As Education Ministers from the nine BJP-ruled States at a meeting on Monday informed each other about their “innovative programmes” to reduce dropouts of schoolchildren particularly girls from socially weaker sections, the party itself sought to contribute to the New Education Policy (NEP) set to be announced next year.
At the end of the two-day conference of Education and Tourism Ministers of BJP-ruled States at Madhya Pradesh Bhawan, Union Education Minister Smriti Irani asked the States to provide inputs to the NEP which is likely to bring out “change” at all levels of education and teaching in the country.
Significantly, the Madhya Pradesh Minister maintained that the State Government is setting up a “Pariksha Mandal” (Examination Board) in line with the Election Commission of India, with power to transfer teachers before exams.
BJP vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe told The Pioneer that in the meeting it was discussed as to how to link education to “employability” at the college level.
The focus of the Ministers in the meeting was on reducing “dropouts” of schoolchildren particularly girls from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. They explained a number of programmes to increase the enrollments in their respective States.
Sahasrabuddhe said Jharkhand’s Education Minister detailed the State’s “Pehle Padhayee, Phir Vidayee” (first education, then marriage) scheme, while Chhattisgarh informed the conference about the cycle distribution scheme which has “increased the enrollment of girls from 53 per cent to 90 per cent”.
Similarly, Gujarat spelled out details about its initiative of regular drawing competition to encourage girls to enroll in schools. The Education Minister from Maharashtra informed the meet that the State is carrying out “an audit of all the books for gender sensitivity” that would weed out any objectionable references to girl or women. Maharashtra is also to provide career guidance to drop outs.
Sahasrabuddhe said the discussions revolved around the ways to universalise education and increase the enrollment rate in the country. He said the two-day discussions also made it clear that the BJP as a party is “ready to contribute to New Education Policy”.
The Education Ministers exchanged their notes on new education policy so that they remain on the same page on the issue.