Parliamentarians who participated in the seminar on the draft of the National Education Policy assured the Christian missionaries that they would ensure protection to the rights of the minorities.
Participants expressed concern over how the government did not consider opinions from grassroots workers such as teachers to develop a comprehensive policy.
At a seminar organised by the Consortium of Christian Minority Higher Educational Institutions and Stella Maris College, Ernakulam MP K.V. Thomas and Rajya Sabha members T.K. Rangarajan (CPI-M) and Tiruchi N. Siva (DMK) assured the consortium that the policy would be discussed threadbare in the House before being approved. Mr. Thomas recalled his days as teacher and said colleges were forced to seek donations as government funding was inadequate. Schools had collected donations for noon meal scheme to ensure that children did not drop out of school.
Participants should draft a new policy and forward it for discussion, said Mr. Rangarajan.
The present government was attempting to promote “fascistic Hindu Rashtra by replacing Indian history with mythology and Indian philosophy with Hindu theology,” he said.
Mr. Siva said his leader M. Karunanidhi had issued a detailed statement on the party’s stand on the policy.
Better representation
Mr. Siva said the government should constitute a committee that includes academics, representatives from marginalised sections, minorities, and the people with disabilities to draft a new education policy.
The thrust on regulations and absence of academicians’ view points were a cause for concern, said Joshua Mar Ignathios, chairman of Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India said.
The policy had ignored the poor and dealt marginally with education of women and girl children.
The focus was on use of technology and mathematics and science. There was an absence of attention to social sciences, he said.
The seminar was held invite suggestions on the policy and forward them to the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
