National Education Policy 2020 | Why bypass Parliament, asks Tharoor
31st July, 2020
Opposition demand:
Why did government bypass the parliament?
Though government has reiterated the demand of 6% of GDP, but, in last 6 years, government has reduced the education budget.
Current enrolment is 8% in high education & 68% in Class 9, hence, achieving the goal of 50 percent gross enrolment ratio in higher education and 100 per cent in secretary schools will be a daunting task.
The NEP should have offered more tangible and realisable targets for research. Total investment on research and innovation in India declined from 0.84% of GDP in 2008 to 0.6% in 2018.
Left many unanswered questions on the upgrade of school infrastructure and shortage of qualified and trained teachers.
Placing the burden of pre-primary education on the overstretched, under-funded and under-equipped anganwadis is
Showcases a strong tendency towards centralization
High aspiration with low feasibility
An unspoken assumption that much of the challenge will be met by the private sector, which will drive up costs and make many opportunities unaffordable for the poor.
The NEP is an attempt to lead to total privatisation, commercialisation and over centralisation.
The result will be higher fees, attacks on autonomy of universities and no permanent jobs in teaching.
The only redeeming feature of the policy was extension of Right to Education, which currently was only till 14 years of age to 18 years and universalising pre-primary education.