SMRITI IRANI, INDIA’S NEW HRD MINISTER, ON HER GOALS:

Many challenges lie ahead of the India’s newly elected HRD (Human Resource Development) Minister, Smriti Irani. But, it seems she has developed her agenda to work on many issues concerning the education sector.

One of the top most priorities of her agenda is the review of the controversial four-year undergraduate program of the Delhi University. BJP promised to scrap the FYUP in its Poll Manifesto after coming to power. But, it looks unlikely that it would be scrapped that easily because of the many technical issues involved in the process. Delhi University is established as an autonomous and independent’ institution and any such decision would mean interference in the University’s system.  Thus, the officials have been asked to do a detailed analysis of the program before taking any decision.

A step ahead in the plan mentions of each state having an IIT and a Yale Pan IIT set up, and an e-library at the national level for the students and the teachers.

 One of the other important points on her agenda was the inclusion of the Vedic Education in the school or college curriculum. The plan further proposes to increase the spending on the education sector to 6% of the GDP. Currently, it is 3.8% of the GDP.

Not only this, she is also keen on reforms in the legal sector and wants the ‘Foreign Education Providers Bill’ to be pursued. To conserve the environment and prevent the melting of glaciers, a central university for Himalayan Technology is also on the cards.

In all she has an agenda comprising of around 60 points relating to the education field. Her idea is that she wants to inculcate education for life than degrees.