Union Cabinet has approved the new National Education Policy (NEP). The cabinet has also approved renaming of the HRD Ministry has Education Ministry.
The new National Education Policy (NEP) will replace the existing National Policy on Education which was first formulated in 1986 and last modified in 1992. The Committee, which drafted the new education policy, has proposed to rename the Ministry of Human Resource Development or MHRD as Ministry of Education (MoE).
The draft policy which was approved today had also proposed extension of Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18 and also seeks to reduce content load in school education curriculum.
The draft of the new National Education Policy was submitted to HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' last year by a panel headed by the former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Kasturirangan.
The draft was put in the public domain for suggestion and the ministry received over two lakh suggestions from stakeholders.
The drafting experts also took into account the report of a panel headed by former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian and formed by the HRD Ministry when it was being headed by Union Minister Smriti Irani.
