Smriti Irani hails support of political parties in passage of education bills

NEW DELHI: HRD Minister Smriti Irani today hailed the support from all the parties in Lok Sabha for the passage of three crucial Bills on education, saying the overall consensus reflected that "rashtraneeti" had prevailed over politics.

"We have seen a consensus evolve in Lok Sabha during the passage of the SPA Bill, Central Universities Amendment Bill and IIIT Bill. This indicates that despite the political differences, all parties have come together to bless the students with knowledge," she said at an event here.

"As an Union minister, I felt that when it comes to education, it is not politics but 'rashtraneeti' (interest of the nation) that prevails," she added.

The passage of the three legislations in quick succession during the ongoing Winter Session comes after a long gap for the HRD Ministry which, during the previous UPA regime, had seen as many as 10 Bills lapsing in Lok Sabha.

The passage of the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Bill and IIIT Bill (which has also received Rajya Sabha's nod) has come as a relief to students who were waiting for their degrees for more than two years.

These legislations also seeks to transform the SPAs and the IIITs into centres of excellence.

Addressing a workshop on skills in higher education, Irani also touched upon a host of initiatives launched by her ministry, including the 'choice-based credit system' which offers students multiple entry and exit points during their education and seamless mobility from one stream to another and among institutes.

The launch of the system in four months was made possible by the "coordination" between the school and higher education departments of the HRD Ministry, which was hitherto non- existent, she noted.

Irani said the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) programme, which offers free educational content in digital format, would also be made available on the mobile platform.