IIT Council meeting: Five developments which may lead to major changes from upcoming academic year

Indian Institute of Technology council, the highest government-nominated body of the 16 IITs hosted 49th meeting with Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday in Kolkata regarding some of the major changes in IITs as the need of time to enhance the productivity of the institute.
1. The decision of fee hike put on hold.
Smriti Irani has put the decision to hike the fee on hold. According to Times Of India report, she had said that the issue of fee hike was sensitive and ministry cannot rush through it. However, no timeline has been fixed to take a decision on this issue.
The IIT Council had proposed to hike tuition fee of students  by 150 per cent from Rs 90,000 to Rs 2.65 lakh to meet the recurring expenses of the institute. The proposal made by Anil Kakodar committee in 2011.
According to the proposal, IITs are highly subsidised by the government. The cost of a students graduating from IIT is around 3.5 lakh per year, the students are paying Rs. 90,000 per year as tuition fee. The hike was proposed in light of meeting the institutes' expenses on labs, equipment, staff salary, housekeeping, water and electricity.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani orders addition of moral values in education

Smriti Irani, HRD Minister has issued an order to add moral value in educating school children. On May 6, moral and civic education was made compulsory to all CBSE affiliated schools and colleges by the Union Minister for Human Resource Development.

The HRD Ministry's press release said that all National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks would have themes and examples reflecting moral conduct.

The syllabus will introduce value education. Additionally, NCERT has created a resource book for teachers called the 'Ways to Peace'. The students would be assessed on these new subjects in the final exams, as per the release.