HRD Ministry was earlier known for political friction: Irani

Taking a dig at the previous UPA government, Human Resources Development (HRD) minister Smriti Irani on Friday said that the ministry was known for “political friction” for long, but it will now be known for “political consensus”.

Speaking at an interaction during an event in the national Capital, Irani said that many global ranking bodies did not take into consideration the uniqueness of Indian institutions like classical Tamil institution, which is the reason they do not figure in the top ranks.

“The first day I joined office, I told people in my office that for too long this office was known for political compulsions, for political friction....Now this office will be known for political consensus and for resonance of people’s will,” she said. The new education policy will also reflect this consensus as the views of people across the country have been sort by the ministry, she said.

During a meeting with the representatives of a global ranking body, Irani had told them that India has a classical Tamil institution here but it does not figure in their rankings, she said at the Summit. Because that particular institute studies a language that may not be of much use in England, it is very important to our country, she added. 

Asked about the edge that students with private English medium schooling have in the country, she said that children in tribal areas studying in Navodaya Vidyalayas were doing better in many areas than others.

The minister said that it is correct that there is a “language bias”. “If there was no language bias, I would not have to struggle so hard for Sanskrit,” she added. Irani said while we are not isolating ourselves by looking only at our national rankings, we are also telling foreign agencies about the uniqueness of our institutions. 

Hoping that the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) would be out by April, Irani said that not all foreign rankings are universally-accepted and often they are disputed. IITs may not be getting that much celebratory recognition across the world, but some remarkable research is happening there, she said.