Knowledge
Is the government hiding something about the New Education Policy?
The HRD ministry is negating the work of the committee instituted by it and maintains that it will release the draft policy document for public comments. The chair of the committee affirms that his report is the draft policy document.
There is an uneasy and incomprehensive exchange happening between the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry and the Committee appointed by the ministry for the evolution of the New Education Policy. This exchange is one of the reasons why the New Education Policy is still to see the light of the day.
It all began on May 16, when the HRD minister, Smriti Irani said in an interview that the government expected to receive a draft New Education Policy in 15 to 20 days. Within 9 days, on May 27, the Committee for the Evolution of a New Education Policy, tasked with writing a draft policy document, submitted a 250-page document to the ministry.
Then suddenly the HRD ministry backtracks and issues a press release stating that the Committee: “submitted the report containing its recommendations…” and not a draft policy document.
A spokesperson from the ministry said that a new education policy will be drafted by the ministry and be put up in the public domain for inputs. The spokesperson emphasised that the ministry has no plans to make the Committee’s draft/report public. The ministry has not committed to a clear timeline for the issue of the draft policy document.
It is a curious case mainly because in the past 6 months, Irani continuously affirmed that the Committee, which at the time of its appointment was called the “Drafting Committee for a New Education Policy” was responsible for producing a draft policy. The government order dated October 31, 2015 appointing the Committee said:
“The Drafting Committee will … formulate a draft National Education Policy as well as a framework for action (FFA)”.
So much so that it was also mentioned in an official press release announcing the formation of the Committee in October 2015:
“Ministry of Human Resource Development has decided to constitute a Drafting Committee for framing the New Education Policy. …The Committee is expected to submit the Draft National Education Policy as soon as possible but not later than 31st December 2015. Along with the draft education policy, the Committee will also submit a Framework for Action.”
Why is the draft document suddenly the responsibility of the HRD ministry inspite of being clearly mentioned while constituting the committee? The current situation evolved as follows: the Ministry held what it claimed were extensive and wide public consultations for a New Education Policy. It then appointed a Committee to Draft a National Education Policy, incorporating the outcome documents, recommendations and suggestions from the consultations. The Committee, headed by a retired Cabinet Secretary found the content to be inadequate to draft a policy document. So, it sought a time extension, widened the scope of its consultations and was rechristened the Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy. Over a total of 6 months, 2 extensions, myriad consultations and field visits later, it submitted the draft policy titled: National Policy For Education 2016: Report of the Committee for the Evolution of NEP.
What’s interesting is that the chair of the Committee, former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian maintains that the document submitted to the ministry is a draft policy. It has not submitted a Framework for Action, as that can only be done once the government finalises the policy. The Committee submission includes detailed discussion and analyses of the existing environment for education, its approach and rationale of things included or excluded in the draft policy.
Further he says, it is up to the ministry to treat the Committee’s work in any manner it deems fit. He however is hopeful that the ministry will put the Committee’s draft policy document on its website for public discussion, before the New Education Policy is finalised. All such documents belong to public and government is merely a custodian of the public interest, he said.
Despite Irani’s repeated statements that all would be revealed once the Committee’s report was in, her ministry has taken the opposite view and the Committee’s draft policy/report is not going to be made public. The question is: Why?
If some newspaper reports are to be believed, the root of this discrepancy lies in the content of the draft policy. According to knowledgeable sources, the Committee has painted a grim scenario of how education is being delivered and received. It reveals that the government data, on the basis of which many government programmes are run, are made up. Some give this as an explanation for the ministry’s refusal to make the Committee’s draft proposal/report public.
Whatever its reasons for not making the Committee’s report public, the message that the government‘s decision sends out is that the HRD ministry is hiding something and is buying time to set things right internally. It also leaves one wondering when the country can expect to see a new education policy.