Kasturirangan Committee to submit New Education Policy draft by Oct 31

After four extensions, the much-awaited National Education Policy (NEP) is likely to be delivered to the Centre by October 31, according to a report in The Times of India.

The panel, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Kasturirangan, was set up by the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry in June 2017. 

The panel was supposed to submit its report by December 2017 but was given an extension till March 2018. Later, it was given another extension till August, which was later extended by another two months.

Apart from Kasturirangan, the committee has eight members, including mathematician Manjul Bhargava. 

The much-awaited draft has been finalised and it is expected to pay particular attention to Indian languages, sports and mathematics, overlapping and multiple regulatory mechanisms in higher education and strengthening of public institutions, the report said.

After it's submission, the HRD ministry will vet the draft before presenting it to Parliament.

The draft policy could be presented in Parliament in the winter session.

The current education policy was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992, which is why there was a need to review it and bring in necessary changes.

As per the report, the policy has been framed with a 20-year-vision.

Initially, the former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian-headed panel was entrusted with the task of drafting the new NEP when Smriti Irani was the HRD minister.

The committee submitted its report in 2016. 

However, the government set up the Kasturirangan committee in 2017 after HRD minister Prakash Javadekar took charge and asked it to take inputs from the earlier report.

The reason for the delay, some say is because it will be in sync with the reforms initiated by the government.

"This has also been a reason for the delay as they keep updating the draft. Big restructuring in the regulatory framework is one of the focus. There will be increased stress on traditional knowledge, Indian languages and mathematics at school level," the report quoted a source as saying.

There were fears the NEP may not be launched in this govt’s tenure.