Hyderabad:The alliance of educators, scholars, civil society representatives and policy makers has been significantly lowered in the National Education Policy (NEP) in 2020, marking it as ideologically biased, fiscally deceptive and structurally flawed. They stressed that the NEP was not suitable for India’s diverse landscape in its current form and asked the Telangana government to develop its own educational policies tailored to local reality.
Professor Shantha Sinha, former chairman of the National Committee on the Protection of the Rights of the Child, spoke at a seminar chaired by the Telangana Education Commission in Hyderabad on Wednesday, calling the policy’s legal status. “NEP 2020 has never been debated in parliament nor has it been discussed with states. It bypasses the Central Advisory Committee (CABE) and is inherently unbinding. This reveals how disconnected it is from the reality on the ground.”
Speakers talked about how NEP regulations (from restructuring school clusters and multi-entry dietary systems that cut lunch to undergraduate education) exacerbate dropouts and quality gaps. Professor G. Haragopal said: “We are blaming teachers for their systematic learning crisis without addressing the core opinions.”
Telangana Education Commission Chairman Akunuri Murali said the NEP is trying to demolish publicly funded education. He asked: “Where is the commitment to quality education because the higher education budget is allocated less than 1.8% of GDP and insufficient funding for school education,” he said. He also questioned that 4.4% of GDP is spent on education, citing the actual data approaching 0.44%.
Another urgent concern is the lack of preparation for the Anganwadi Center and the NEP is expected to absorb preschool education. “How does 600 square feet of space replace the infrastructure five times the size of it,” Mulally asked.
Speakers, including Professor M. Kodanandaram and Professor Pl Vishweshwer Rao, warned not to increase the concentration of education. Professor Kodanandaram said: “Transfer to a common admission system and dilute the fragments of the course student learning, reduce diversity and transfer control to central institutions.”
The failure of NEP to mention the Right to Education (RTE) in 2020 has sparked further anger. Professor Rao said: “It doesn’t mention RTE at all. It’s shocking. Education is not a charity – it’s right.”
Language policies, saffron issues and ideological filtering in the course were also discussed, and public universities could potentially become ideological training centers.
Professor Rama Melkote said: “Education must realize constitutional values and protect diversity, not promote a strange worldview.”
