismatch between the skills being imparted in schools and colleges and the market demand and improve employment opportunities.

"I am new to politics and still have a lot to learn," the 34-year-old Gandhi said in his 15-minute speech which was repeatedly applauded by Sonia Gandhi, seated in first rows with sister Priyanka and her husband Robert Vadra clapping from the Speaker's special gallery.

Rahul struck a chord with the youth by calling for drastic changes in the education system to help poor students dare to dream about a good life and said India could only become a world power by empowering all through education.

Pitching for turning India into a global hub, he said the move could literally pay huge dividends by providing much needed resources to take greater care of the primary education.

Noting that Nalanda and Vikramshila were seats of learning in ancient India like today's Harvard and Cambridge, he said "why cannot we revive the tradition?".

He said the government should ensure that no boy or girl is deprived of higher education for paucity of financial resources.

Citing an example to drive home his contention that education was no guarantee for a job, he said a student he had met in the North-East was a University topper but was without a job.

The only other occasion when the Amethi MP and the scion of the Gandhi family had spoken in the Lok Sabha, since his election in the April/May election to the 14th Lok Sabha, was during the last winter session.

He had then demanded, in the form of a special mention, speedy clearance of the arrears of sugarcane farmers.

In his brief five-minute speech, which was received by treasury bench members with frequent thumping of desks, Rahul said the education system should not be judged by the number of graduates churned out by various universities, but by the per centage of such students succeeding to get jobs.

Rahul, who read out his speech from a prepared text, made it clear at the outset that he would focus on education as the House may not have time to discuss the allocation for the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry.

Participating in the resumed discussion on the General Budget 2006-07, he said he kept posing a question - What will you become when you are grown-up? - to a large number of young students he had met.

But no one had come out with a reply so far. "Their silence disturbed me," he said and went on to explain the present education system, which only the affluent could afford, was not able to help the students turn their dreams into realities.

In fact, it was "crushing the aspirations" of children and taking them to a "dead-end," he said.

However, the situation was changing fast ever since the UPA government was formed in May 2004 as it had more than tripled the allocation for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Mid-Day Meal schemes.

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Pointing out that student enrolment had gone up by over 3.9 million, he said "this is nothing short of a revolution."

The significant aspect of this was that more than 50 per cent of this covered the most populous but poor states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, he said.

The very fact that several students were taking more than ten years to complete primary education showed that there was need for improving "quality and accountability", he said adding the education system "discriminates" against the poor.

Further, Gandhi said higher education "cannot function in a vacuum" and it had to be aligned with the needs of various sectors - industry, research and development, technology and finance.

He said India was marching towards becoming a global power and taking advantage of this the country should be made a hub for higher education.

The US and Britain alone earned Rs 50,000 crore from overseas students pursuing higher education and India could have a major share of this by offering quality education.

"Let us revive the Nalanda tradition," he said, recalling the period when India was the torch-bearer of quality higher education centuries ago.

Asked for her reaction, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, throwing a broad smile, said: "I am happy to see him speak."

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not present in the House when Gandhi made his speech.

Cabinet Ministers who were in the House included Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said there should be greater participation by young members in such debates.