Former Isro chief to head national panel on education
EARLIER DISCUSSIONS ON THE POLICY HAD COURTED CONTROVERSY AFTER SOME OF THE SUGGESTIONS WERE FOUND TO BE REGRESSIVE IN NATURE BY EDUCATIONISTS
NEWDELHI: The Union ministry of human resource development has appointed former Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) head Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan to head the muchawaited committee to draft the National Education Policy, officials said on Monday.
According to officials, the HRD ministry has also chosen eight other experts and educationists from various backgrounds.
They include former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer KJ Alphonse and Ram Shanker Kureel, who has a wide experience in the field of agricultural sciences and management.
MK Shridhar, who has served as member secretary of the Karnataka State Innovation Council (KSIC), TV Kattimani, an expert on language communication, Mazhar Asif, a professor of Persian at Guwahati University, and former director of education, Uttar Pradesh, Krishan Mohan Tripathi will also bring a wealth of experience to the panel, sources said.
The committee also includes renowned mathematician Manjul Bhargava, who teaches at Princeton University, United States, and vice-chancellor of SNDT Women’s University Vasudha Kamat, sources added.
“It took us some time but the panel that has been appointed has members from diverse background especially in the field of education,” a source said on the condition of anonymity.
The National Policy on Education was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992.
The government has now appointed a committee to draft the final policy document. Consultations on the policy started during the tenure of the previous human resource development minister Smriti Irani.
However, it courted controversy after some of the suggestions were found to be regressive by educationists.
Her successor and the incumbent human resources development (HRD) minister, Prakash Javadekar, restarted the discussion on by inviting suggestions from various political parties, educationists and institutions.
Officials said this diversity would help the panel to understand the diverse issues that have to be kept in mind for the formulation of such a key policy document, the sources said.