Though a lot is being said and written about the New Education Policy which was released a week back, an insight into the text makes implicit that the government desires to open up the Indian education market for the foreign institutes to set up their shops.

Only a couple of months back, even while coronavirus was ravaging the country, the prime minister Narendra Modi talked of atmanirbhar Bharat. But he refrained from uttering this word in the case of strengthening the foundations of education in the country. It is really shocking that the NEP talks of the policy that explicitly facilitates the presence of foreign universities within higher education. The framers of the policy have presented these foreign universities as ideals to be emulated.

It is indeed sickening that the rulers and the people who claim to shape the destiny of the country did not bother to have a serious look at the proposal to set up “MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) with the motto to reach the global status of, Ivy League Universities in the US.”

This Policy simply underlines the hurry of the Indian political leaders and rulers to mortgage the Indian interest to America. Somebody should tell these people that most of the Universities have large number of Indian teachers and professors who impart quality education. What has made them vibrant institutions is the presence of faculty and teachers, elected, as well as on the basis of seniority and rotation. No one will find an illiterate politician taking jibes at these institutes and insinuating against them as we recently noticed in the case of JNU and Jamia Islamia.

The politicians have been indulging in such nefarious and dirty game purely with the intention to malign as these institutes and their teachers and students have been opposed to the irrational and obnoxious politics and ideas.

In India education is no more an instrument of empowerment. It is purely a business venture. The NEP provides the much needed scope and opportunity to run it on the lines of corporate business. Gone are the days of Dronacharya and Eklavya. The modern educational institutions have AC classrooms, even the buses ferrying the students from home have AC facilities.

No doubt they are making the students literate but are unable to educate the poor chaps. A cursory look at the students opting for foreign institutes will reveal that 99 per cent of the students go abroad for studying IT or Business. The schools are witnessing a sustained decline in science studies. The International Mathematics Congress at its recent meeting held in India had expressed its dismay and shock at students’ reluctance to studying mathematics.

It is worrying to see that there is no focus on early child development, learning outcomes, holistic education and recognising the centrality of teacher and teacher education. Who will guarantee that these will find the attention of the government and its mandarins? The document recognises that “the very highest priority of the education system will be to achieve universal foundational numeracy and literacy.” This is really a utopia.

The document emphasises that focus needs to shift from exams to learning. Earlier the focus was on learning. The focus shifted to exam once the education got commercialised. Better result, better performance was like TV TRP for the private schools.

The language issue was sorted out long back. But the government for obvious political benefits was once again raising this issue. It is a known fact that medium of instruction has been a way of perpetuating class and caste structures in India. It is a fact that baring a minor percentage, most of the students attended bhasha-medium schools. Only the elite sent their children to expensive English-medium schools. It is unfortunate that the machinations of the elites and politicians provided much importance to the private schools and they attained prominence. The fact still remains that even today most of the teachers attached to these schools are excellent.

A closer look at the drop outs would unravel the truth that while the parents are unable to pay the fees of the private schools, they are also dissatisfied with the education at the government schools. Obviously they have developed a sense of inertia, averseness towards education. Every parent nurses the feeling that his son/daughter should get education so that he can get empowered. But it is the functioning of the schools which frustrates and disheartens them. It is sad that the government never tried to check the decline.

One thing is absolutely clear that the NEP would have to depend on the government employees for its implementation. Can anyone guarantee that this would not meet the same fate as the existing set up has met. The employees have been inflating the number of enrolments to siphon the government funds. No one knows it better than the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar. They have been betraying extremely poor students who do not have a tradition of education in their families and find it very difficult to compete with their peers who have a much better financial background and better education.

The NEP will bring little benefits the poor people of India. This would simply legalise the commercialisation of the education. The NEP is a tool to promote centralised decision-making and top-down administration. Its over-emphasis on privatisation and its lack of clarity on the required resources are the most threatening aspect. It would negate the well-defined democratic mechanisms including elected senates, syndicates and elected academic and executive councils, evolved and established by universities.

The NEP will also endanger the educational interest and prospect of the poor and Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups. It is silent on the issue of bare minimum affirmative action required to safe guard the caste and class interest of the poor. (IPA Service)