No plan to have common course for all boards: HRD

New Delhi: The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry on Monday ruled out any plan to introduce a common course in CBSE, ICSE and other state boards, saying the uniform syllabus across the country will not take into account the local culture and language.
 The Ministry also denied having any plan to close the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). 

Minister of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha in response to a written question in Lok Sabha said, "The government does not plan to introduce a common course in CBSE, state education boards, NIOS and ICSE".  "Multiplicity of curricula and educational resources are desirable as the uniform syllabus across nation does not take into account the local contexts, culture and language," he said. 

In response to another question, Kushwaha said, "The government does not propose to close the NIOS".No data maintained  The HRD Ministry on Monday said it does not maintain any data of fake education boards found functioning in the country.

The minister of State for HRD, Upendra Kushwaha, said in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha that "some instances of functioning of fake education boards have come to the notice of the Ministry".

 "The Ministry, however, does not maintain any centralised data regarding fake education boards functioning in different parts of the country," he added.
 
The minister stated that state governments and police authorities have been asked to identify fake education boards functioning in their jurisdiction and register cases against them for misleading people. 

No digital evaluation 

The government on Monday said there is no proposal before it to introduce digital evaluation system for answer scripts of students in colleges and varsities. 

The Minister of State for HRD, Satya Pal Singh, said this in a written response to a question in Lok Sabha. "No proposal is pending before the government on introduction of digital evaluation system for answer script of the students at the university level," Singh said.

 "However, universities are established under either a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act and have administrative autonomy in their functioning, which includes introduction of digital evaluation system," he added.