CHENNAI: Assuaging ruffled feathers in TN over the draft New Education Policy, Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday clarified that the draft is not final draft but posted on the MHRD website to seek suggestions.
“The ministry will prepare a final draft,” he said at the national convention on education organised by Bharatiya Jain Sangathana here.
On challenges faced by the education system, Javadekar said 270 million students are studying from KG to post graduation.
“We have achieved the quantity but we need the quality. We need community-based participation to encourage education. Two days ago, I visited Aurobindo Society where they had come up with a new approach without spending much. Everyday I am finding laudable participation. Education is political as well as a national agenda,” he said.
The minister said he called for a dialogue with the parliamentarians on the New Education Policy and more than 100 MPs have expressed their willingness to deliberate. “I wrote articles in 16 different regional languages seeking suggestions on the proposed policy and received several good suggestions from all the States. With those, we will make the final draft,” he said.
“Unlike the British system where we were not allowed to question, we should encourage inquisitiveness which is the basis of education,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Shantilalji Muttha, founder of the Bharathiya Jain sangathana, said, “We are ready with new value education programs for TN. We are working on programmes like mulyavardhan for all government schools and we are also empowering girl children with education in rural areas.”