The Narendra Modi led-government is all set to scrap the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education and replace them with one higher education regulator, tentatively being called the Higher Education Empowerment Regulation Agency or Heera.
The decision to make this change was made after a meeting on education chaired by Prime Minister Modi in March, reported The Economic Times. Senior officials said work is currently on to frame the Heera legislation. The new law is being worked out by the Human Resource Development Ministry and the Niti Aayog. A committee, comprising Niti Aayog’s Amitabh Kant and higher education secretary KK Sharma among others, is also working on the details.
A senior official told The Economic Times that the reform will “eliminate all overlaps in jurisdiction and also do away with regulatory provisions that may no longer be relevant.”
The idea of having a single regulatory authority for education has been doing the rounds since the United Progressive Alliance’s rule, when it had mooted that the National Knowledge Commission.
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