Consultative committee comprising HRD minister and 28 MPs to meet on 29 Dec. to set agenda for reforms in government schools

New Delhi : The Narendra Modi government is in the process of roping in Members of Parliament (MPs), aimed at bringing in reforms and revamping the deteriorating level of education in government schools, across the country. The Consultative Committee relating to Human Resource Development (HRD), comprising the HRD minister and 28 MPs, will meet on Thursday to set the agenda for reforms and revamping educational standards in government schools.

A top HRD ministry official told that the MPs will be communicated about the matter and requested to offer their help in improving the state of education in government schools, besides discussing the new education policy.

“They (MPs) are the one who are the face of their respective constituency and the people to whom they are well connected. They are the ones, who can do more for reviving and putting in reformative measures for improving the state of government schools in the country and this is what we are aiming at. The government is in majority in Parliament and pushing for the agenda is not a problem at all,” said an official.

Sources said the trigger to this comes in the wake of the government doing away with the no-detention policy in schools which is applicable till Class VIII. The no-detention policy has proved to be a face saver, but the government is worried that once it is done away, it would lead to massive failures of students at primary levels in government schools, a government official pointed out.

Additionally, the Skill Development Ministry too has portrayed a very gloomy picture of students emerging out of government-run schools.

In its submission to a parliamentary committee early this year, the government indicated that of the 17.6 lakh candidates trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) till April this year, only 5.8 lakh could be certified as having successfully completed training.

An official pointed out that with deteriorating levels of primary and secondary education, India, despite having the youngest population in the world, would remain unproductive, and if not addressed, it would lag behind in productivity and growth.

The Modi government introduced the National Policy on Skill Development and Entrepreneurship 2015 to address India’s enormous skill deficit like PMKVY that aims to train roughly 400 million workers in the 15-45 age group over seven years. However, the results so far have been disappointing.

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