In an exclusive interview with editor A. sandeep, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal talks about the new board exams, shortage of trained faculty, the role of the private sector and much more
In the media you’ve said that you were not keen for this ministry (HRD).
No, I’ve never said that I’m either keen or not keen for
any ministry. It’s purely the Prime Minister’s prerogative. I’ve only said that I don’t want law [ministry] as two of my children are practicing law and there would be a conflict of interest.
How far has been your progress made in the first 100 days?
How can I judge my progress; it’s for others to judge!
In the past few months, the focus has been on high schools and [related] higher studies. When will the focus move to other forms of education?
High school education is the foundation. We’re focused on other forms as well. If you watched my first press conference, we talked about not just school education but higher education. The National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee – both their reports are on higher education. And we have already taken very significant steps for the implementation of some recommendations of these commissions, given the context of our own [the current HRD Ministry’s] perspective.
Your 100 days programme agenda. According to you, how much of it has been seeded in?
All of it!
There are many non-Congress states who might not completely embrace your initiatives?
That’s not true; name me one. We’ve called a CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) committee meeting. The resolution was unanimously passed and no state opposed it. I’m not here interfering with any process of a state. Education is not a political issue. It has something to do with the future of India. Why should any state interfere in a process that takes the future of India forward?
Deemed universities have been encouraged to become more transparent. What beyond that?
We’re setting up a whole new system, and restructuring the higher education system. So all these ‘deemed universities’ hopefully will go and we should have ‘universities’ only, not ‘deemed to be universities’.
Sir, you’ve talked about the need for change in the curriculum of IITs and IIMs. But there’s a pay wage issue that has come up.
No pay wage issue [exists]. We had a meeting of the Directors of IITs. They were all satisfied and we would implement the decisions we had arrived at in our meeting with the Directors. So, there is no pay wage issue.
So you believe that the strike that had been called...
No, there is no strike. As I told you, if you read the media, you would have found that the Directors came out and issued a statement that they are happy with the talks with the Minister and hope that the decisions arrived at are implemented; which we shall do!
There seems to be acute shortage of quality faculty in engineering and medical sciences. How are you changing it?
That is true [that there is acute shortage]. I can’t change it. There is no magic wand. I cannot create faculty out of nowhere. But the fact is that we need to invest in our research institutions, produce more Ph.Ds in all our research organisations – science, IITs, engineering, medicine – so that they later become faculty. In the meantime, because of the recession in the United States, a large number of faculties from the US are willing to come to India.
So we should therefore have a brain gain policy in place – which I have put in place – to attract that faculty, so that we can meet the shortfall. And now with the use of ICT, we can actually share faculty without one member of the faculty having to move from one place to another. So, all these different strategies can be used for meeting the shortfall.
You’ve told states to increase their allocation on education. Would there be any proposal to increase the general pay wage believed to be in teaching? For example, when students pass out of colleges, their first preference might not be teaching; perhaps because of the pay wages...
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
In the media you’ve said that you were not keen for this ministry (HRD).
No, I’ve never said that I’m either keen or not keen for
any ministry. It’s purely the Prime Minister’s prerogative. I’ve only said that I don’t want law [ministry] as two of my children are practicing law and there would be a conflict of interest.How far has been your progress made in the first 100 days?
How can I judge my progress; it’s for others to judge!
In the past few months, the focus has been on high schools and [related] higher studies. When will the focus move to other forms of education?
High school education is the foundation. We’re focused on other forms as well. If you watched my first press conference, we talked about not just school education but higher education. The National Knowledge Commission and the Yashpal Committee – both their reports are on higher education. And we have already taken very significant steps for the implementation of some recommendations of these commissions, given the context of our own [the current HRD Ministry’s] perspective.
Your 100 days programme agenda. According to you, how much of it has been seeded in?
All of it!
There are many non-Congress states who might not completely embrace your initiatives?
That’s not true; name me one. We’ve called a CABE (Central Advisory Board of Education) committee meeting. The resolution was unanimously passed and no state opposed it. I’m not here interfering with any process of a state. Education is not a political issue. It has something to do with the future of India. Why should any state interfere in a process that takes the future of India forward?
Deemed universities have been encouraged to become more transparent. What beyond that?
We’re setting up a whole new system, and restructuring the higher education system. So all these ‘deemed universities’ hopefully will go and we should have ‘universities’ only, not ‘deemed to be universities’.
Sir, you’ve talked about the need for change in the curriculum of IITs and IIMs. But there’s a pay wage issue that has come up.
No pay wage issue [exists]. We had a meeting of the Directors of IITs. They were all satisfied and we would implement the decisions we had arrived at in our meeting with the Directors. So, there is no pay wage issue.
So you believe that the strike that had been called...
No, there is no strike. As I told you, if you read the media, you would have found that the Directors came out and issued a statement that they are happy with the talks with the Minister and hope that the decisions arrived at are implemented; which we shall do!
There seems to be acute shortage of quality faculty in engineering and medical sciences. How are you changing it?
That is true [that there is acute shortage]. I can’t change it. There is no magic wand. I cannot create faculty out of nowhere. But the fact is that we need to invest in our research institutions, produce more Ph.Ds in all our research organisations – science, IITs, engineering, medicine – so that they later become faculty. In the meantime, because of the recession in the United States, a large number of faculties from the US are willing to come to India.
So we should therefore have a brain gain policy in place – which I have put in place – to attract that faculty, so that we can meet the shortfall. And now with the use of ICT, we can actually share faculty without one member of the faculty having to move from one place to another. So, all these different strategies can be used for meeting the shortfall.
You’ve told states to increase their allocation on education. Would there be any proposal to increase the general pay wage believed to be in teaching? For example, when students pass out of colleges, their first preference might not be teaching; perhaps because of the pay wages...
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
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