Question : Education for Youth

(a) whether the Government has started to work on any new policy to provide better facilities to
youth in education sector;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) if not, the reasons therefor?

Answer given by the minister


MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
(DR. MAHENDRA NATH PANDEY)
(a) to (c): The National Youth Policy, 2014 formulated by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports recommends specific policy interventions for development and empowerment of youth in
11 priority areas, namely, education, employment and skill development, entrepreneurship, health
and healthy lifestyle, sports, promotion of social values, community engagement, participation in
politics and governance, youth engagement, inclusion and social justice. The implementation of
the Policy is the collective responsibility of all concerned Central Ministries/ Departments, State
Governments as well as other stake holders. The specific actionable interventions in the priority
area of education are (i) to build system capacity and (ii) promote skill development and life-long
learning.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development is implementing several schemes aimed at
enhancing literacy and basic education of the youth, expanding access to all levels of education,
including higher and technical education, promoting equity and improving quality of education.
There has also been significant focus on curriculum reform to increase employability of the
graduates. The scheme of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) seeks to strengthen the
state higher education sector. Further, scholarships are being provided to meritorious students as
also interest subsidy on educational loans is provided to students from economically weaker
sections.
Presently, the Government is in the process of formulating a New Education Policy (NEP)
to meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement with regard to quality education,
innovation and research, aiming to make India a knowledge superpower by equipping its youth
and students with the necessary skills and knowledge and to eliminate the shortage of manpower
in science, technology, academics and industry. Our country has a demographic advantage of the
largest youth population in the world and proposed NEP aims at integrating skills within education
so as to reap the demographic dividend.
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