BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that the National Education Policy (NEP) will be cancelled from the next academic year in the state.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the general body meeting of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee held at the KPCC office.
He said that the NEP implemented by the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will be completely cancelled from the next academic year.
“NEP has to be abolished after making some necessary preparations. The academic year had begun by the time the election results were out and the government was formed… NEP has been continued this year to avoid inconvenience to the students in the middle of the year,” the CM said.
NEP has been opposed by students, parents and lecturers and teachers simultaneously, he added.
He further said that the BJP has sacrificed the interest of the students by implementing NEP in the state even before other states implemented it in the country.
Earlier in July this year, Karnataka primary education Minister Madhu Bangarappa said that the state education department has decided not to adopt the National Education Policy( NEP) but instead will implement the State Education Policy (SEP).
“Education department has decided that NEP will not be implemented in Karnataka. We are planning to implement SEP (State Education Policy) on the suggestion of the professional team,” the minister said after visiting a model government Primary School in Bengaluru.
NEP at the higher education level was implemented in the state by the previous BJP government. And it was also in the process of rolling it out in schools.
In June, Karnataka Higher Education Minister MC Sudhakar said that while the Congress had widely publicised its intention to scrap the National Education Policy (NEP), a thorough analysis of the policy’s pros and cons is necessary before making any hasty decisions.
“We want to analyze the positives and negatives of the policy. As mentioned in the manifesto, state education policy will be implemented but at the same time, students’ betterment should also be taken into consideration. The opposition will always have its way of interpreting things. We are going to fulfil what we have promised,” MC Sudhakar had said.
It may be noted that NEP 2020 launched in July 2020 provides a set of guiding principles for a paradigm shift across the education sector in India from school to doctoral level. (ANI)