Arjun Singh's policies won't be scrapped: Sibal

New Delhi: Government will "look into" the issue of reservation for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in private unaided educational institutions.

"We will look into it," Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal replied when asked whether there would be reservation for OBCs in private and unaided educational institutions.

The government has implemented 27 per cent seats for OBCs in Central Educational Institutions. Most of these institutions are implementing the quota in a staggering manner.

The government has allocated additional funds towards enhancing infrastructure for increasing the seats to implement the OBC quota.

To another question on educational institutions facing difficulties in implementing the OBC quota, Sibal said that "all new policies have teething problems. We will look into all those things".

The 27 per cent quota in Central Educational Institutions has been implemented since 2007.

Sibal also said that programmes in the education sector initiated by previous HRD minister Arjun Singh would not be scrapped.

After taking over as the HRD Minister on Friday, Sibal said the policies and programmes started by the HRD Ministry during last five years will be continued with modifications "as required".

"Whatever policy has been started or rules and regulations framed by the previous government will not be scrapped. I respect my predecessor, who is a respectable leader of the Congress," he said.

Sibal, however, said changes were required in the education sector to enable the children and youth to compete with their counterparts at the international level.

"Nothing is static. We have to march forward to be able to compete at the international level," he said.

Sibal said changes are required with respect to curriculum at every stages. "Skill development is our priority. Our youth do not get jobs because our curriculum has not been changed. The curriculum of schools and universities should be upgraded," he said.

Even the IITs, which are considered centres of excellence, need to upgrade themselves with the changing times, he added.