New Delhi, Jan. 18: Favouritism and lack of accountability will continue to dog India’s education sector unless the government backs up increased spending with major structural changes, the National Knowledge Commission told the Prime Minister today.

The commission — set up by the UPA government to prepare a strategy to help the country become a knowledge economy — has welcomed the huge allocation for education in the 11th five-year plan.

But the funding will prove ineffective unless the government looks at the reasons behind the “deep-seated” malaise afflicting the sector, the knowledge panel has said in its report to Manmohan Singh, sources said.

Commission chairman Sam Pitroda today met the Prime Minister (in PTI picture) to discuss some of the key recommendations in the report — the second to be prepared by the panel since it came into being. The report will be made public tomorrow.

At the meeting with Singh, Pitroda is learnt to have expressed happiness with the government’s decision to incorporate several schemes suggested by the commission in the 11th five-year plan. A Rs 4,2000-crore skill development programme and a National Library Mission are among these proposals.

But the commission’s report warns that a lot more needs to be done. It has reiterated its recommendation that bodies like the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) that regulate specific sectors of education be wound up.

The task of the University Grants Commission, the panel has earlier said, should be limited to funding universities. The UGC also acts as the regulatory body for higher education.

An Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education should regulate all institutes of higher learning, the commission had said, which led to friction with the UGC and the AICTE.

The human resource development ministry, too, is opposed to the creation of the independent authority as it will have no role in deciding the members of the body, thereby losing control over its functioning.

Although the knowledge commission listed the benefits of having an independent authority in the 11th plan, the government is yet to buy the concept.

The commission also wants greater participation of the private sector in education.

The government has agreed to a Public Private Partnership model for funding 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology that will be set up during the next five days.

But in its report, the knowledge panel has told the Prime Minister that mechanisms for involving private players in the sector need to be liberalised further.

“Even today, most private players who genuinely want to offer good education are daunted by the layers of corruption and bureaucracy that they have to go through. That needs to be simplified,” a commission official said.