Let politics take its own route; don't play with future of young generation: Dharmendra Pradhan to Karnataka Govt

Aug 22, 2023

New Delhi [India], August 22 : Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday asked the Karnataka Government to let politics take its own route after the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, D K Shivakumar, decided to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) in the state. 
The Minister, while addressing the media on Tuesday, raised a series of important questions against the deeply politicised scrapping of NEP in Karnataka by the Congress Government, asking them not to play with the young generation's future.
Union Education Minister Pradhan questioned the uncaring nature of the Karnataka Government for the students, posing a series of questions to Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, D K Shivakumar, including, “Does he and the Congress party oppose early childhood care and education as a part of formal education? Does he not want our children to achieve foundational literacy and numeracy by the time they complete grade 2?"
He further went on to ask the Karnataka Government, “Does he oppose education in Kannada and other Bharatiya Bhashas? Does he not want examinations like NEET, CUET, and JEE to be conducted in Bharatiya Bhasha, including Kannada, in a transparent manner?”
He further questioned D K Shivakumar about whether or not he wanted the youth of Karnataka to avail themselves of world-class research facilities through the National Research Foundation. 
He further questioned, "Does he not want students to learn about new and emerging technologies in the 21st century? Does he not want new textbooks relevant for 21st century education?" 
He also questioned the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka whether he opposed opportunities for earning while learning. 
He concluded by saying that such preposterous statements on NEP may please Kumar's political masters in Delhi, but they compromise the interests of students in Karnataka.
On Monday, after meeting with representatives of different educational institutions and officials in Bengaluru, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said that the state government will form a new education policy, and not implement the National Education Policy, 2020. 
He further said that states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala had already scrapped the policy, adding that the Karnataka government will constitute a new committee to work on a new education policy for the state.  
The National Education Policy was launched in July 2020 to provide a set of guiding principles for a paradigm shift across the education sector in India, from school to doctoral level.