Union minister of state for human resources Satyapal Singh has said that the New Education Policy of the NDA government is in final stages and it would be announced in December.
MINISTER POINTS OUT FLAWS
Singh said the policy envisages to ‘correct’ the course of education system in the country, that has followed a colonial mindset. He pointed out that unfortunately after independence, most of the academicians followed the footsteps of British and Western scholars deliberately denigrating Indian culture.
The minister said that the biggest challenge faced by the education system and the government is ‘how to de-colonize the Indian mind’ and that the government is working on the policy in this regard.
MINISTER’S SUGGESTIONS
Singh said improving the quality of education from the primary level, making higher education affordable to people and making it accessible to more are some of the major issues faced by the education system. He said skill development is one of the major areas the government is focusing on.
The minister said that to prevent the exodus of students to foreign countries seeking education, higher educational institutions should be upgraded to the standard of centres of international excellence. He said accessibility to higher education in the country is only 25.6 % while in USA it is 86%, in Germany 80% and in China 60%. Stating that higher education is very expensive, Singh said it has to be made affordable to all sections in the society.
Indicating that changes are necessary in the Right To Education Act, Singh said the Act lacks teeth. The Act provides right to compulsory primary education. But what is the remedy if parents do not send their children to school. So many things have to be done in improving the primary education in the country, he added.
