Karnataka is the first Indian State to launch the NEP but what about others?

Earlier this week, Karnataka became the first State in India to launch the National Education Policy (NEP). Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai managed to successfully achieve what his counterparts in other States have been struggling with for the last two years. Come October 1, schools and colleges in Karnataka would see a tectonic shift in their curriculum and the process of teaching. It is expected that the NEP would revolutionise the education sector. The Chief Minister expressed the hope that the NEP, which has been adapted to suit the convenience of students in the State by the National Committee for the Education Policy headed by Dr K Kasturirangan, former chief of Isro, would make every Kannadiga a knowledgeable person and liberate education from “silos”. He also announced the establishment of primary and secondary education councils in the State. Karnataka would have a career guidance and personality development programme at the secondary education level that would realise the goal of creating an equitable society. The councils will also help the teachers and parents to identify the areas of interest of their wards so that they would not end up as square pegs in round holes.

An important point in the NEP is the decision to impart education through one’s mother tongue up to Class V. While NEP’s implementation has been held up elsewhere due to resistance from the Opposition which alleges that it is a tool to saffronise education, Karnataka seems to have pulled off a consensus. Moreover, the State has no fringe elements opposing Hindi unlike in Tamil Nadu where the Dravidian politicians see red at the mere mention of Hindi. Students should be given an opportunity to learn Hindi, India’s official language, because they are capable of excelling in any languages and they should not be denied the chance to learn two or three languages besides the mother tongue. The Tamil Nadu politics has robbed the students of a chance to study in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, a concept school system launched when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Tamil Nadu is the only State in India that does not have Navodaya Vidyalayas, offering public school-level education for free. The Dravidian honchos are wary of Hindi and hence such schools are missing from the State. Poor students are the losers because they are denied the “equal opportunity” as mentioned in the Constitution.

(Courtesy: The Pioneer)

Karnataka is the first Indian State to launch the NEP but what about others?

Earlier this week, Karnataka became the first State in India to launch the National Education Policy (NEP). Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai managed to successfully achieve what his counterparts in other States have been struggling with for the last two years. Come October 1, schools and colleges in Karnataka would see a tectonic shift in their curriculum and the process of teaching. It is expected that the NEP would revolutionise the education sector. The Chief Minister expressed the hope that the NEP, which has been adapted to suit the convenience of students in the State by the National Committee for the Education Policy headed by Dr K Kasturirangan, former chief of Isro, would make every Kannadiga a knowledgeable person and liberate education from “silos”. He also announced the establishment of primary and secondary education councils in the State. Karnataka would have a career guidance and personality development programme at the secondary education level that would realise the goal of creating an equitable society. The councils will also help the teachers and parents to identify the areas of interest of their wards so that they would not end up as square pegs in round holes.

An important point in the NEP is the decision to impart education through one’s mother tongue up to Class V. While NEP’s implementation has been held up elsewhere due to resistance from the Opposition which alleges that it is a tool to saffronise education, Karnataka seems to have pulled off a consensus. Moreover, the State has no fringe elements opposing Hindi unlike in Tamil Nadu where the Dravidian politicians see red at the mere mention of Hindi. Students should be given an opportunity to learn Hindi, India’s official language, because they are capable of excelling in any languages and they should not be denied the chance to learn two or three languages besides the mother tongue. The Tamil Nadu politics has robbed the students of a chance to study in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, a concept school system launched when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Tamil Nadu is the only State in India that does not have Navodaya Vidyalayas, offering public school-level education for free. The Dravidian honchos are wary of Hindi and hence such schools are missing from the State. Poor students are the losers because they are denied the “equal opportunity” as mentioned in the Constitution.

(Courtesy: The Pioneer)