“Political vengeance…” BC Nagesh slams Karnataka govt for scrapping NEP 2020 from next academic year

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader BC Nagesh on Friday hit out at the Congress government in the state over its decision to eliminate the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) starting from the next academic year, and said that the move would affect the future of the students and overall society. While speaking to ANI, the BJP leader said that the NEP was formed after deep analysis and research over six years and would have been instrumental in the development of the country, and further added that the move by the state government has been taken with political vengeance.

“Karnataka CM has introduced discontinuation of NEP which had already been introduced. Two batches of students are studying in Karnataka under the NEP module. This is done with political vengeance which will affect the future of the students and overall society. So far, no political party has taken such a decision in terms of National policy. This decision would affect the future of the state,” BC Nagesh said. Speaking at a Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) gathering at the party headquarters earlier on Friday, CM Siddaramaiah said that due to uncompleted preparations this year and the commencement of the academic year following the state election results, the abolishment of NEP would be more suitable.

“NEP has to be abolished after making some necessary preparations. The academic year had begun by the time the election results were out and the government was formed… NEP has been continued this year to avoid inconvenience to the students in the middle of the year,” the CM said. NEP has been opposed by students, parents and lecturers and teachers simultaneously, he added.

He further said that the BJP has sacrificed the interest of the students by implementing NEP in the state even before other states implemented it in the country. Earlier in July this year, Karnataka primary education Minister Madhu Bangarappa said that the state education department has decided not to adopt the National Education Policy( NEP) but instead will implement the State Education Policy (SEP).

“Education department has decided that NEP will not be implemented in Karnataka. We are planning to implement SEP (State Education Policy) on the suggestion of the professional team,” the minister said after visiting a model government Primary School in Bengaluru. NEP at the higher education level was implemented in the state by the previous BJP government. And it was also in the process of rolling it out in schools.

In June, Karnataka Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar said that while the Congress had widely publicised its intention to scrap the National Education Policy (NEP), a thorough analysis of the policy’s pros and cons is necessary before making any hasty decisions. “We want to analyze the positives and negatives of the policy. As mentioned in the manifesto, state education policy will be implemented but at the same time, students’ betterment 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,” MC Sudhakar had said.

It may be noted that NEP 2020 launched in July 2020 provides a set of guiding principles for a paradigm shift across the education sector in India from school to doctoral level. PTI