MADURAI
The concept of one nation, one language and one education would not work for India and would hinder progress in education, said former Judge of Madras High Court K. Chandru.
He was addressing teachers at a seminar, organised by All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organisations (AIFUCTO) and School Teachers Federation of India, highlighting the drawbacks of the draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019.
Mr. Chandru said the National Policy on Education, 1986, was the first steptowards privatising education – making education undemocratic and putting a price on quality of learning.
He said the teachers should be aware of the contents of the draft NEP and what it held for students.
Speakers at the seminar elaborated on the perils of commercialisation, corporatisation and communalisation of education.
Eminent educationist V. Vasanthi Devi said though the policy made tall promises, it excluded poorer sections of society, particularly minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
“Although the makers of the policy say they have taken part in a highly consultative process, the appendix states that the 63 famous personalities who were on the panel are all English-speaking elites, who are mostly from cities. The only student organisation that was consulted was Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, which is affiliated to the BJP,” she said.
The policy draft shed no clear light on reservation and gives weightage to merit, which is a word loaded with highly caste and class-based sentiments. “The Centre says it will increase public expenditure on education to 20.9% from the current 10%, but does not say how. It assumes that the GDP will somehow rise in the next five years and will hence lead to a rise in education spending,” Ms. Vasanthi Devi said.
DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said important socialist policies, including noon meal scheme, began in Tamil Nadu to incentivise education. Unless more such measures were taken, the number of students enrolling for higher education would be minimal.
Madukkur Ramalingam of Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association and educationist Ayesha Natarajan also spoke about implementation of the NEP at the school level and commercialisation of education.
AIFUCTO president S. Subbaraju welcomed the gathering. Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association general secretary M. Nagarajan said teachers would oppose the move to have common exams for students of Classes 5 and 8.