Popular Front suggests changes in NEP 2019
Source: IT News

Imphal, August 01 2019: Popular Front of India General Secretary M Mohamed Ali Jinnah has submitted observations and suggestion to the Draft National Educational Policy 2019 .

He pointed out that the Draft National Education Policy 2019 which was shared with the people of the country by Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is an effort by way of assessing and revising the existing system of education in the country to meet the challenges of the time.

When going through the draft in the backdrop of this objective, some of the changes that the government seeks do not carry feasibility and validity.

Though access, equity, accountability, affordability and quality are the claimed foundational principles of the draft, questions and apprehensions exist about many of the suggestions, recommendations, and omissions in the draft.

The draft should be revised and be made inclusive by recognizing the contributions of visionaries and thinkers of not just ancient India but also that of Medieval and modern periods.

Mohammed Ali Jinnah asked government to take into account the following suggestions submitted by the organisation while preparing the final draft.

Promotion of Indian languages is definitely a worthwhile step, but it should not be done in a compulsory manner.

Students should be given the freedom to choose languages they want to study beside their home language and the language of the medium.

3-language formula should not be made mandatory and the choice should be left to the students.

The policy should include ongoing affirmative actions stipulated by the Constitution for integrating underprivileged sections to national mainstream seriously and ensure their right reservation is protected in education sector.

The infrastructure from primary education to the higher education must be established in ratio of the population.

And priority is to be given to backward areas of the country.

As enshrined in our constitution and further made statutory through Right to Education Act, providing education to all citizens between the ages 6-14 is a state responsibility.

Hence, provisions leading to more privatisation of education are to be avoided and govt sector must be strengthened.

In pursuance of its emphasis on bringing the educationally weak sections of the society in to the national education mainstream, the existing criteria for admission in to undergraduate and post graduate classes in colleges and universities, which is purely academic merit, should be amended.

Instead, academic merit should constitute only 60% of the candidates' eligibility criteria.

In the remaining 40%, the candidates' backwardness should be measured on the basis of backwardness of the district, backwardness of the community and low income of the family.

The government recognized Madrasas are intra community educational ventures and have long been doing yeoman service to supplement the national educational efforts.

The Madarsas should be adequately represented/covered in the constitution of Proposed Rashtriya Shikhsa Ayog, its sister bodies and in the national education Framework.

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