NEW DELHI, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Indian Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said that there was a need to re-engineer the country's entire education system, and that the same education could not suit each and every individual.

He said that the country's current education system failed to recognize the innate potential that exists within each student, and also failed to nurture and develop these unique qualities and capabilities.

The youths should be allowed to think freely in order to ensure a balanced education, added Naidu.

"There is a need to re-engineer our entire education system. The 'one size fits all' approach followed by us so far will not take us anywhere," said Naidu while speaking at the annual convocation of the University of Delhi.

"We cannot keep forcing the same syllabus on a student who excels in science stream and a student who is a savant in music," he said.

He also said that only half of the school hours should be spent in classrooms, and the rest should be spent in the community, in the playground, in nature and in open air to ensure balanced education.

The vice president expressed his deep concern over the fact that the rise in the number of educational institutions in the country "had not led to corresponding improvement in the quality of education" granted in the country.

On the occasion, he urged the students to not let their degrees and mark lists limit themselves. Degrees were just foundations and it depended on students, on what built from there, what they choose to be and do in life, he added.

According to the vice president, India presently has more than 33,000 colleges and 659 universities. The world has realized that the economic success of any nation is directly determined by their education systems. Education is a nation's power, he added.