By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Jan 27: Over 800 delegates from across India, including Meghalaya, gathered at the Ramaiah Institute of Technology in Bengaluru to finalise the People’s Education Policy, proposed as an alternative to the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Organised by the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) as a ‘People’s Parliament on Education’, the meet included intellectuals, educationists and social activists.
During the meeting, Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, former Chairman of the University Grants Commission, criticised NEP 2020 as a bureaucratic initiative that overlooked the concerns of the Indian academia. Former Rajya Sabha member Jawahar Sarkar alleged that the policy is being used to promote centralisation, commercialisation and communalisation within the education sector.
Other speakers, including Prof. Ram Punyani and Prof. Arun Kumar, raised concerns over the distortion of history in curricula and the decline in educational funding since 2014.
A six-member delegation from Meghalaya also participated in the session.
Dr. Batskhem Myrboh, secretary of the AISEC Meghalaya Chapter, criticised the centralising tendencies of NEP 2020, stating that economically dependent states in the Northeast are being forced to implement the policy despite their specific socio-economic contexts.
Prof. H. Srikanth from NEHU briefed delegates on the negative impact of NEP implementation in Meghalaya and the resulting local resistance.
The assembly approved amendments to the draft policy document and adopted the ‘Bengaluru Declaration’. The resolution aims to build a movement to pressure governments to adopt the People’s Education Policy in place of NEP 2020.
