With Left out, Govt presses ahead with education reforms

New Delhi: Forty eight hours after getting the trust vote from Parliament, HRD minister Arjun Singh met various state education ministers to chalk out a roadmap for the implementation of the massive expansion and reforms in the 11th plan for education in the next five years.

The meet's top agenda was Foreign Education Providers bill, which had to be shelved after it faced protests from the Left Front last year.

"The hurdles have been removed to an extent and now the bill should be introduced. We have, in fact, incorporated suggestions by the Left," Arjun Singh said.

A Group of Ministers, which reviewed the bill last year, had differences on whether the education providers be allowed to repatriate profit to the parent country, and whether these institutes be bound by the UGC regulations and guidelines.

The bill was to be introduced in Parliament last year when it had to be withdrawn just hours before its introduction, facing stiff opposition from the Left parties.

Apart from the Foreign Education Providers bill, the Government is expected to expedite work on the Unaided and Private Institute Reservation bill and the Right to Education bill. All these bills might be introduced in the budget session of Parliament, which is slated to begin in the second week of August.