Eminent educationist Kireet Joshi passes away

Eminent educationist and former Education Advisor to the Government of India, Kireet Joshi, passed away here today after battling cancer. He was 83. Joshi, who was Education Advisor to the Government of India in 1976, passed away early this morning.

"Saddened by demise of Shri Kireet Joshi. He will be remembered as a fine scholar & educationist, devoted to the principles of Sri Aurobindo," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted condoling Joshi's death. "As advisor to Gujarat CM, Kireet Bhai played a key role in setting up of Children's University & Institute of Teacher Education," he said.

Joshi was a philosopher, who also studied law at the Bombay University. He was selected for IAS in 1955 but resigned the very next year to devote himself to the study and practice of the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.

He was the first Registrar of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education (SAICE). In 1976, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, appointed Joshi as Education Advisor. He also served as the Chairman of the Indian Council of Philosophical Research.

In 1983, he was appointed Special Secretary to the Government of India, and held this post until 1988. He was also the Vice-Chairman of the UNESCO Institute of Education, Hamburg, from 1987 to 1989.