New Delhi: The HRD ministry has appointed a nine-member panel, headed by space scientist K Kasturirangan, to work on a New Education Policy (NEP).
Padma Vibhushan Kasturirangan headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003 and was the chairman of Karnataka Knowledge Commission.
He is a former member of the Rajya Sabha (2003–09) and a former member of the now defunct Planning Commission of India. He was also the Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore from April 2004 to 2009. He is a recipient of the three major civilian awards from the Government of India: Padma Shri (1982), Padma Bhushan (1992) and Padma Vibhushan (2000).
The other members of the committee are:
Dr Vasudha Kamat, a prominent academician from the field of education technology, who contributed extensively towards school education. She was also Vice-Chancellor of SNDT University Mumbai.
Former IAS officer KJ Alphons, who was instrumental in achieving 100 % literacy rate in Kottayam and Ernakulam districts of Kerala.
Dr Manjul Bhargava, a Professor of Mathematics in Princeton University. He was awarded Fields Medal in Mathematics at a quite young age for his contributions to Gauss Number Theory.
Dr Ram Shankar Kureel, Vice-Chancellor of Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, who has published various national and international papers on inclusion of the marginalised in mainstream education and development.
Dr TV Kattimani, Vice-Chancellor of Tribal University, Amarkantak. He is from the field of language education and mass communication.
Krishna Mohan Tripathy has vast experience of implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and was also the Chairperson of Uttar Pradesh High School and Intermediate Examination Board.
Dr Mazhar Asif, a Professor of Persian in Gauhati University. Under his research mentorship first Persian-Assamese-English dictionary was compiled.
Dr MK Shridhar is a former Member Secretary of Karnataka Innovation Council and Karnataka Knowledge Commission. A Divyang scholar he is member of CABE also.
There is a stark difference between the committee formed earlier under the chairmanship of bureaucrat TSR Subramanian and the one formed now. This time it is headed by an academic and also has names of academia.
The RSS affiliated education wing, Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, has expressed the need to have an academic as the head of the New Education Policy (NEP) and not a bureaucrat.
The council will start its work with immediate effect. In an exhaustive democratic exercise carried for last 30 months the HRD ministry has received thousands of suggestions from educationists, teachers, experts, students and other stakeholders from across the country.
Consultations were held at tehsil, district and state level. Regional conferences were organised where state governments gave their opinion. Rajya Sabha debated on the issue and a special education dialogue was organised in which 48 MPs from all parties participated. Many MPs have given their views in writing. On MyGov platform 26, 000 people gave their views online. TSR Subramaniam committee has submitted detailed input. All these suggestions and inputs will be considered by the committee.
Comments
0 comment