A section of schools administered by Christian trusts in Chennai and certain education activists have opposed provisions of the Draft New Education Policy unveiled by the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development.
The Ministry has set a revised deadline of August 16 for all stakeholders to share their views on the draft prepared by the T.S.R. Subramaniam committee.
Some schools run by the Church of South India (CSI) are distributing pamphlets among parents explaining what they described as the draft NEP’s “attempt to distort history” and seeking solidarity in their fight against the policy.
The pamphlets were given by teachers of these schools who instructed the students to ask their parents to sign a petition against the draft NEP.
The introduction to the two-page notice in Tamil titled “National Education Policy 2016 – Our Perspective” states that the policy was not just against the minorities but was a challenge to the Constitution and secular nature of the country.
It alleged that shades of Hindu nationalism were found in the draft NEP as it tried to introduce Sanskrit, Vedic, and Yoga education — all of which were “totally unacceptable”.
“While the draft NEP speaks extensively of the Vedic system of education, there is no mention made about the contribution of minority educational institutions towards education in the country,” said Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of the State Platform for the Common Schooling System.
While the signature campaign was on, heads of a few minority institutions in the city were preparing a memorandum highlighting their concerns to send them as feedback to the Ministry.
“Even though the Ministry has invited feedback from parents, the document has not been provided in Tamil, ” Mr Babu said.
