New Delhi: Human resources development minister Smriti Irani on Monday sought to allay apprehensions about saffronisation in education and asserted in Parliament that every decision in this field will be taken as per the “spirit of the Constitution”.
Trying to downplay her meetings with RSS ideologues and Sangh organisations, Ms Irani said as a minister it was her responsibility to listen to all stakeholders related to education.
The minister said this while replying to queries of Rajya Sabha members who had raised this issue while participating in a discussion on Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill 2014.
The bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha and provides for bringing four institutes of information technology under the ambit of a single authority and help students get degrees.
The bill has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. “Whatever steps the government of India takes with regard to educational institutes and institutions, it is my commitment that these will be taken as per the spirit of the Constitution,” she said.
Members, including from Left parties, voiced concerns about education being saffronised with CPI’s D. Raja saying that education under the NDA government was going the “right” way.
Trinamul Congress’ Derek O’Brien also mentioned that controversy and apprehensions had arisen after the minister met some Sangh ideologues. The minister said students passing from these institutes will now get degrees and the government would make all efforts to attract the best of faculties.
She, in particular, referred to the agonies of the students of IIIT-Kancheepuram who were awaiting their degrees since 2008 due to non-passage of legislations governing IIITs.
Allaying apprehensions, she said the reservation policy would also be applicable to the IIITs in student admission and in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff. Replying to members’ comments on the autonomy of these institutes, Ms Irani said, “The governance structure of these institutes will be like that of the IITs and NITs which were based on the Central Universities Act as passed by Parliament.”
