New Education Policy: A Critique and a Submission

Abstract

After the formation of the NDA government in 2014, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) announced its decision to frame a New Education Policy (NEP), thus placing India’s education requirements in the correct direction. A fresh approach was desperately needed as the last time the nation’s education policy had been reviewed was in 1986 which was revised in 1992 keeping in mind the changed economic scenario that had ushered in an era of globalisation and neo-liberal policies. Since then many significant changes have taken place. To usher in a new policy, the MHRD announced plans for a nationwide consultation, outlining 13 themes in school education and 20 themes in higher education. The Ministry sought suggestions from different sections of society—from Gram Panchayats upwards to national stakeholders. The MHRD claimed that during last one-and-half years since this process started, over 250,000 consultations took place and 25,000 written suggestions were received. To consolidate these recommendations and evolve a draft NEP, a five-member drafting committee was constituted. But the reality is that the process of consultations was neither participatory nor inclusive. For instance, pre-primary education and the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009 were not given their due place in the themes or in the consultation process. Civil Society expressed serious concerns and submitted its collective views through the RTE Forum to the drafting committee. A majority of the submissions requested the retaining of the RTE Act, 2009 as a legal entitlement for children, central for the universalisation of school education. Although the committee finalised its draft report and is now available in the public domain, the MHRD still has to officially release it.