TSR Subramanian, who is heading the panel comprising former NCERT chairman JS Rajput and former chief secretary Shailaja Chandra, will submit the draft policy next month.
For the first time in 30 years, India is going to have a new education policy, which the government says is a major collaborative effort. But academics have complained that it is lacking in transparency. Chairman of the drafting committee TSR Subramanian said these fears are baseless. And in an indication of what's in store, he said children should learn more about values.
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Value education will form a major part of our syllabus, Mr Subramanian said. Although he did not go into specifics, he said, "Before values were taught by our families, but now that no longer happens so we have to teach our children that.''
Value education has always been controversial since critics point out that it can be used for political purposes.
Mr Subramanian, who is heading the panel comprising former NCERT chairman JS Rajput and former chief secretary Shailaja Chandra, will submit the draft policy next month.
India's education system has been called second rate. The TSR panel said their trips to various educational institutions brought the truth home, but now the key is going to be distilling it into a solution.
Mr Subramanian said they have not met Dinanath Batra, the head of the Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, who has been campaigning for a rehaul of the education system and for more moral education in the syllabus.
Mr Batra's suggestions have been embraced by the Haryana government, but Mr Subramanian said, "He is welcome to come and meet us.''
The TSR panel has already run into major controversies, with many academics saying they haven't been consulted. Last week, prominent academics from Jawahar Lal Nehru University among others wrote to TSR.
Mr Subramanian said their fears are baseless. "We have met many people and others are welcome to write to us too,'' he added.
The government claims consultations have been held over one year with 15,000 students, 2,400 common citizens, all states and most districts. Critics point out the key to the consultations is to make them transparent.
Former cabinet secretary and author, Mr Subramanian was the head of the environment panel that was tasked with looking into six major environmental laws and suggesting ways to improve the regulatory framework in 2014.
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