In an ode to harassed students, Kapil Sibal wrote, "Create the space for me to run! Let learning be a lot of fun”.

But it would do well for him to examine, whether the recent spate of laws, notifications and proposed legislations, especially on the higher education domain would ultimately create space for any student to run.

Sibal’s game plan for reforming higher education has four important components. Creation of a super regulator, which is supposed to supersede the existing maze,  regulating the entry of foreign players, making accreditation mandatory for all higher education entities and finally having a law that  makes cheating by education providers a criminal offence, in addition to a host of policy pronoucements.

The super regulator appears to be a non-starter, with law, medical and agricultural ministries fiercely resisting the move. And the existing regulators are making their displeasure very well known with calibrated leaks. The Foreign Education Bill, will invariably meet political resistance, especially from the Left. But the last two bills, which actually have some direct impact on student welfare, appear to make no news.

A better way for the ministry would be to focus on getting the last two bills crafted and passed at the earliest. Both of them would demand substantial attention to detail and can easily keep the  mandarins at the ministry engaged for the greater part of the next four years. And  both the acts would step on lots of toes indirectly and expose the chinks in the armour of many other silos of education  making it easier for the other two pieces of legislation to gain acceptance. 

But what is most important is that both these pieces of law would make life tremendously better for millions of students and parents. The groundswell of goodwill that such a measure would generate  would stand in good stead for any politician interested in  leaving a legacy.

There is so much at stake for so many interest groups in higher education that  the best way to derail reforms in this sector  is to begin at the wrong end, which is the direction which Mr Sibal appears to tread.

Long-term planning in higher education is a must, and NHERA is one such idea. But it’s ability to impact the cheated student and harassed parent immediately is zero. Students and parents give two hoots about this or that regulatory body. They want concrete action and if that is not going to happen, we could as well kiss reforms good bye. That would be a pity, since HRD does have an able minister in  the recent years, and a commitment from the party in power.

Will better sense dawn on the mandarins of the ministry?