Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday took additional charge of the Education Department at Kartaviya Bhavan.
The officials said that the President chaired a meeting in which he reviewed the implementation of various plans and other initiatives of the School Education Department and the Ministry of Higher Education.
Joshi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given him “this huge responsibility based on trust and faith”. He said he was in Karnataka on Saturday night and came to Delhi on Sunday morning and took charge at Kartavia Bhawan.
He said: “I am reviewing all the details here and the decisions that need to be made. I have been gathering information and trying to understand the work of the entire ministry. We held continuous meetings today. This is a new topic for me. I took charge today and had detailed discussions with senior officers. It is a very large department, so I will talk to you in detail after I fully understand it.”
The review meeting was attended by Union Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary along with Higher Education Minister Vineet Joshi, new School Education Minister TK Anil Kumar and other senior officials of the ministry.
As per a government order issued on July 23, Joshi will be replaced by IAS Naresh Pal Gangwar on August 1 as the former will replace IAS Vivek Bhardwaj as secretary of the Panchayati Raj Ministry upon Bhardwaj’s retirement on July 31.
A senior official who briefed newly appointed Education Minister Joshi during the meeting said that officials provided information about various offices under the two departments of the ministry.
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“It was an introductory meeting soon after he took charge. We briefed him on the ongoing initiatives of the ministry and key plans driving the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. He took charge on Sunday as he will have to attend Parliament from Monday onwards,” said the official who requested anonymity.
Joshi, who is currently Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food, Public Distribution and New and Renewable Energy, has been given additional charge of the Education Ministry after President Draupadi Murmu on Saturday accepted Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation from the post of Education Minister.
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Pradhan’s resignation came after 36-day student protests led by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar over leak of National Eligibility Test and University Entrance Test (NEET-UG) papers and other alleged irregularities in the examinations. Hours after this announcement, the CJP and the government held a joint press conference, in which it was announced that the Abhijit Debke-led outfit would end its protest as the Center had agreed to all its demands.
