State to have its own education policy

Draft to be submitted to the government by year-end

As the country is on its way to have a New Education Policy, Karnataka too is giving a shot at having its own education policy. The Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) is preparing a policy to cater to the primary, higher, vocational and advanced research levels of education.

A draft being prepared by educationist T.V. Mohandas Pai and University of Mysore Vice-Chancellor K.S. Rangappa is said to be almost ready and is expected to be submitted to the government before the year-end for approval.

First State

If it gets the government’s nod, Karnataka is likely to become the first State in the country to have its own education policy.

Commenting on the need for a policy exclusively for the State when the Ministry of Human Resource Development is already preparing a New Education Policy, Mukund Rao, member-secretary, KKC, said education was a state subject, though the State policy would dovetail with the national policy.

“We need to look at education in a different way now or we may lose out on the edge we have. For instance, school students today are different from their predecessors. If the digital and social media and the power of the Internet are not considered, we will fail,” he said, referring to the need to modernise classroom teaching and learning in schools. Mr. Pai said those drafting the policy were looking at the future economic scenario of the State up to 2030. “By then, we will be among the top three States in the country.

There will be sophisticated industrial architecture. Students will have to meet these challenges at the school and college levels. An institutional framework will have to be put in place.

The proposed model will be on empirical data as human capital is the most important capital which we are lagging behind in,” he said.

Recommendations

While the policy will not make any recommendations related to curriculum, which Mr. Pai said was a “matter of detail,” it will delve into a study of the demography and the minimum educational qualifications that will possibly be required in the future.

The State policy will dovetail with the national policy, says Mukund Rao,

member-secretary, Karnataka Knowledge Commission