New Delhi: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal
Thursday expressed hope that crucial legislations on reforming higher education, which have already been tabled in the
Parliament, will be passed by this year.
He said while Parliamentary Standing Committee reports
are awaited on some of these bills, reports of some other
legislations like the Copyright (Amendment) Bill have already
been presented.
Key legislations, currently being studied by the
Parliamentary panel include the Foreign Education Bill and the
Prohibition of Unfair Practices Bill.
"All these legislation, I hope will be passed within
this year," Sibal told reporters on the sidelines of a
function here, adding the Institutes of Technology (Amendment)
Bill would be tabled today in the Parliament.
He also said the Education Tribunal Bill, which was
deferred by the Rajya Sabha last year, will be taken up, but
did not disclose when.
Sibal hoped that these legislations would pave way
for bringing quality in the education sector and keep a tab on
those institutes who indulge in business in the name of
education.
Speaking on higher education at the `Edge conference`,
Sibal underlined on the primacy of teachers and their role in
shaping the future of higher education but at the same time
rued that the community has not received the recognition it
deserves.
"Unfortunately in the last 60 years, the kind of primacy the teaching community should have been accorded, has
not been given by an environment, that is not considered that
to be of prime value", he said.
"I think that must change radically," he said while
asking the best minds to join this profession.
"The best minds of the country must move away from
being IAS, must move away from being engineers, must move away
from being management consultants and move into the teaching
profession," he said.
The nation at the same time "must ensure that the
teaching profession gets highest priority and quality
framework of our country," he said.
Talking about the importance of IT in the education
sector, he said every institution will be connected through
fibre optics.
PTI
