National Education Policy: Criticism all Over, A policy with Unrealistic Targets?

The National Education Policy 2020 was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday. It proposes major changes to the existing education system of India. According to the government, the new education policy will help in bringing 2 crore children back to school. The target is to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio from pre-school to secondary level by 2030.

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However, many political leaders and educationists have criticised these new set of reforms. As they believe that the targets set by the government are unrealistic. This includes people figures like Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia and CPI-M Leader Sitaram Yechury.

Delhi Education Minister and Deputy CM, Manish Sisodia while addressing a press conference stated that even though the new education policy accepts the flaws of the present education system, it, however, does not address or state how the targets will be achieved.

“It’s a forward-looking document, which accepts the flaws of today’s education system, but has two issues with- firstly, it was unable to break free of pressures of education’s old traditions and secondly, the policy doesn’t say how the reforms will be achieved. The policy is either silent or confused on those issues”, Sisodia said.

He further added that the policy lacks an implementation roadmap. Sisodia then claimed that the NEP is an attempt by the government to clear out of its responsibility from providing quality education in government schools.

Similarly, Shashi Tharoor, former HRD Minister of India tweeted his concerns with the new education policy and the changes that it proposes. “The challenge is to ensure aspiration is matched by implementation”, Tharoor said. He then went on to give details of the government’s expenditure on education. Which he claimed has been continuously decreasing. He thus asked for ‘realisable targets’ which are easy to achieve.

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday heavily criticised Centre’s move on approving the NEP 2020. He alleged that the central government has imposed this new policy without taking into consideration what state governments have to say. “It seeks greater centralisation, Communalisation and Commercialisation”, Yechury said while commenting on the new education policy.

Further, even though many higher education institutions have welcomed the new set of reforms, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association continues to show its rejection for the same. Similarly, many students have come forward to criticize the way the new policy was approved amid a pandemic.

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