three day Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam is to be held in Varanasi today, July 7, 2023-24. The Ministry of Education along with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is organising the Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam. The summit will be held in several sessions for three days from July 7 to July 9, 2023-24. The seminar will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The three day Varanasi Shiksha Samagam aims to bring together over 300 Vice-Chancellors and directors from public and private universities, educationists, policy makers and many more to deliberate on the successful implementation of National Education Policy 2020 across the country in the upcoming years. Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam seems to be the adoption of the Varanasi Declaration on Higher Education.

This summit, as per an official statement, will help in providing a platform for leading Indian Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). Through this event, the intellectuals will discuss, deliberate, and share insights on strategies, success stories, and best practices in implementing the National Education Policy, 2020.

Explaining the reason to conduct this three-day program, the official statement said: “One of the reasons for conducting the Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam is that the higher education ecosystem in the country spans centers, states, and private entities. Therefore, extensive consultations are required to take the policy implementation further.”

In June 2023-24, Prime Minister Modi had addressed a seminar of Chief Secretaries in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. In that summit, the Chief Secretaries shared their insights on the issue. The Varanasi Shiksha Samagam is next in the series of consultations in this regard.

In the last two years, many universities have adopted the education reform, however, there are still some universities that are yet to adopt and adapt to the changes.

The Ministry of Education along with the UGC and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has brought in several policy initiatives like an academic bank of credit, multiple entry-exit, multidisciplinarity, and flexibility in higher education. Also, some regulations aim to boost online and open distance learning.

Moreover, the ministry has also worked on revising the national curriculum framework to make it more in sync with global standards, promoting multi-linguality and Indian Knowledge Systems and making both a part of the educational curriculum, mainstreaming skill education and promoting lifelong learning, to name a few.