Kasturirangan Committee gets two-month extension on NEP

NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 4: The expert committee constituted to draft the National Education Policy (NEP) is likely to get another extension till October to submit the final draft, after holding consultation with various stakeholders. The former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chief led K Kasturirangan Committee had to submit the Policy Draft by August 31.

The Committee was previously given a two-month extension till August 31. It later realized the need for greater consultation with stakeholders at states and experts from the education sector.

After holding consultation with the stakeholders, the Committee will incorporate suggestions in the final draft before submitting it to the Government. It is likely to submit the report by early November.

In June last year, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) constituted eight-member Committee, headed by the former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan to submit the Draft NEP in December 2017. The deadline was later extended till June 2018 and further extended to August 31.

On giving several extension to the Committee, the MHRD had said that in view of the voluminous quantum of suggestions that this committee had to examine in the exercise of formulating a draft policy, it has taken a longer time than initially expected.

The other members of the Committee include eminent academics like the Vice-Chancellor of SNDP University, Mumbai; educationist Vasudha Kamat; former bureaucrat K.J. Alphonse; Prof Manjul Bhargava, Princeton University Mathematics; Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences, Mhau, Vice-Chancellor Ram Shankar Kureel; Prof TV Kattamani, Vice-Chancellor Tribal University, Amarkantak; KM Tripathy from Uttar Pradesh; Gauhati University Persian language professor Mahzar Asif, and CABE member M.K. Shridhar.