06-28-2009, 02:06 AM
Joshi sees disaster in Sibal plan
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 26: Former human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi today dubbed the UPAâs 100-day education agenda a rushed recipe for disaster, accusing current minister Kapil Sibal of ignoring federal norms in announcing his plans.
Questioning the rationale behind the announcement of Sibalâs drastic proposals without consultation with states, Joshi flavoured his tirade with politics, challenging the UPA to show what it had done for the aam aadmiâs education.
âSau din ki hadbadi mein, yeh shiksha mein gadbadi ho rahi hai (In the rush to show results in a 100 days, problems are being created in education),â Joshi said at a news conference called to articulate the BJPâs position on Sibalâs education charter unveiled yesterday.
Joshi, who was HRD minister in the BJP-led NDA government from 1998 to 2004, asked why state governments were not consulted before announcing plans to make the Class X board examinations optional.
The Centre runs two school boards â the Central Board of Secondary Education (the countryâs largest) and the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations.
But over 60 per cent of Indiaâs school students attend institutions affiliated to state government-run boards. Sibal had also said yesterday he wanted to move away from multiple school boards and ensure a single board for Class XII students. Education is a concurrent subject in the Constitution â both states and the Centre can make laws on it.
<b>âDoes the minister think his one wish or diktat will make all states disband their boards? States have different boards because children in the Northeast have different needs from children in Rajasthan,â </b>he said, almost mocking the single-board plan.
Joshi, tasked by BJP president Rajnath Singh to present the BJPâs views on the UPAâs education plans, said he would write to the Prime Minister asking him <b>to ârestrainâ his ministers from making âirresponsibleâ promises. âThis is just a public relations exercise aimed at fooling the country and we cannot allow that,â</b> Joshi added.
The former minister said he would write to the education ministers of all NDA-ruled states and prepare a consolidated response to the UPAâs education agenda, to be presented in the coming Parliament session.
Joshi also targeted the UPA on its claims of serving the aam aadmi. The NDA started the Sarva Shaksha Abhiyan to achieve universalisation of primary education in 2002 and pushed through the 86th constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right for children between 6 and 14, Joshi pointed out.
<b>âWhat has the UPA done for the education of common people in the five years it has been in power? It could not even pass a law to implement the right to education that we made a part of the Constitution</b>,â the minister said.
<b>Instead of educating ordinary students, the UPA, he alleged, is focused on allowing commercialisation of education. </b>Joshi questioned the plans to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India and Sibalâs announcement that his ministry would formulate a policy for public-private partnerships in school education. He dubbed the moves âpro-richâ.
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, June 26: Former human resource development minister Murli Manohar Joshi today dubbed the UPAâs 100-day education agenda a rushed recipe for disaster, accusing current minister Kapil Sibal of ignoring federal norms in announcing his plans.
Questioning the rationale behind the announcement of Sibalâs drastic proposals without consultation with states, Joshi flavoured his tirade with politics, challenging the UPA to show what it had done for the aam aadmiâs education.
âSau din ki hadbadi mein, yeh shiksha mein gadbadi ho rahi hai (In the rush to show results in a 100 days, problems are being created in education),â Joshi said at a news conference called to articulate the BJPâs position on Sibalâs education charter unveiled yesterday.
Joshi, who was HRD minister in the BJP-led NDA government from 1998 to 2004, asked why state governments were not consulted before announcing plans to make the Class X board examinations optional.
The Centre runs two school boards â the Central Board of Secondary Education (the countryâs largest) and the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations.
But over 60 per cent of Indiaâs school students attend institutions affiliated to state government-run boards. Sibal had also said yesterday he wanted to move away from multiple school boards and ensure a single board for Class XII students. Education is a concurrent subject in the Constitution â both states and the Centre can make laws on it.
<b>âDoes the minister think his one wish or diktat will make all states disband their boards? States have different boards because children in the Northeast have different needs from children in Rajasthan,â </b>he said, almost mocking the single-board plan.
Joshi, tasked by BJP president Rajnath Singh to present the BJPâs views on the UPAâs education plans, said he would write to the Prime Minister asking him <b>to ârestrainâ his ministers from making âirresponsibleâ promises. âThis is just a public relations exercise aimed at fooling the country and we cannot allow that,â</b> Joshi added.
The former minister said he would write to the education ministers of all NDA-ruled states and prepare a consolidated response to the UPAâs education agenda, to be presented in the coming Parliament session.
Joshi also targeted the UPA on its claims of serving the aam aadmi. The NDA started the Sarva Shaksha Abhiyan to achieve universalisation of primary education in 2002 and pushed through the 86th constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right for children between 6 and 14, Joshi pointed out.
<b>âWhat has the UPA done for the education of common people in the five years it has been in power? It could not even pass a law to implement the right to education that we made a part of the Constitution</b>,â the minister said.
<b>Instead of educating ordinary students, the UPA, he alleged, is focused on allowing commercialisation of education. </b>Joshi questioned the plans to allow foreign universities to set up campuses in India and Sibalâs announcement that his ministry would formulate a policy for public-private partnerships in school education. He dubbed the moves âpro-richâ.