Memorandum submitted against National Education Policy

August 13, 2016 12:00 am | Updated 08:21 am IST - Tirunelveli:

Members of Samathuva Kalvikkana Koottamaippu submitting a memorandum to Collector M. Karunakaran in Tirunelveli on Friday against 'National Educational Policy 2016' draft.

Members of Samathuva Kalvikkana Koottamaippu submitting a memorandum to Collector M. Karunakaran in Tirunelveli on Friday against 'National Educational Policy 2016' draft.

Members of Samaththuva Kalvikkana Koottamaippu (Confederation for Egalitarian Education) submitted a memorandum to Collector M. Karunakaran on Friday, urging the Centre to redesign its draft for ‘National Education Policy 2016’ by involving educationists and not bureaucrats.

The Confederation members, led by Most Rev. Fr. A. Jude Paulraj, Bishop of Palayamkottai RC Diocese, submitted the memorandum, in which they said including yoga and Sanskrit in the curriculum would not help in anyway strengthen the syllabus at a time when Indian students had to compete at the global level.

“Instead of involving outstanding educationists in this all-important task, the Centre, with the help of a few bureaucrats and a lone educationist, has drafted this proposal which will not help rural children and slow learners. The educational system to be implemented in a secular country should not reflect religious sentiments,” said Rev. Bro. Victor Das, Rector, Brothers of Sacred Heart. The proposal said “meritorious” and “less meritorious” students would be segregated based on marks.

While the “meritorious” students would be allowed to pursue their education according to their wish, the “less meritorious” would be diverted to vocational stream. “This sort of segregation of students cannot be accepted. It will be another form of perpetuating hereditary labour followed in ‘kula kalvi’ and varnashrama dharma,” said Rev. Bro. Victor Das.

The Confederation opposed the proposals to include yoga as a compulsory subject and Sanskrit as the ‘third language’, though they were not against the practice of yoga as one of the optional physical and mental disciplines. There should be nationwide discussions before preparing the draft, in which educationists from all sections of society, including religious minorities, OBCs, SC/STs, differently abled and women, should be included, he said.

Over 2,000 teachers and educationists had signed in the memorandum. “Our ultimate goal is to collect two lakh signatures from teachers and educationists against the new educational policy draft and submit it to the Collector. A State-level signature campaign will also be launched soon,” said Rev. Fr. Antony A. Cruz.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.