Lok Sabha Question No. 85 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-04
Subject: New Education Policy
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, S. RAJENDRAN, GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., SUDHEER GUPTA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 85 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.02.2019

## New Education Policy

## 85. KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

SHRI S. RAJENDRAN:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

SHRI S.R. VIJAYAKUMAR:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government had set up a nine members committee to formulate a New Education Policy;
- (b) if so, whether the committee has submitted its report to the Government recently;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the main recommendations made by the committee therein; and
- (d)  the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  the  overall  quality  of  the education sector in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. SATYA PAL SINGH)

- (a):  Yes  Madam.  The  Government  is  in  the  process  of  formulating  a  New  Education  Policy (NEP) and a Committee to Draft National Education Policy has been constituted on 24th June 2017 under the Chairmanship of eminent scientist Padma Vibhushan Dr. K Kasturirangan.
- (b): The report of the Committee is awaited.
- (c): Does not arise.

(d):  Improving  the  quality  of  education  across  all  levels  from  primary  to  university  level  is  a continuous  and  ongoing  process.  The  42nd  Constitutional  Amendment,  1976  brought  about  a fundamental change by transferring education from the State List to the Concurrent List giving equal responsibility to both the Central and State Governments  to  promote  education. Recognizing the centrality of states both in policy formulation and effective implementation of education reforms, the Ministry of HRD has been regularly convening meetings of the Central

Advisory  Board  on  Education  (CABE),  which  is  a  composite  body  and  is  also  the  highest advisory body on education.

Several  initiatives  are  currently  being  undertaken  in  this  direction,  such  as  in  elementary education, the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme aims for improvements in school infrastructure, curricular and  assessment  reforms,  identification  of  learning  indicators,  improved  teaching  and  learning resulting in better learning outcomes. Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha (RSMA), ICT in Schools, Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Teacher Education (CSSTE), Shaala Siddhi, Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan are  being  implemented  to  improve  the  quality  of  secondary  education.  Recently,  the Department of School Education and Literacy has formulated the Samagra Shiksha - an Integral Scheme for  School  Education  as  a  Centrally  Sponsored  Scheme  and  it  is  being  implemented throughout the country with effect from the year 2018-19. This programme subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha (RSMA) and Teacher Education (TE). It is an overarching programme for the school education  sector  extending  from  pre-school  to  class  XII  and  aims  to  ensure  inclusive  and equitable  quality  education  at  all  levels  of  school  education.  It  envisages  the  'school'  as  a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels.

In  higher  education  also,  various  schemes,  namely,  Rashtriya  Uchchatar  Shiksha  Abhiyan (RUSA),  Scheme  for  promotion  of  Academic  and  Research  Collaboration  (SPARC),  Global Initiative  for  Academics  Network  (GIAN),  Impacting  Research,  Innovation  &  Technology (IMPRINT),  Technical  Education  Quality  Improvement  Programme  (TEQIP),  Pandit  Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT), Study Webs of Active-Learning  for  Young  Aspiring  Minds  (SWAYAM),  National  Digital  Library,  campus connect programme, Uchhatar Avishkar Abhiyan, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Impactful Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS), Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) are being implemented to improve the quality of higher education. A number of initiatives are also undertaken by UGC and AICTE for quality improvement in higher and technical education.

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