Frontline – July 05, 2019

EDUCATION

NATIONAL Democratic Alli-
ance(NDA)governmentsheadedby
theBharatiya JanataParty (BJP)
havealwaystakeneducationseri-
ously.Witnessthezealwithwhich
thecontent of historybookswas
modified.ThenewdraftNational
Education Policy, thefirst policy
documentto be releasedafterthe
newgovernment wasswornin, also
bearsthisout.It is an interesting
tomeof over 480 pagesandreflects
the ideological underpinningsof the
rulingdispensationwithin a broad
neoliberalframework.It stressesthe
importance of imparting quality
education to childrenin the three-to-
six agegroup.Thereis, however,no
commitmentto greatergovernment
investment in education and
strengtheningregulatorybodies.
Thedraftingcommittee for the
policydocumentwasconstitutedin
early 2018 andwassteeredby K.
Kasturirangan, formerChairmanof
theIndianSpace ResearchOrgan-
isation(ISRO).According to him,
the committeewasa follow-upon a
report by an earlier committee
headedby the formerbureaucrat
T.S.R.Subramanianin 2016.
Thedecisionto producea new
policywastakenin June2017 by
Prakash Javadekar,thethenUnion
Ministerfor Human ResourceDe-
velopment.Javadekar,saidKasturi-
ranganin the draftreport,wanted
the policyto be readyin six months.
Thatdidnothappen, butthenew
government’s very first “achieve-

ment”wasto announce the releaseof

the draftreport,which carriesa fore-

wordby Javadekar, andnotthe new

HRDMinisterRameshPokhriyal.

Theword“draft”is, however,missing

in theforeword.Evenif thiswasan

inadvertentglitch,theneedto re-

leasethedraftevenbeforeCabinet

allocations were done was

mystifying.

Thepolicyranintocontroversy

fromdayoneby suggesting a three-

languageformula,withHindi as one

of thecompulsorylanguagesin the

non-Hindi-speaking States. There

wereotherissues, too.Thedocument

startswitha curiousobservationby

thechairperson that thedecades

sinceIndependence hadseen“a pre-

occupation withtheissuesof access

andequity”whileit dropped “the

batonwithregardto quality of edu-

cation”.Theassumptionseemsto be

thatthegoalsof equityandaccess

havebeenmetandall thatis needed

is to ensurequalityof education.

The draft emphasises “early

childhood care and education”

(ECCE)on thebasisof theglobally

acceptedviewthat85 percentof

cumulativebraindevelopmenthap-

pensbeforethe ageof six. Preschool

education,according to the draft

policy,is notonlyconnectedwith

higher retention and attendance

ratesin lateryears buthasbetter

T.

VIJAY

A KUMAR

ATANANGANWADIcentrein Gunturin AndhraPradesh.

Privatisation push

Thedraft oftheneweducationpolicyspeaks ofmakingeducation

universally accessiblebutpullsbackontheissue ofpublic investment

andpushesforalternativemodelsinschooleducationanda greaterrole

fortheprivatesectorinhighereducation.BYT.K.RAJALAKSHMI