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The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has given his nod to change the name of the Ministry of Human Resources to the Ministry of Education as per a gazette notification.

The New Education Policy was introduced by the minister of Human Resources in the month of July where many reforms have been brought to fore. The same day, a proposal was kept before the President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his approval for the change in the name of the Ministry of Human Resources to the Ministry of Education.

An official notification on Monday said that President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the change in name of HRD ministry to the ministry of education. This name change recommendation has also been cleared by the Union Cabinet last month.

The Ministry of Education was renamed ad Ministry of Human Resource Development in 1985 during the tenure of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The New Education Policy was immediately introduced in the next year and was later amended in 1992.

P V Narasimha Rao became the first HRD minister during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister of India.

A panel headed by the former ISRO Chairman, K Kasturirangan was tasked with working on the new education policy and has also proposed that the name of the ministry should be changed again.

However, after 1992, the name has been changed now and the new reforms are also brought up in the New Education Policy only after 1992 in 2020.

In 2018, the idea of name change was also mulled by Ram Bahadur Rai, the Chairman of Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts who is also the chairman of the joint organising committee of the conference on Academic Leadership on Education for Resurgence.

The decision of changing the name in the Narendra Modi tenure was conveyed on July 29 when the Union Cabinet has proposed the New Education Policy.

The President’s nod is extremely essential to bring about any changes decided by the cabinet in the government machinery.

As per the New Education Policy 2020, students will be provided internships from Class 6 onwards and the focus of education will be more towards practical learning and application. This new education policy pitches for a 5+3+3+4 design corresponding to the age groups 3-8 years, 8 to 11 years, 11 to 14 years and 14 to 18 years. The policy also focuses on easier board exams and impetus would be kept on experiential learning and critical thinking.

By Gayatri Yellayi