Taking a strong exception to the State Government’s proposal to seek financial aid from private schools to run government schools, educationist V.P. Niranjanaradhya said that the present Congress regime was proposing to implement what it opposed in the National Education Policy 2020.
Speaking at the launch of his book Shikshana Kathana in Shivamogga on Saturday, Mr. Niranajanaradhya said education was a fundamental right and the State had the constitutional obligation to ensure every child got education.
“The government is going after private schools and corporate companies with begging bowls to run the schools. This is highly disappointing. The turn of events in the last four-five months has shown that the change in regime in Karnataka has not brought anything better for the education sector”, he said.
Mr. Niranjanaradhya said he suggested the State Government create the corpus fund to receive funds from all donors instead of going after private institutions seeking aid. “Let the corporate companies offer their contributions to the fund. The government should make use of the fund exclusively for improving schools judiciously”, he said.
Further, he recalled that he left the job at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru as he was asked not to comment on the NEP introduced in 2020. He was one of the first people to comment on the NEP in 2020 and question its intent. “I had to pay a heavy cost for my comments. As soon as I expressed my reservations about the policy, the vice chancellor of the university where I was working received instructions to stop me from making comments. Instead of remaining silent, I chose to give up the job”, he said.
Then he was the senior fellow at the Centre for Child and Law at the NLSIU.
Retired Professor of Journalism D.S. Poornananda said that the NEP was introduced in Karnataka without any preparations. The teaching faculty and the student suffered because of the policy, which had many loopholes. “The policy denied the university their right to frame a syllabus. And the syllabus was prepared in a piece-meal fashion, without keeping the entire course in mind”, he said.
Dr.K. Anjanappa, principal of Tunga College in Thirthahalli, and Dr.N.Rajeshwari, principal of Sahyadri Science College, were present.
