Proposed Education Policy To Be Unveiled Soon

As we all are aware that the new education policy is being framed, in furtherance of the same, the Union Government has on January 10, 2019 announced that very soon the draft report concerning the new education policy shall be made public. There is no news so far regarding the implementation of the proposed policy. It appears that the implementation of the proposed policy is difficult to come into effect during the current term of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government.

Prakash Javadekar, HRD Minister stated that the proposed policy will be diverse in nature and there shall not be any such compulsion of learning a particular language on any student. He informed that the Kasturirangan Committee has submitted its draft report. As per the Committee’s recommendations, no language other than Hindi has been made mandatory all over the country. The Committee further stated that India’s strength lies in its diversity and it believes that being well versed in multiple languages is an added advantage altogether. Alongside, what is most important is the choice of the students. Students must not be forced to study any particular language just for the sake of learning it, rather they should learn it only if they wish to learn it. HRD Minister stated that the draft shall soon be available for the public to access it. Two of the government officials have revealed that the draft looks forward to making some contemporary suggestions for making education relevant for students as well as industries. This is being done so that students can effectively apply what they learn in school in their practical life. This shall help in improving the efficiency of the professionals available for employment. In the draft report, the committee has promoted skill based education and industry readiness rather than curriculum based teaching. The Committee has supported science and has recommended that a common curriculum for science should be implemented across different school boards. The Committee has also proposed that certain regulatory reforms must be put forward along with bringing improvements in the over- all education sector. The Committee mentioned that fulfilling the increasing demand in education technology is the major area of focus of the committee and that shall definitely be emphasised in the final policy. There are speculations that although the policy is being made public yet it might take time to draft it into a law. One of the government official stated that it seems that the next government that shall come to power will be able to take a decision over this new policy. Once the draft comes in the public domain, comments will be called from all stakeholders and experts and general public. In accordance with the comments, the draft will be finalised and shall then be placed for inter-ministerial consultations. Further the law ministry shall vet it and post that the Union Cabinet will analyse the same. This policy is the first of its kind in over three decades. It is expected to serve the needs of the education sector. It shall definitely set up a road map for the elementary and tertiary education for nearly next two decades. India’s education sector is one of the largest and it needs such reforms every now and then for betterment.

By: Anuja Arora

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