Centre Holds Deliberation With States On Draft National Education Policy

New Delhi: The Central Advisory Board on Education (CABE) met here on Saturday to discuss the draft National Education Policy and take into consideration the recommendations of the states.

CABE, which comprises state education ministers, heads of all education bodies and prominent citizens as its members, is the highest decision making body on education in the country. In all, 26 state education ministers participated in the meeting.

Some news reports suggested that the states, by and large, were in agreement with the broader contours of the draft policy, but suggested further deliberations on a few recommendations keeping the education budget in mind.

A statement issued by the Government, however, did not reveal the issues and the recommendations raised at the meeting.

Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia, as per news reports, demanded the passage of a legislation which will entail both the Centre and the states to earmark six per cent of GDP for the education sector.

He contended that the draft policy was biased towards private schools. He said that suggestion to set up a private board will comprise the standard of education imparted by private schools.

Chairing the meeting, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said that a massive consultative process for over four years was undertaken and the policy was submitted by a committee formed to draft the policy headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, to the Ministry on May 31.