High on catchwords, low on action: Congress

New Delhi, August 2

The Congress today said the National Education Policy, 2020, misses the fundamental goal of human development and expansion of knowledge.

In a joint virtual press briefing, former HRD minister MM Pallam Raju, AICC chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and Congress leader Rajeev Gowda said, “The NEP document is high on catchwords, gloss, appearance and verbosity, but lacks coherent implementation roadmap and strategy, clearly defined milestones and detailing of critical finances necessary to execute this grand vision.”

The Congress questioned the timing of the NEP launch, saying, “The release of the policy when all educational institutions are closed is questionable more so when almost the entire academia has complained of no consultation except with BJP-RSS affiliates.”

Raju says transformation of school and higher education, multiplicity of ideas and the professed multi-disciplinary approach requires money.

“The NEP, 2020, recommends spending six per cent of GDP on education, but spending on education as a percentage of the budget has fallen from 4.14 per cent in 2014-15 to 3.2 per cent in 2020-21 under the BJP government,” he noted.

The Congress said NEP 2020 lays focus on “online education” and distance learning to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio (“GER”) from 26 per cent to 50 per cent in higher education by 2035, but “in the absence of digital equity, this will lead to lack of access to computers and internet and create a digital divide”.

Raju said the policy made no mention of reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs in academic institutions. — TNS