Prahlad Joshi has been appointed as the new Union Education Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. He replaced Dharmendra Pradhan after nearly five years as part of the latest cabinet reshuffle. Previously, he was Central Customer Affairs, He was serving as Minister of Food and Public Distribution and Renewable Energy. The major change came after Dharmendra Pradhan took responsibility for the appalling irregularities in the NEET exam and resigned to protect students’ interests and national unity.
Along with the reshuffle in the cabinet, the government has also made important reshuffles in the senior officials of the Ministry of Education. Higher Education Secretary Vinit Joshi has been transferred to the Panchayat Raj Ministry and Naresh Pal Gangwar has been appointed as the new Higher Education Secretary. On the other hand, TK Anil Kumar has taken over as Secretary of School Education and Literacy Department. The administrative changes are believed to be aimed at strengthening the work of the Education Ministry and the National Testing Agency (NTA) following the recent exam controversy.
Dharmendra Pradhan succeeded Ramesh Pokhriyal as the Education Minister in July 2021. The implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 has progressed rapidly during his tenure. The introduction of the National Curriculum Model and the new NCERT textbooks were significant steps of his time. It is also proposed to conduct class X and XII board exams twice a year. However, towards the end of his tenure, the controversy over competitive exams eclipsed all these achievements. In 2024 and later in 2026, question paper leaks and allegations of serious irregularities in the NIT examination sparked strong protests across the country. The government had to cancel the NIT exams and order a CBI probe and the opposition demanded his resignation.
Now, the new Education Minister Prahlad Joshi has a tough road and many challenges ahead. He must push forward the full implementation of the National Education Policy and the reform of the school curriculum. But the biggest challenge is yes‘To restore the lost confidence of the public in the country’s examination system and the National Examination Board. The government is already preparing for NET computer-based main entrance examination and has proposed to enhance technical security in the examination system. The new minister must not limit these reforms to announcements but successfully implement them so that millions of students in the country can have a fair and reliable examination system.