Minority fears: Govt to revamp education policy

The human resource development ministry is redrawing its minority education roadmap to include new strategies after drawing repeated flak from prominent sections of the Muslim community over key policies in recent months. Charu Sudan Kasturi reports.

The human resource development ministry is redrawing its minority education roadmap to include new strategies after drawing repeated flak from prominent sections of the Muslim community over key policies in recent months.

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HT had reported Muslim clerics’ reservations over the Right to Education Act on July 12.

The ministry now plans to ask the National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education (NMCME), set up by previous HRD minister Arjun Singh, to draft a time-bound action plan for the government, top sources have told HT.

The HRD ministry is currently reconstituting the NMCME — the country’s apex minority education watchdog — after the previous team’s term ended. The ministry has asked senior Congress leaders such as Rahul Gandhi and Mohsina Kidwai to recommend names for the panel.

“No one is more concerned about Muslims than this government,” a source said.

The NMCME has so far stayed out of any active policy-drafting role.

It has been exercising the limited role of touring the country and evaluating the performance of the Centre and states on minority education programmes. The body earned credibility in the eyes of the Muslim community during UPA-I.

As the NMCME was primarily set up to restore the confidence of the minority educational community after six years of NDA rule, an action plan drawn up by the panel is likely to enjoy credibility, sources said.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal, however, has attracted negative press in the Urdu media over demands from sections of the Muslim community to transform Jamia Millia Islamia into a minority institution.