At a time when the whole nation and the bureaucracy is riding the election wave, the HRD ministry is working upon preparing the five year plan for education in consultation with former revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, principal scientific advisor K VijayRaghavan, Rediff founder Ajit Balakrishnan and former InfosysNSE 1.81 % CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan. Draft plans have been submitted for ‘Education Quality Upgradation and Inclusion Programme’ (Equip) that aims at bringing transformational change in the system over the period of next five years. The reports will be compiled to create an ambitious five-year plan by June 2019 under the guidance of B Venkatesh Kumar, national coordinator for Rashtriya Ucchtar Shiksha Abhiyan who is also the coordinator for Equip. Among other things, the plan will focus on doubling gross enrolment ratio with special attention to SCs and STs and geographically backward groups, internationalisation of institutes and promoting international academic collaborations and making strategies towards financing higher education including increased private sector participation.
