The Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSEHC) has recommended the rejection of the draft National Education Policy.
Raising serious reservations over the apparent ignorance of evolving challenges in the education sector, the advisory body has found the proposed policy formulated to help “private investment and techno-capitalism.”
Picking holes in the recommendations of the K. Kasurirangan-chaired drafting committee, constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the KSHEC observed that the policy failed to identify and address socio-economic challenges that have hindered the country’s educational progress.
It also aims for an ambitious gross enrolment ratio (GER) target of 50% by 2035 for higher education without earmarking public funds, thereby exposing the sector to market forces.
Besides undermining social equity and democratic access to education, the proposed policy attempts to attach value-education with Vedic belief. As a result, it suppresses the cultural multiplicity and diversity of the evolution of knowledge production in the country and “reduces them to a few sacred texts from the ancient period”, the KSHEC stated in its formal response submitted to the Higher Education Department.
It also decried the imposition of three languages at the school-level and cautioned that the move could overburden students. A third language should be ideally introduced at a secondary level and primary learning should emphasize on mother tongue, the report said.
The consultative process also noted that the policy threatened to violate the federal principles by encouraging a centralisation of decision-making in higher education. While the policy proposes a focused drive to establish higher education institutions in backward and remote areas, it was argued that uneven regional development was not the sole factor that determined lack of access and equity. Social divisions based on caste, gender, class, disability and religious identity were highlighted are important aspects in this regard.
The KSHEC also questioned the rationale behind establishing the National Research Foundation which will be empowered to decide on research priorities and allocate funds to projects. The system will undermine the autonomy of higher education institutions in determining their own research priorities, building unique capacities and identifying research potential. Moreover, the proposed body is bound to prioritise commercially-attractive research proposals over socially-valuable or critically-inclined research to cater to the interests of the industry.
The policy in its current form raised concern over denying education to the marginalised sections. The idea of ‘school rationalisation,’ wherein schools with less than 50 students will be merged into ‘school complexes,’ threatened local access for the underprivileged.
The proposed move will affect students from remote and tribal areas who struggle to find travel means. Besides, the proposed amendment that has been suggested to the Right to Education Act to do away with the 25% reservation for the ‘disadvantaged category’ will deprive children from backward classes of quality education.
