The basic questions that come to mind are why the initiative was not taken much earlier by the government; why it was not put up to elicit public opinion; how a committee can draw up a 20-year education plan without the involvement of other political parties and civil society members; and whether such a two-decade long plan is either feasible, or even desirable in view of the changing educational parameters from time to time.

Education being the engine for development, the trivialisation of the process of policy preparation, that too unilaterally, cannot escape notice in a democratic set up. However, no one contests the need for strategic plan for higher education and some of the contents of the draft such as rendering campuses free of party politics and creation of endowment funds are commendable ideas, to say the least.

Formulation of an education policy is different from drawing up a plan for a project like a bridge or a hospital because the former is going to affect the lives of thousands of students and the system as a whole for a long time to come. Reforms in the education sector are no doubt needed but there has to be a national consensus on the pertinent issues to ensure implementation of the reform agenda through political vagaries of all kind. We are aware that higher education curricula are being regularly updated in the developed countries in a bid to make them more pragmatic, dynamic and need-based. Perhaps we need the same more than others.

All said and done, we strongly feel that the draft national policy on education be withheld till the next elections are held and a new government is formed. Then it must be a subject matter of public discourse before placing it in parliament for scrutiny, debate and adoption.