Dharmendra Pradhan has his task cut out. Is he jumping out from the frying pan into the fire? With the rising prices of petrol over the last few months, the man was under severe criticism and now he has been entrusted with the power to transform one of the most pressing sectors.
With schools closed for over 15 months and uncertainty still looming, the biggest challenge for the post – graduate in Anthropology is to undertake a comprehensive anthropological overhaul of the education system. All eyes would be on him on the implementation of the New Education Policy 2020. His predecessor Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank’s promises that NEP would be implemented have only been rhetoric at the most. With the pandemic sweeping across the country and schools closed for a good period, such statements have not been taken seriously. How Mr Dharmendra would take it forward is a big question.
The GDP allocated for education is 3.5 per cent while the NEP envisages 6 per cent. How will the new education minister move the NEP forward with low budget and the prevailing situation is the mother of all challenges.
Some states are opening schools but 100 per cent vaccination is a far cry. With a third wave staring and uncertainty looming, the Ministry of Education has a difficult task.
In the last count there were more than 10 universities without vice chancellors experts say he would have to first make fresh appointments and there are thousands of vacancies to be filled.
He also holds the skill development and entrepreneurship. He has been credited for speeding up the pace of skill development but managing the education ministry is altogether a different cup of tea.
A major challenge would be to put in place four national curriculum frameworks (NCF) being developed by the NCERT – on school education, early childhood education, teacher education and adult education. The union ministry has directed the state governments to come up with regional curriculum which would be integrated with the NCF but it is easier said than done.
There have been major differences especially in the revamp of history textbooks in the state of Rajasthan. The questions of regional and national identities have come up. States on the far end of political ideology have been at loggerheads on issues of secularism and identity.
Mr Dharmendra needs to tread cautiously as even a minor issue could snowball into a national issue.
An advantage he has is the team that includes Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for Education who holds a PhD on ‘Problems of land-use.’ He was an assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences, Manipur University and Subhas Sarkar, an MP from West Bengal is a gynecologist by profession along with Annapurna Devi form a formidable team in the Ministry of Education. How fast and how effectively they would set the NEP rolling would determine their success.
