Karnataka to set up panel to frame new education policy

Siddaramaiah, in his budget speech on Friday, stated that the state government would withdraw the NEP and formulate its policy in line with the local realities

Karnataka school education and literacy minister Madhu Bangarappa has said that the government would constitute an expert committee to formulate the state education policy after chief minister Siddaramaiah announced the scrapping of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

Karnataka minister Madhu Bangarappa said the government would constitute an expert committee to formulate education policy (ANI)

“We have scrapped the NEP, and the chief minister has given instructions to constitute a new expert committee to frame a state-level policy,” Bangarappa said after visiting a model government primary school in Bengaluru on Saturday.

Bangarappa further mentioned that the expert committee would be finalised soon and work under the chief minister. “The expert team, responsible for framing the new state-level policy, will work under the chief minister, and we will soon finalise the committee.”

Keeping Congress’s election promise, Siddaramaiah, in his budget speech on Friday, stated that the state government would withdraw the NEP and, instead, formulate its policy in line with the local realities.

Pointing out that the NEP does not suit a country as diverse as India, he argued that it is incompatible with the federal system of governance.

“A uniform education system does not suit a nation like India, which has diverse religions, languages, and cultures. A new education policy will be formulated, considering the local social, cultural, and economic milieu of the state. The new policy will raise the standards of higher education in the state to a global level and empower our youth to compete globally and access meaningful employment opportunities,” Siddaramaiah said, emphasising the need to scrap the NEP.

The chief minister said conversational English classes will be started in all government higher education institutions of the state in collaboration with the British Council and Regional Institute of English.

“To eliminate language barriers in pursuing higher education and to enable university students to write exams in Kannada, we will translate widely used reference books and syllabi into Kannada,” he said.

The BS Yediyurappa-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka pushed to become the first state in the country to implement the NEP 2020 in 2021.

In June this year, then Karnataka higher education minister MC Sudhakar stated that while the Congress had widely publicised its intention to scrap the NEP, a thorough analysis of the policy’s pros and cons is necessary before making any hasty decisions.

“We want to analyse the positives and negatives of the policy. As mentioned in the manifesto, a state education policy will be implemented, but at the same time, students’ well-being should also be taken into consideration. The opposition will always have its way of interpreting things. We are going to fulfil what we have promised,” Sudhakar had said.

However, Congress leaders continue to back a state education policy away from the implications of the NEP.

On Saturday, transport minister Ramalinga Reddy criticised the NEP as being one-sided on Saturday. “The NEP is not good. It is one-sided. This is a democratic country, and there are various religions. We will implement our policy,” Reddy said.

The Congress in its manifesto for this year’s assembly elections promised to scrap the NEP in the state, terming it the ‘Nagpur Education Policy’, and suggesting that it drew its inspiration from the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was launched by the Union government on July 29, 2020 with an aim to transform the country’s education system — aligning it with needs of the future while keeping it “rooted in Indianness”.