Karnataka to withdraw National Education Policy and formulate its own, says Siddaramaiah
The chief minister said that the new policy introduced in 2020 was not compatible with the federal structure of the Constitution.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that his government will withdraw the Centre’s National Education Policy and formulate its own plan for the state instead, reported PTI.
In 2020, the Union government had approved the National Education Policy which proposed allowing foreign universities to open campuses in India and a single regulator for higher education institutions, except for law and medical colleges. It also encourages the use of technology, the study of Sanskrit, and teaching in the students’ mother tongue or regional languages up to Class 5.
However, it is not mandatory to follow the policy since education is a concurrent subject, which means both the Centre and the state governments can make laws on it.
While presenting the state Budget on Friday, Siddaramaiah said that the new education policy was not compatible with the federal structure of the Constitution.
Also read: Is the National Education Policy 2020 designed to deliver equitable quality public education?
“Uniform Education System does not suit a nation like India which has diverse religions, languages and cultures,” he said. “A new education policy will be formulated keeping in mind the local social, cultural and economic milieu of the state.”
The Congress government in Karnataka has allocated Rs 37,857 crore for the education sector in its Budget. The allocation was Rs 37,960 crore in the previous BJP government led by Basavarj Bommai, reported The Hindu.
Formulation of syllabus in Karnataka government schools has been a contentious topic since last year when several teachers and the Congress had objected to the alleged glorification of Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar in a Class 8 Kannada textbook.
“Education should impart the values of fraternity, harmony and coexistence in children,” Siddaramaiah said in his Budget speech on Friday, reported The Hindu. “The previous government had introduced certain concepts in the textbooks which were antithetical to these value systems. Measures will be taken in the current year to drop such content from the textbooks.”