CHENNAI: India has seen an acceleration of threats against academic freedom, said Zoya Hasan, academic and professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Thursday.
Speaking at a conference organised at Loyola College on the ‘Re-envisioning higher education in India’, Hasan said, “India has seen an acceleration of threats against academic freedom, free speech, digital rights and an uptick in online trolling and harassment. All this has led to a perceived erosion of free enquiry associated with a democratic society.”
Hasan said academic freedom, which refers to the freedom of scholars, teachers to conduct critical enquiry, to engage and deliberate on any idea without fear of sanction, censor or interference, is essential for production of knowledge.
“The direction higher education in India is slated to take represents the convergence of neo-liberalism and Hindutva ideologies,” said Hasan.
She also criticised the NEP 2020 and alleged that contrary to its claims, NEP will make education confined more so than before to the socially and economically privileged elite.
Another speaker and MP Mahua Moitra said inclusive education is still elusive in India.
She alleged that India is yet to spend an appropriate amount of its GDP on education.
MP Derek O’Brien spoke about contributions made by India’s Christian community, particularly in education. He cited statistics, saying that Christian minorities run over 54,000 educational institutions in the country and for every 100 who study in these institutions, at least 75 obelong to Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh community.