Ministry in no ‘no hurry’, but Sibal feels time is running out

Utilising the occasion of the inaugural function of 31 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal brought home a point. Recalling Rajiv Gandhi he said the late prime minister wanted to bring about changes in the quality of education and that too just in a span of few months.

To make his point even more clear he observed 25 years have passed in between and many still think the government is in haste. Milking the moment further  in Sonia Gandhi’s presence, he made it clear that his ministry was in no hurry to bring about educational reforms, though there should definitely be an urgency to bring about these changes in education system.
 
Speaking on the occasion, Mrs Gandhi too expressed her satisfaction with performance and development of Navodaya Vidyalayas. Actually, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya was the brainchild of Rajiv Gandhi and starting from just 2 schools in 1985 there are 593 JNVs across the country today.  
 
Sonia Gandhi sought to understand as to why other government schools can’t perform at the same level as JNVs. Expressing her concern over the issue she observed one out of four teachers don’t even report to the duty resulting in students, particularly from weaker sections of society dropping from the schools. 
 
Navodaya Vidyalayas have provided education to weaker sections of society like none other. More than three-fourth of all the students belong to rural areas with 36.67% being girls and 41.61% coming from socially backward classes. Mr Sibal also talked about proposed special Navodaya Vidyalayas that will encourage students to go for sports, cultural and vocational studies keeping in mind the needs of changing educational atmosphere. 
 
The new 31JNVs are spread across 15 states of the country.