State secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat (ABVP) Manikanta Kalasa has said that the State government’s announcement on scrapping National Education Policy (NEP) to introduce State Education Policy (SEP) has more to do with politics rather than the interests of the student community.
Addressing presspersons along with associate secretary Shivani Shetty and Dharwad convenor Arun Amargol in Hubballi on Tuesday, Mr. Kalasa accused the State government of making the announcement for political reasons without actually assessing the merits and demerits of NEP which is still in the implementation stage.
“The NEP has been framed after elaborate consultation with education experts and various stakeholders. We are not saying everything is foolproof. But it is the responsibility of the State government to evaluate NEP before taking any decision on scrapping it. However, nothing of that sort has been done while announcing the decision to opt for SEP,” he said.
Mr. Kalasa said that the Ministers in the Congress-led dispensation are giving flimsy reasons for the government opting for SEP and till date, the State government too has not specifically mentioned the reasons for scrapping NEP.
“Congress government has made the announcement for political reasons without actually assessing the merits and demerits of NEP which is still in the implementation stage”Manikanta Kalasa,ABVP State secretary
“Before announcing this decision, the State government should have evaluated NEP and if at all it found any demerits, then it could have corrected them. A decision to scrap NEP at a time when the whole country is following it will only cause irreparable loss to the student community and also, will lead to various problems in the education sector,” he said.
He said that as the decision smacked of politics, the ABVP will be launching intensive agitations to condemn the decision to scrap NEP. The ABVP will also organise awareness programmes among the stakeholders about the need for NEP in the interest of students.
“NEP will help our students in getting prepared to face competition at the global level,” he said.
He also raised questions about the composition of the experts committee for SEP and sought to know the reason for choosing a person who is not from Karnataka as its chairman.
When asked about whether ABVP raised similar questions when similar committees were formed for textbook revision with Rohit Chakrateertha as head, Mr. Kalasa said that the ABVP’s activities are focussed on PU and degree students.
To a query, he said that the ABVP welcomed the Congress government’s move to ban tobacco products on campus and the opposition to scrapping NEP is issue-based. During the BJP rule too, the ABVP raised objections when the government took decisions that affected students, he said.
