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New Delhi: The National Education Policy (NEP), which has been in the pipeline for a long time now, is likely to be released by early March, ThePrint has learnt.

A senior official in the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) told ThePrint the final draft of the policy will be placed before the Union Cabinet for its approval in mid-February.

“We will send the final draft of the policy for Cabinet approval in mid-February after having a round of final discussions with Dr Kasturirangan,” HRD Secretary Amit Khare told ThePrint.

Dr K. Kasturirangan is an eminent space scientist who headed the committee that formulated the draft NEP.

Khare added that after the Cabinet approval, it will take 15-20 days more for the policy to take final shape and then it will be made public.

The HRD secretary said most of the content of the final draft is based on the Kasturirangan committee’s recommendations, except some points that need to be deliberated upon.

“Some points suggested by the panel need more deliberation, and I am going to meet Dr Kasturirangan in Bengaluru to discuss the same. Once we have those issues sorted, we will have the final draft and it will be sent for Cabinet approval,” he added.

While Khare did not specify what these points are, he said they were “nothing major”.

When ThePrint contacted Kasturirangan, he refused to comment on the matter.

“I will only be able to say anything about the changes once I have a discussion with the secretary,” he said.

Also read: Arabic lessons, private school fees — govt gets 1 lakh tips on New Education Policy

Draft has gone through several rounds of discussions

The committee had submitted the recommendations for the NEP to the HRD ministry in May last year, on the day when new HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ took charge.

Since then, the draft has gone through several rounds of discussions and deliberations, and then a final draft was formulated. This was then put up for public feedback on the HRD ministry website, which received more than two lakh suggestions on it.

The final draft has been prepared keeping in mind the discussions that have taken place so far and the recommendations made by the public.

Some of the suggestions that are likely to make it to the policy include making board exams “easier”, providing more autonomy to colleges, four-year undergraduate programme for liberal arts and changing the school education format to include pre-school education.

Also read: Modi govt’s draft education policy a disappointment for disabled kids, burdens parents

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