Lashing out at Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was not a political document but a visionary one, created by the country’s leading educationists.
Mr. Pradhan was responding to the Karnataka State government’s decision to scrap the NEP. He posed pointed questions to Mr. Shivakumar, alleging that the latter was “playing politics”.
Karnataka, the first State under its then BJP government to adopt the NEP in 2020 after the policy was floated by the Centre, now under a Congress government holds that 2023 will be the last year of the policy’s implementation.
The State will also put a hold on the four-year Honours degree under the NEP and revert to the three-year undergraduate programme. “Do they want Karnataka youth to not earn any academic credits? Should there not be an academic bank of credit for the students?” Mr. Pradhan asked.
“Do they [the State government] not want Karnataka to avail options for multiple entries and exits in higher education institutions, a step welcomed in by all higher education institutions of the country?” he added.
“What kind of message do you want to give to the youngsters of the country? Do they not want early childhood education system to be implemented in Karnataka from age of three? Do they not want localised, toy-based ‘play way’ learning?” Mr. Pradhan asked.
He further asked if the State government did not want Karnataka’s children to have foundational literacy and numeracy, or if the State did not wish children to study in the local language, Kannada.
“Do they not want students to learn about new, emerging technology as recommended by the NEP or do they not want new textbooks relevant for 21st century education, which is multi-disciplinary, with equal emphasis on science, language, sports, social sciences, and the arts?” Mr. Pradhan further asked.
By scrapping the NEP, Mr. Pradhan said that the students of Karnataka would be denied opportunities for earning and learning.
“I would like to appeal to him [Mr. Shivakumar] again [that] politics should take its own route but we should not play with the future of the young generation,” Mr. Pradhan said.
