The first international summit on education, which was announced with much fanfare by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has been shelved.
The event that was expected to have ministers and in-charges of education from 180 countries as participants was scheduled to take place in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, in November. It was expected that Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inaugurate the event at Mahatma Mandir.
While the Ministry officials were tight-lipped about the reasons for calling off the event, sources said the Patidar agitation and poor response from some of the invitees contributed to its scrapping.
The Patidar (Patel) community has been agitating for reservation under the OBC category in Gujarat.
“We have got the message from the Ministry that the summit has been called off,” Pankaj Joshi, Principal Secretary (Higher Education), Gujarat, told The Hindu . He said the Ministry had not offered any specific reason for its decision. The Gujarat government was providing all infrastructure and logistical support for the event.
The idea for the education summit can be traced to the Vibrant Gujarat Investors Summit in 2013, when the Gujarat government organised a special event related to education with participation from over 20 countries. Mr. Modi, who was then the Chief Minister, stressed making the State and the country the “education and research capital of the world.”
