The draft National Education Policy submitted by an expert committee to the new human resource development minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, carried a message from his predecessor Prakash Javadekar.

According to a media release issued by the Press Information Bureau on Friday, the policy was submitted to Nishank who has taken charge as HRD minister in the new government.

Javadekar took over as information and broadcasting minister from Friday.

The message from Javadekar said: “I am honoured to present to the children and youth of my country the National Education Policy 2018 built on the foundational pillars of access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability.”

An academic said printing the message of the previous minister was inappropriate. “The document was never presented to Javadekar. The committee gave the report to the new minister. The message from the past minister saying he was presenting the policy to the public is unnecessary and inappropriate,” said the academic who did not wish to be identified.

A senior HRD ministry official said the report had been ready since December 2018. Since it was ready, the minister then had included a message.

“The policy was ready since December 2018. It was only officially presented to the new minister,” the official said.