According to sources, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has directed the Ministry of Human Resource and Development to finalise the New Education Policy (NEP) by the end of 2017. Union Minister of Human Resource and Development Prakash Javadekar has been given the responsibility to expedite the final draft of the policy. The plan of the government is to implement the NEP beginning 2018-19 academic session.
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Sources revealed that Prime Minister is keen on implementing the NEP as it has complete support from Rashtriya Swam Sevak Sangh, an ideological parent of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Hence, there is a tremendous pressure on HRD Ministry in finalising the NEP. The ministry has failed to meet the deadline which was set up by PMO earlier.
The first draft of NEP was supposed to be completed by December 2015. PMO had extended the deadline for HRD Ministry to finalise NEP and the ministry assured that it would submit the final draft before the given deadline.
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Some of the experts say that if the HRD Ministry can unveil the NEP by 2018, the country will witness a tremendous change in the education system and Modi’s government will have a significant achievement in its kitty. Therefore, the Prime Minister has been pushing the HRD Ministry to formulate the NEP as early as possible.
However, the finalisation of NEP might be delayed for several months as Prakash Javadekar needs to hold consultations with several stakeholders, members of Parliament and others. The ministry could prepare a draft policy only after holding consultations.