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Education reforms: NDA backs BJP view

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has claimed that all its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners have endorsed its view of the education reform proposals of the Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal that “they were unthinking and made in haste.”

On Wednesday, former Human Resource Development Minister and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said that at a meeting of State Education Ministers of NDA-ruled states it was felt that while reforms were needed in the education sector, focus must be on primary education and steps should be taken after detailed consultations with school education boards, other government bodies, State governments and educationists.

Dr. Joshi reiterated the BJP view expressed by him a few days ago that “in a hurry to meet the 100-day deadline for new ideas set by the Prime Minister, Mr. Sibal had made the proposals which could lead to a disaster in the system.” He rejected the idea of one school examination board and the doing away with the Class X board examination. “The government has not presented any roadmap for reform. Even some Congress State governments have not received the proposals well,” Dr. Joshi said.

While State Education Ministers from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh attended the meeting, others including Gujarat and Bihar sent representatives. The NDA was represented by convenor Sharad Yadav. Dr. Joshi said NDA-ruled states had confirmed that they had not received any document on the proposed reforms from the Union Ministry.

Dr. Joshi rejected suggestions that during the NDA government’s tenure, he, as HRD Minister, had tried to inject Sangh Parivar’s ideology in textbooks. He refused to be drawn into any ideological-issue related to education.

His view was that education reform should focus on making education less expensive and modern.

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