Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday attacked the West Bengal government for its opposition to the New Education Policy unveiled in 2020, wondering whether it was against the clauses that raise employability of students. Pradhan who also wondered whether the opposition stemmed from political reasons tried to defend the NEP which has been attacked by many non-Hindi speaking state governments by claiming that it gave equal importance to local languages.
The West Bengal government has said it is opposed to the NEP claiming that the policy seeks to impose Hindi and bring curriculum changes in the name of uniformity which went against federalism. The government also alleged that the NEP tries to centralize the entire higher education system, obliterating the current mechanism which gives leeway to universities to have their own Syllabus.
Pradhan said, “It (NEP) was done in a spirit of consultative mechanism in a scientific manner. Does West Bengal oppose that very spirit? Are they opposed to a committee helmed by a scientist like K Kasturirangan for reasons other than academics?” The Union minister, who was talking to reporters on the sidelines of an event at a city hotel, said that most of the state governments were not opposed to the NEP irrespective of their political leanings.
“Local language is given utmost importance in the NEP. Does this government look at things in a different way? Doesn’t the Bengal government wish to raise employability of its people? NEP 2020 stands for knowledge-based employability,” Pradhan, a BJP leader, said. He said that the state government is welcome to add more value to the NEP, which is a “basic document”. “I hope this decision (opposition to NEP) is not prompted by political considerations,” Pradhan added.
The Union minister said he has learned that the West Bengal government has recently formed a panel to look into aspects of the NEP. “It is unfortunate if they are opposed to the spirit of the draft.” There is a growing perception that the West Bengal government wants to oppose every move by the Centre. West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu recently said education is on the concurrent list and the TMC government will never accept imposition of the NEP as the state has its own culture and education system.
The state government has formed a 10-member committee comprising experts in various fields to get feedback about the NEP and formulate an education policy tailored to the needs and interests of students of West Bengal. A top educationist told.
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