HRD Minister PRAKASH JAVADEKAR in an exclusive interview with ‘The Navhind Times’ speaks to RAMNATH N PAI RAIKAR about various issues pertaining to educational sector, including in-the-pipeline national policy on education, falling standards of some educational institutions in the NIRF ranking and government grants to the English primary schools
Q: Why has there been a delay in announcing the new national policy on education? Is it effectively in cold storage?
We will be appointing a committee for redrafting the national policy on education, and it would be announced in three to four months’ time. In fact, during the last two years, a long exercise was taken up to invite the suggestions from the stakeholders and the public for this policy. The village panchayats, teachers, lecturers, students, educational institutions, organisations, political parties, members of Parliament and many more have given their suggestions to us and I have gone through these suggestions in various categories. We are committed to provide a progressive national policy on education, which would be pro-poor and pro-educational in nature. It will have five pillars namely accessibility, equity, quality, affordability and accountability. We want to build the new national policy on education on these five pillars. The policy will have recommendations of the committee, after which it would be announced.
Q: The rankings by National Institutional Ranking Framework are facing severe criticism, as the recent rakings seem to have large fluctuations as compared to last year’s rankings…
We have 49,000 colleges in the country, 784 universities and around 1,000 institutions of higher education such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, the National Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and so on. This is the second year of ranking by the National Institutional Ranking Framework and we have had participation by only 3,500 educational bodies. We wants more participation in it, we want more educational institutes to come in seeking ranking. I am sure that this will happen because the students are making more and more demands from colleges and are attracted to those having higher ranking. We are already and would henceforth grant the ranking of all institutes on merit.
The colleges dropping down in their ranking, this year, as compared to previous year, is not a matter of concern. That is the result of the competition among the educational institutions. That’s because every year these colleges will have to perform. Now no college can continue to be on the top without doing any efforts. To maintain its top rank, every college will need to work hard. There can however be many related suggestions, which we are inviting from the people as regards how this ranking exercise could be changed or improved, as regards say, the categories of performance. Today, world over, the ranking system for educational institutions is being followed and we would also continue with it.
Q: The mid-day meals provided under the mid-day meal scheme of the government seem to fall in standard with passing time. Has the Union ministry of HRD taken any step to arrest this situation?
The mid-day meal scheme is the world’s largest cooked food scheme. We are serving hundred million students every day. This is really huge exercise and done at 15 lakh points, so you can see that cooking is taking place in lakhs of places, and there are generally no complaints. However, exceptionally there could be some complaints. If the taste or the quality of the cook, who has been appointed needs to be improved then it is the duty of the local administration to ensure that he or she cooks hygienically good as well as a little tasty food. At the same time there are many organised teachers in cities, who have taken it upon themselves to serve food to millions of students, strictly at the government cost. So this is also a best formula for urban population of students. In the rural areas, it is mostly school wise cooking, but providing it little refinement, taste and cleanliness is the job of the teachers’ community, the villagers and the parents.
Q: In spite of already becoming functional in Goa, the National Institute of Technology-Goa as well as the Indian Institute of Technology-Goa are yet to have their premises. Have you discussed this with the state government?
The new campus of the National Institute of Technology as well as the Indian Institute of Technology, in Goa will be ready in next three years. It will take some time as it involves massive works involving nearly Rs 1,000 crore or even more. In fact, these campuses would be like small cities. Until that happens, we are also building new hostels at the existing engineering college, where the NIT-Goa and IIT-Goa are temporarily housed. The NIT-Goa has been functional for many years now, while I have inaugurated some courses for the IIT-Goa, just last year, and therefore, you can say that Goa has a full-fledged IIT now.
Q: Goa for long has been boasting of its 82 per cent literacy rate, however it is not moving any further. Can the Union ministry of human resource development provide any push to it?
We already have a major scheme as regards adult literacy programme. However, I am now all set to bring a change in the same. As you see, presently the younger generation, boys and girls, from every house are studying in schools and colleges. So they will take up the task of teaching their parents that is if the parents are illiterate. Therefore, as per the adult literacy programme, the students will teach their parents and even grandparents. I feel that this is the best way of teaching the adults because teaching will happen in house, the adults would be saved from embarrassment of going to the school, and finally, they would feel proud of receiving education from their children.
Q: Finally, do you perceive that the government should give grants to only those primary schools, which are disseminating education in mother tongue and not foreign languages like English?
The primary school education is essentially the responsibility of the state governments. So the state governments will have to think about the medium (of instruction for primary schools, to give grants). And now many (state) governments have allowed English from the first standard as a language, as also some other states are disseminating primary education through mixed-mediums of instruction. So that’s the policy and freedom of the state governments, while we are giving funds to all government approved schools.