Educational news about Personality development, career guidance, Leadership Skills and more in Edubilla.com ...

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said that as a part of key reforms in the University Grants Commission (UGC) and to show in greater transparency, freedom and autonomy, Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) is about to bring in a graded regulatory mechanism.

The HRD minister also announced that SWAYAM, an open web based platform from which 2000 courses will be run for students across the country, will be launched next month. Javadekar said that Union Budget 2017 reflects the government's vision of raising quality in the education sector, which has got additional funds this time to the tune of Rs 6,000 crore. 

He said that as per the Right to Education Act, learning outcomes are being defined and will be part of the coming academic session. Another initiative is an innovation fund of Rs 100 crore for schools which will be introduced in educationally backward districts.

He said a separate exam agency has also been announced which will conduct major exams, many of which are being conducted by an overburdened Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The main focus of CBSE is to look after school education.

Javadekar said that thrust is to give more autonomy to good institutes and monitor mid-level and monitor more those in the lower rungs while he is speaking about UGC reforms. He added that everybody would be incentivised to go upwards.

Referring to the IIM Bill, which is expected to come up in the current Parliament session, Javadekar said it indicates the shape of things to come. He referred to SWAYAM which is a MOOCs platform and said that it would become what ATM is for money. It will be any time learning and anywhere learning, he said while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the budget provisions.

The HRD minister also referred to the announcement made in 2016 budget about creating 20 world class institutions and said that consultations are complete and guidelines finalized. He said institutions would be asked to file applications and the process would start soon. They would be known as institutions of excellence. Javadekar also said that the HRD ministry is working in a major way to bring reforms in teachers education.