The HRD ministry can not seem to keep itself out of controversies. Whenever there is a change in government at the Central level, it inadvertently leads to an ideological shift in the country’s education system and policy. It is understood that the HRD ministry is the one which bears the brunt of these controversies as all victorious government try to “leave their imprint” on the history of the nation.
This is not the first time that the HRD ministry has created a controversy soon after a new government has taken office. Earlier too, under the previous NDA government when Dr M.M. Joshi was the HRD minister, there was a major controversy over the content of history books. During Dr Joshi’s tenure the University Grants Commission’s decision to approve courses in Vedic astrology also led to protests by the Opposition Congress and the Left parties. And the ministry had also stoked controversy when the last UPA-2 government tried to initiate major education reforms under the then HRD minister Kapil Sibal. The Congress-led government had come under severe criticism for its brazen implementation of four-year undergraduate degree course in University of Delhi which it later wanted to replicate in the university system across the country.
Pointing to the rot in the system, former president, National Democratic Teachers’ Front and associate professor, Delhi University, Dr Awanijesh Awasthy stated that students’ welfare should be the key to devising all government policies related to education. It is felt that most HRD ministers at the helm are devising policies at the whims and fancies of their political masters against which the academia and students have been protesting over the years.
