HRD Ministry should be renamed Education Ministry: Sisodia

New Delhi: Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday proposed that the name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) should be changed to the Ministry of Education. Sisodia also asked the central government to increase the budget for education.

Sisodia’s proposals came during the meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, which was attended by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar and education ministers of many states. “It is unfortunate that there is no Union Education Ministry in our nation. We currently have an HRD ministry. The name of HRD ministry should be changed to Education Ministry as the HRD is just a part of it,” Sisodia said.

In the meeting, Sisodia also proposed extension of Right to Education (RTE) Act to children who do not fall in the six to 14 years age bracket. The RTE Act provides free and compulsory education to all children in the age group of six to 14 years as a Fundamental Right.

Sisodia reiterated his demand for complete scrapping of “no detention policy”. Under the no-detention policy, the students up to Class 8 are automatically promoted to the next class without being held back even if they do not get a passing grade in their examinations. During the meeting, Sisodia proposed increased focus on early childhood learning and called for setting up of a world class university for the training of teachers.
IANS