Kapil Sibal

Realizing that the states alone can not shoulder the responsibility of catering for the much needed resources for improving higher education in the country, the government has decided to propose a few legislations. These will be aimed at encouraging participation of private bodies in education and together working towards improving the higher education scenario.

Owing to lack of sufficient number of government schools in the state the Ministry of Human resource and Development has decided to alter its Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) scheme, for universalisation of secondary education in Bengal. Instead of funding all government aided schools which are less than five percent in the state the MHRD will now select and fund some privately run, government aided schools.

Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal while addressing the 92nd convocation of the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi said that the government is planning to create an educational panel that will act as a tribunal to handle the legal cases in private sector. The panel will help in to settle legal disputes related to the private sector institutions.

Addressing the 92nd convocation of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU), HRD Minister Kapil Sibal spoke at length about the various changes the Indian education system is undergoing at present, terming them as a ‘revamp’ of the entire system. He also spoke of how he envisions India becoming a knowledge power in the decade to come.

In the first ever conference of its kind, the All India Organization of Imams of Mosques, saw unanimity in the opinion that modern education was the only means to bring about the much required social change among Muslims in India. Citing it as a tool for upliftment of the community, the organization which represents over half a million imams will soon come up with a charter of demands to present to the HRD minister Kapil Sibal.

Considering the practical difficulty in the implementation of the revised norms on appointing postgraduate engineering graduates as Assistant Professors and Ph.D. holders as Associate Professors, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal assured the self-financing engineering college authorities a relaxation period of three years in its enforcement.

Striking a clear note of contradiction both with the Delhi School Education Act 1973 and with the city parents' association’s stand on the issue, Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said that the right to fix the salaries of its teaching staff rested solely with the private institution managements and not with the government.

In a move that aims at benefiting  the wards of railway employees and others, the Ministries of Railways and Human Resource Development (MHRD) signed a MoU on February 17 to develop schools and colleges on railway land. 

The Council for Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has planned to implement a common syllabus in science and mathematics across the country. The aim of the move is to bring uniformity in school curriculum and a level playing field for students. The move will see core curriculum in science and mathematics for classes XI and XII in all boards across the country. A proposal in this regard has come up at a meeting of the CBSE with 20 state boards in Delhi.    

In a move that is bound to give a sigh of relief to thousands of parents whose wards have passed 2 years of age, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has given a green signal to enhance the age limit for nursery admission. In a statement, On February 15, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, advocated a proposal to raise the minimum age to four from the existing three years for admission to nursery classes in Delhi.