Union Human Resource Development Ministry has extended till August 31 the term of K Kasturirangan Committee drafting a new education policy.
A senior HRD Ministry official said, the panel had sought an extension to give final shape to the policy and the minister has approved it. The panel headed by the former ISRO chief was supposed to submit its the report by June 30. This is the third extension granted to the panel. Initially, it was supposed to submit its report by December 2017.
The existing National Education Policy was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992. A new National Education Policy was part of the BJP manifesto.
Apart from Kasturirangan, the committee has eight members, including mathematician Manjul Bhargava.
The panel will also take into account the report of a panel headed by former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, formed by the HRD ministry. The TSR Subramanian panel submitted its report to the government in May 2016, suggesting measures to strengthen the education sector that caters to over 300 million students.
However, the government decided to have more consultations and use it as an input for the future draft and not as a final draft report and set up the panel headed by Kasturirangan.
Kasturirangan headed ISRO between 1994 and 2003 and was awarded the country’s second-highest civilian honour — Padma Vibhushan — in 2000.
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