Committee to formulate new education policy: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

Bengaluru: As education is State Subject in a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, it was decided to set up a committee to formulate education policy for the State, while continuing old education system for now.

Since it is a state subject, the central government cannot formulate education policy. The National Education Policy has been formulated without taking the state governments into confidence. Education policy cannot be imposed by central government. The Chief Minister opined that what is being imposed is a conspiracy. An uniform education system cannot be established in a country like India with multi-cultural and pluralistic society. Therefore, the Chief Minister said that a committee will be formed to formulate a new education policy while continuing the old education system.

Other BJP-ruled states are also hesitant to implement the National Education Policy. States of Kerala and Tamil Nadu have made it clear to the Central Government that they will not implement the National Education Policy. The Chief Minister was confident that the state cannot be treated unfairly since, the centrally funded schemes are applicable to all the states.

The CM expressed his concern that NEP will affect the poor, scheduled caste, tribal, backward and rural people. Even if the certificate is issued every year in higher education, how many job opportunities they get who have studied for one or two years ? Even if the poor students get job opportunities and quit study in a year or two, will they be able to study further in future?

The Chief Minister opined that the educational institutions do not have the necessary infrastructure to implement this educational policy. This has created unnecessary confusion.

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, Higher Education Minister Dr. M.C. Sudhakar, Primary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa, Senior Literature Prof. Baraguru Ramachandrappa and senior government officials were present in the meeting.