New Education Policy: Govt renames Ministry of Human Resource Development to Ministry of Education

Union HRD Minister unveiled a report suggesting the moves taken by the central government as well as state and union territories to bridge the digital gap in the education sector. (File image)

The union cabinet has approved the renaming of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to ‘Ministry of Education’ in a meeting held earlier today, reported ANI. The move has been made as part of the proposed policy by the MHRD under the provisions of the draft new education policy. The central government may officially announce the move to rename the ministry as well as some key changes that have to be implemented under the new education policy in a media briefing by the HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and Information & Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javdekar due later today.

The proposal to change the name of the ministry was first put forward by a team of experts led by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan. The new education policy has been approved keeping in mind the need to emphasise the use of technology in education and helping students in adapting to learn through the use of technology such as online courses, educational platforms, and class-wise broadcasting on dedicated channels of education.

Meanwhile yesterday, the Union HRD Minister unveiled a report suggesting the moves taken by the central government as well as state and union territories to bridge the digital gap in the education sector to help students overcome the challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic. The report named ‘India Report- Digital Education June 2020’ highlighted the role of education facilitators in achieving the crucial goal of providing digital education at students’ doorstep.

Earlier this month, the union HRD Ministry had released guidelines for the schools on the issue of conducting online classes. The ministry in the guideline named as ‘Pragyata’ had asked the schools to not consider online classes as normal working days in school and suggested to refrain from conducting online sessions similar to school timings. The Ministry had listed the guidelines recognising the complaint raised by parents on the increased screen time for school students and had asked schools to fix a definite period of online classes.