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The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) ended its two day meeting here today with the the setting up of three Standing Committees on crucial aspects of education. Announcing this at the conclusion of the conference, the Human Resource Development Minister, Shri. Arjun Singh said that the first committee will be on Inclusive Education for Children and Youth with Special Needs. This Committee will oversee the implementation of the new National Policy on this issue. The membership of this committee will be on rotational basis among the states and members of the CABE. For the next one year, the Maharashtra Minister of School Education, Sports and Youth Affairs, Shri. Vasant Purake will be chairman of the committee. v The Second Committee will be on Literacy and Adult Education to guide the National Literacy Mission. The membership of this committee will also be on rotational basis among the states and members of the CABE. Prof. Basudev Barman will be the chairman of the committee.
The third committee, to be chaired by Ms. Shanta Sinha, will look at the integration and coordination of efforts for children’s development. This is in response to the concern expressed by several members in the CABE about the need to take a holistic view about the development of children.
Shri. Singh said that based on the recommendations of the seven committees on critical aspects of education, the Government will identify action points emerging from all these reports and prepare a road map for acting on them in a time bound manner.
Shri. Arjun Singh said that a comprehensive draft central legislation has been prepared on the admission and fee structure in private professional institutions and this has been circulated among states and the members of the CABE for their views to be expressed within a month’s time. He said that the Government will be able to bring in the required legislation for implementation of the same from the next academic session.
Allaying apprehensions that the money required to meet the additional expenditure with regard to the recommendations of different CABE Committees, he said that the requirement is neither unrealistic nor fantastic. Shri. Singh said that the National Common Minimum Programme commits 6% of GDP to education and with a projected growth rate of the economy at 7-8%, the requirements of funds are within the range of realistic possibilities.
Shri. Arjun Singh expressed his satisfaction at the broad consensus on all issues at the CABE Meeting so far as the State and the Central Government are concerned. “ The Ministers across the political divide had recognized this and endorsed the approaches adopted by the various Committees, which had also functioned in a non-partisan manner”, he said.
SRK/SPS
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