Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal is always in the news. A great visionary like him is always striving for the benefit of students and the growth of resurgent India.
It was limelight for Kapil Sibal when he announced that there would be no Class X boards for students pursuing studies in the same school. He said that this proposal would be implemented in CBSE schools initially and shifted to other boards to reduce the stress on students. He also called for a single examination board across the country, for which there were not may takers. Well, thanks to Kapil Sibal, soon it would be grades in board exams too.
The minister must also think about an independent ombudsman to deal with negligent acts of examination boards. This would resolve any complaint arising out of the negligence of the boards, so that affected students do not suffer or lose an academic year.
In another path-breaking decision, Sibal was instrumental in conferring a new set of rights on the citizens, the latest being the right to free and compulsory education to every child in the 6-14 age group. Under the Right to Education Act, which came into force on April 1 this year, government schools would continue to provide free education to all children and even private schools must set aside 25% of seats for poor students free of cost. The Act also stipulates the setting up of a National Commission for Elementary Education to monitor all aspects of primary education, including quality and access to poor children.
Kapil Sibal, a man with interests of children at heart has come up with the idea of having one common entrance test on the model of SAT. Earlier, anyone going for study to US was supposed to present SAT scores, and Kapil Sibal wants to implement such a scheme in India. Presently, students undertake many entrance tests and the HRD minister plans to shift to a nation-wide aptitude test for college admissions across streams. A team of IIT directors is working on single aptitude entrance test modeled on SAT to replace Joint Entrance Examination and other engineering entrance tests.
“Multiple tests, often specific to sets of institutions like the IITs or the national law schools, increase the pressure on students who have to prove their ability separately to the various institutions they apply to,” Sibal said.
The HRD minister has also questioned the quality of technical education in distance mode. Today many private universities are conducting technical courses, like engineering and computer science in distance mode when it requires practical training. Some institutes are even offering Ph.D programmes, while some are opening off shore campuses where they have no right. Earlier, the minister questioned the various deemed universities and colleges.
He is also thinking of trimming the length of PG programmes from two years to one year except for medical courses. Presently, University Grants Commission (UGC) is reviewing PG in law (LLM) and also looking at attracting brilliant graduates.
On a recent trip to Australia, where many Indian students have come under attack, Kapil Sibal announced the setting up of an India-Australia education council that could provide a template for broadening education ties with other countries also. Educational experts have said that the timing of the announcement was important when India had opened its doors to foreign universities. With India become a hub for innovation at low prices the education sector must help to sustain it by achieving technical excellence.
For getting know-how on market trends, Sibal called for a pan-IIM international journal on the lines of the Harvard Business Review. “IIMs should publish a business journal like the Harvard Business Review, which should be globally benchmarked and ready by 2011,” Sibal said.
For the benefit of 70 million Indians with visual impairment, dyslexia, cerebral palsy and other disabilities to convert reading material into formats that they can read, Kapil Sibal sought the amendment of the Copyright Act, 1957.
Kapil Sibal born in Jalandhar, on August 8, 1948, is the son of renowned advocate H L Sibal, who was honoured by the International Bar Association as the Living Legend of Law in 1994. The government of India also conferred the Padma Bhushan on H L Sibal in 2006. Kapil Sibal moved to Delhi in 1964 and graduated from St Stephen’s college in History. He later obtained a law degree in 1972 and qualified for the IAS in 1973, but instead chose to practice law. He also studied PG at Harvard Law School in US.
In 1989, Kapil Sibal was appointed the Additional Solicitor General of India. He has the honour of defending a Supreme Court Judge during impeachment proceedings in parliament in 1994. He was first a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1998, and then in 2004 was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Chandni Chowk Parliamentary Constituency. He was again re-elected in 2009. He has served as Minister of State for Technology during the first Manmohan Singh government.
By travelling to the icy continent of Antarctica in July 2008, Kapil Sibal became the first minister to do this. He stayed at the Maitri base in sub-zero temperatures to know the hardships of the scientists who undertake researches.
By entrusting the reins of Ministry of Human Resources Development to Kapil Sibal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has ensured the well being of the student community.