Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar has hit out at the BJP-led government in Karnataka for ‘rushing’ to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) without proper consultation with stakeholders. Dubbing the NEP as ‘Nagpur Education Policy,’ DKS said that it is an attempt to ‘impose Hindi through the backdoor’. He slammed the state government for implementing it and creating ‘chaos’ in educational institutions in Karnataka.
“To please the masters in Delhi, the BJP in Karnataka has decided to implement the NEP before any other states. They want to make huge changes to the education policy in Karnataka — without a law, without a discussion without discussing with students, teachers, parents or stakeholders, this is not NEP it is a ‘Nagpur Education Policy’,” DK Shivakumar said. “The most dangerous part of this policy is that it wants to impose Hindi through the backdoor. The excuse is that they want children to learn three languages. But why? Why do we need three languages, are our Kannada and English not enough? This is how they want to impose Hindi,” DKS said.
DK Shivakumar said that the government wants to promote online education, but there exists a digital divide in the state. “The Nagpur Education Policy has no vision on implementation, just tall promises and big talks. It wants to push online education but who will give computers and internet to the villagers?” DKS said.
I have a question for you.
— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) September 6, 2021
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The Karnataka Congress President has asked students, parents and teachers to send him their views about the NEP. He said the implementation of the NEP should be stalled for a year and there should be a proper discussion in the Assembly about the same. The Congress in Karnataka has announced that it will press for a debate on the issue in the Assembly session scheduled to begin on September 13.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Minister for Higher Education CN Ashwath Narayan has hit back at Shivakumar, calling his statements irresponsible. "Those who know about NEP, who studied it and have fair knowledge wouldn't speak against it. The statements are being issued only to carry out political agenda," he said. "He shouldn't have dubbed NEP as Nagpur Education Policy. His criticism will backfire. He does not have anything to point out shortcomings of NEP,” Ashwath Narayan said.