Kerala State Higher Education Council vice chairman Rajan Gurukkal P.M. has said that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 threatened to ‘regularise’ deep inequalities that existed in the country.
Delivering the 19th N. Narendran memorial lecture on ‘The New National Education Policy: The Other Side’ on Friday, Prof. Gurukkal said that the policy, approved by the Union Cabinet last week, was fashioned to suit the interests of corporates as well as the Central government that aspired to cater to the requirements of the global economy that viewed education as a ‘trade sector’.
According to him, the NEP has been “sugar-coated” with attractive proposals which could only be seen as rhetoric intended to conceal many disagreeable recommendations which in reality formed the driving force behind the reform.
He pointed out that the NEP was not an entirely new policy, but an extension of a concept that had come into being during the Rajiv Gandhi government’s rule when the Knowledge Commission was set up and which later gained momentum during the tenure of the P.V. Narasimha Rao government when the country became part of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), a treaty of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
As a commodity
“Influenced by external factors, the country witnessed a gradual inclination towards treating education as a commodity and withdrawing government funding in the sector. Over the years, capitalism has now given way to creating a knowledge economy or techno-capitalism that has been focusing on generating marketable knowledge,” he said.
Prof. Gurukkal added that the government’s alleged effort to centralise decision-making powers on academic matters was meant to cater to the needs of corporate entities that had been intensively pursuing research in science-tech hybrid fields such as bioinformatics, functional genomics and biomolecular engineering. “These companies, which are capable of funding far more than any university or research institution, have been exploiting the innovativeness of young minds to churn out intellectual property rights and patents for their commercial gains,” he said.
Out of bounds
While the proposed move to teach vocational crafts from Class 6 was bound to compel numerous students to drop out of the formal education system at early ages, the decision to create autonomous colleges would further keep education out of bounds for large sections.
“Currently, nearly 43% of students pursuing higher education hailed from socially and economically backward sections. The new policy is expected to further restrict social mobility and deepen inequities in access to education, particularly at a time when education has largely transitioned into a virtual mode in the post-COVID-19 scenario,” Prof. Gurukkal said.
Public schools
He said the need of the hour was effective steps towards enhancing facilities in public-funded schools and ensuring teachers’ availability. In contrast to the scenario in the State, many schools in north India lacked permanent buildings and functioned in enclosures that resembled circus tents.