Revolution in education?

New Delhi: It was often said that the HRD ministry was one of the sleepiest in the government but a new minister can change everything.

Kapil Sibal's announcements took even his own bureaucrats by surprise, he has promised movement of the right to education bill in this session itself.

A virtual revolution in India's educational system unchanged for the last three decades. When bureaucrats came in to the HRD ministry on Thursday morning, they had no idea their old policies would be overturned.

The bureaucrats were looking for a new head for the CBSE, but their boss has put a question mark on the body itself saying their board exams would eventually be phased out.

"We'll evolve a common board across the country eventually that's what we want. The class X exam has become optional, it's part of the elaborate exam reforms we have in mind," said Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister.

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Kapil Sibal clearly stealing a march over other high profile ministers announcing his ambitious new agenda in just 27 days, the first one in Manmohan Singh's team to do so other key changes include.

Kapil Sibal proposes:
Common entrance exam for colleges like GRE
Grades in Class X instead of marks
New laws including one on regulating foreign universities

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For now, the minister says he'll take everyone along but they will certainly have to move fast to keep up with his pace.

After declaring that the class X board exams will be made optional, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal in an exclusive interview to NDTV has told NDTV that eventually class XII board exams should also be done away with.