THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The new National Education Policy (NEP) of the Union Government will only serve to undermine social justice in the country as it encourages privatisation and commercialisation of education, Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel has said.Reacting to the NEP, Jaleel said though the proposal to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) to 50 per cent by 2035 was welcome, there is no clarity on the additional financial burden it will incur on the state governments.
The proposal to transform the educational sector from affiliation system to autonomous system in the coming 15 years will adversely impact higher educational institutions in villages and other backward areas, Jaleel said.The minister said judging government and private educational institutions using the same yardstick will lead to denial of social justice and will pave way for the entry of corporates into the education sector. It needs to be noted that it was government-run institutions that played a major role in educational advancement in states like Kerala, he reminded.
Jaleel pointed out that the NEP that determines the future of education in the country has not been discussed in Parliament or with the states. This despite education being in the Concurrent list. “Such unilateral policies will only wreck federalism and undermine the concept of unity in diversity,” he said.