Smriti Irani ducks credit for scrapping of 4-year undergraduate programme

NEW DELHI: HRD minister Smriti Z Irani's interaction with media showcasing achievement of her ministry's first 100 days was more about the roadmap ahead and a series of announcements of programmes bearing Sanskritized-Hindi names like Saksham, Ishan Uday, Ishan Vikas, Swayam etc. Universities were asked to encourage research on Vivekananda's life and teachings.

Scrapping of four-year undergraduate programme was not mentioned though creation of new IITs and IIMs, toilets in schools, padhe bharat, badhe bharat and beti bachao beti padhao abhiyan were highlighted. So were appointments of women in IIT Council and IIAS, Shimla. New central universities announced in 100 days are mostly commitments of the past. For instance, the new one in Bihar was agreed by the previous government and one in Andhra Pradesh was due to bifurcation of the state. AP does not have an IIT or central university and thus the announcement was part of the package by the previous government.

A short film made at the cost of a few lakh rupees was an attempt to give a comprehensive picture of the achievement of school education while the higher education department concentrated on a slew of new programmes. It needs to be emphasized that most of the programmes concentrate on girl child especially drawing them to science. Ten goalposts of IITs have been identified.

Udaan, an initiative of the CBSE, is aimed at addressing lower enrolment of girls in engineering and reduce the quality gap. Swami Vivekanand Single Girl Child Scholarship of Rs 8-10,000 per month will be given to 300 scholars by the UGC. Pragati, an initiative of AICTE, will assist girls advancement in technical education. Saksham, also to be monitored by AICTE, will be given to 1000 differently-abled children admitted in technical programme. Ishan Uday by UGC is a special scholarship programme for 10,000 north-east students whose parental income is less than Rs 4.5 lakh per annum. Ishan Vikas proposes to take school and college students from north-east to IITs/NITs/IISERs for ten days. Shaala Darpan will update parents about child's progress regarding attendance, assignments and achievements.