No instruction from Centre on new education policy; we are

The new education policy for the country is being formulated without any "specific instruction from the Centre", K Kasturirangan, the head of the panel preparing the final draft, said today.
"There is no specific instruction from the Centre and we are working on it on our own," the former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief told PTI, when asked if the Centre had given any direction regarding the policy.
Kasturirangan was here to attend the 235th foundation day celebrations of the Asiatic Society and deliver the foundation day speech on the "Influence of India's Space Endeavour on its Societal Development".

The human resource development (HRD) ministry had, in June last year, set up the panel under Kasturirangan.
The scientist, however, declined to elaborate on the changes the panel was mulling as regards the policy.
"I am not supposed to speak about it because it is still in the formative stage and if I say anything unnecessarily now, there will be some misunderstanding," he said.

Asked if he was hopeful that the draft would be prepared by March-end, Kasturirangan said, "That does not depend on my decision. This much I can say."
The HRD ministry had given its nod after the panel, which was supposed to submit its final draft to it last month, sought an extension, stating that it was still holding consultations with various stakeholders.

Apart from Kasturirangan, the committee has eight members, including mathematician Manjul Bhargava and Union Tourism Minister K J Alphons, who is also a former bureaucrat.
The panel will also take into account the report of the panel headed by former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, which was formed by the HRD ministry during the tenure of Smriti Irani.
The Subramanian panel had submitted its report to the government in May 2016, suggesting measures to strengthen the education sector that catered to over 300 million students.
However, the government decided to have more deliberations and use the Subramanian panel report as an "input" for the future draft and set up the Kasturirangan panel.

The existing National Education Policy was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992. A new National Education Policy was part of the BJP's poll manifesto.