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Road ahead for Javadekar: From sorting out differences with PMO to keeping RSS happy

As he takes over from Smriti Irani, Javadekar will need to maintain a fine balancing act. Fixing the NEP draft and coming out with a policy will be one of the key tasks on his plate.

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Like her surprise entry into the HRD ministry two years ago, Smriti Irani’s exit from the ministry on Tuesday was also equally astonishing. Her sudden exit has left too much on the plate for her successor.

Irani’s stint, marred with controversies, resulted in HRD ministry spending more time in issuing clarifications than really getting things moving on the ground. The attitude of the ministry made both the BJP high command and the Sangh unhappy with her attitude.

The new HRD minister Prakash Javadekar will now have to do a fine balancing act to avoid tussle and keep his government and other stakeholders happy.

“At RSS, we believe in doing work rather than making noises. Unfortunately in two years, there was more noise and less work happening on ground,” said one of the senior RSS functionaries working in the education sector.

Several key policy decisions on education, including NCERT textbooks revision, restructuring of the regulatory bodies, the inclusion of teaching in mother tongue, have been pending for two years now. The HRD ministry had been waiting for the New Education Policy (NEP) before it to bring about these changes. 

Now with Irani out and the fate of draft report on the NEP still uncertain, fixing the NEP draft and coming out with a policy will be one of the key tasks for Javadekar.

RSS education ideologues have been pushing for syllabus revision ever since Modi government came to power. The delay had been making the RSS restless. The ministry had been holding on to the issue and was waiting for the NEP to be out before it could call for the syllabus revision. The new minister will have to be cautious and pave a middle path to keep both the Sangh as well as other stakeholders happy.

Irani’s insensitivity in dealing with the student unions had led to a strengthening of the union forces in the left-dominated campuses including Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Central University of Hyderabad (CUoH). With Irani at the helm of the ministry, the resentment of the students in these two campuses spilled outside the campus and drew criticism globally. 

Ever since the government slammed sedition charges against JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar and callously handled the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula at Hyderabad, the two premium campuses continue to fume. Javadekar, who himself has the experience of being a student union leader, will have to douse the fire at the earliest.

Javadekar is will also have to bridge the differences of the ministry with the office of the Prime Minister and fill several vacant posts at the earliest. Irani, who is known to share a good rapport with the PMO, has upset the PMO on several occasion. Last year her ministry continued to remain indecisive on key suggestions made by the Prime Minister's Office. It had then wanted the HRD to improve the mid day meal scheme and set up schools based on Gujarat's model schools. The two proposal were politely turned down.

Differences with PMO also erupted over the draft IIM bill and setting up of 20 world class education institutions. The PMO and HRD differed on giving more autonomy to the IIMs, with the former not in favour of the President of India continuing as the Visitor of the institution. 

The PMO wanted HRD to expedite the process of establishing 20 world class universities. A fund of Rs 5,000 crore was sanctioned in the annual budget for setting up these universities. Irani, instead of initiating  the process, went on to open avenues for foreign university collaborations with Indian universities. Javadekar will have to iron out these differences.

Even before taking charge of the new office Javadekar announced that he would fulfill the Prime Minister’s vision on education. "Education is an emancipator. It is a real change agent. If you want to build a modern India of 21st century, we have to revolutionise our education. Education must become more meaningful and also the quality of education needs to be improved,” said the new minister.

Outgoing minister Smriti Irani meanwhile tweeted thanking Prime Minister for giving her the opportunity to work as the HRD minister. Taking credit for her two years of work, Irani tweeted, “In last 2 years all initiatives of HRD Ministry have been towards increasing learning outcomes for students & improving quality of education."

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