It is not surprising that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been implemented in nearly all the BJP ruled states since 2021, Karnataka being the first state to do so, followed by Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra etc. The southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have refused to implement the NEP saying they will, after due considerations and deliberations, come up with their own state policy. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, MK Stalin announced that the state would follow the Policy – Illam Thedi Kalvi – which translates to ‘education scheme at our doorstep.’ According to MK Stalin, Tamil Nadu would be working on a State Education Policy to implement an improvised education system. This makes better sense as it will be suited to the needs of the students in that state. One of the reasons for most states resisting the implementation of the NEP 2020 is because one policy does not fit all. India is too diverse a country to have a uniform policy on anything. Is that not why the Planning Commission was dismantled by the Modi Government in 2014? In its place the NITI Aayog became the hallmark of what was called competitive federalism where states compete with one another and with the Centre in their performance. Whether the NITI Aayog has been able to achieve this idea of independent thinking among the states so that they are able to progress better then having to implement schemes not tailored to their needs. Why then is the central government pushing the implementation of the NEP-2020?
In a booklet titled ‘What NEP 2020 Speaks, Where Reality Stands,’ published by All India Save Education Policy Committee (AISEC), the first chapter speaks of the reality checks needed before implementing the NEP-2020. The NEP laments that India is presently in a learning crisis. The AISEC says that it has become customary for all education policies to lament the present state of education and to promise much by way of improvement but they ultimately end up as empty rhetoric. They point to the 1986 Education Policy with the slogan ‘Operation Blackboard’ which achieved nothing in 35 years but instead opened the floodgates for privatisation of education right from the school level and divested the government of all responsibility for providing universal education and creating the required infrastructure for schools and failing to appoint teachers, thereby leaving students in a quandary.
What the AISEC discounts is the propensity of the NEO 2020 to eulogize the Indian Knowledge System (IKS) to the point of forgetting to draw the line between fact and fiction. In fact the AISEC says the claims of ancient Indian wisdom such as that there were airplanes or vimanas and pushpak rathas flying between planets or the practice of plastic surgery are not backed by evidence.
If Education is a State subject it is incumbent on states to develop a culturally relevant curriculum so that the learner does not need to learn what is alien to him/her just to pass exams. Students can learn things that interest them. That would ignite in them a passion for learning. Time for Meghalaya to learn self-reliance.