Sumit Pande, New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to chair a meeting of the full Planning Commission to finalise the 11th Plan for education on Thursday evening.

"Every district will have a college and seven more IITs and eight IIMs will be established," the Prime Minister had said in a speech earlier, announcing his plans to revamp the education sector.

The focus this time is on secondary and higher education, apart form the expansion plans. Reforms and revision in fee structure are two key areas which would be discussed in the meeting.

It's being proposed that the semester system be introduced instead of annual examinations and universities will be asked to revise curricula every three years.

Also proposed is that total fees paid by the student should cover up to 20 per cent of the total expenses borne by the Government.

But ahead of this meeting, External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee has written to the Planning Commission Vice-Chairman, Montek Singh Alhuwalia, outlining what he feels is the right path to take.

Mukherjee pitches hard for adopting a Chinese model of education with higher fee structure.

He also wants the Government to encourage Indian universities to tie up with foreign universities, something the Left parties are opposed to. He also says physical infrastructure in higher educational institutes must be used for at least 250 days a year, which would mean only one thing — lesser number of holidays.

The Minister also wants more quality in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan system.

The Planning Commission would find it hard to ignore these suggestions from the man who is the number two in the Government, but it's already expecting opposition to some of the proposals that have been formulated — and including Pranab's suggestions means inviting more controversy.