Member of the Drafting Committee of the National Education Policy 2019 and Vice- Chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Madhya Pradesh T.V. Kattimani has said that the main aim of the National Education Policy was to introduce basic knowledge, rich traditions, culture and ethos of the country and firmly reject the culture and tradition of other countries which had come to be the main basis for the existing education policy.
Delivering a special lecture on the National Education Policy 2019 during the Second Seminar on the National Education Policy organised by Sharnbasva University in Kalaburagi on Sunday, Dr. Kattimani said that the “rich tradition and knowledge base created by our elders have not found place in the textbooks and are not the basis of the present education system”.
“The knowledge practised and professed by our elders and scientists of the past era has not percolated into our textbooks,” he added.
“The present education system does not have any relation with our country and this is an education system created by the British to produce a workforce to suit their needs,” he said. The legacy left behind by the British in the education system has been continued unchanged after Independence till today. Today’s scholars are well versed with the history of England and the work of English authors but very few know about the great works of Pampa and other Indian authors, he said.
Dr. Kattimani said that the ills of the present education system were the main reason why India could not achieve much yet.
“We did not get good and qualitative education from devoted teachers and this needs to be reversed for the good of the country,” he said and added that the present education system practised in India is far behind the education system practised in European and other developed countries.
The present education system has helped in producing good managers and communicators but not world class scientists and research scholars. Dr. Kattimani said that this trend can be reversed by focussing on traditional knowledge base of India like Ayurveda. India can produce good Ayurvedic scientists and research scholars who could win the Nobel Prize through their breakthroughs in Ayurvedic science.
“The National Education Policy 2019 aims at introducing the ethos and knowledge base of the country to our children and it is the duty of all people to dream of making our children knowledgeable and intelligent and work for the development of our country. The present brain drain has to be stopped and the trend of our children educating at the cost of the tax payers in India and serving in other countries should be reversed,” he said.
Dr. Kattimani said that the National Education Policy “aims at teaching children about the art of living and introducing the traditional culture and heritage in our textbooks. The policy aims at providing new avenues for children to pursue their interest from the school level itself.”
He said that the National Education Policy 2019 clearly states that the medium of instruction should be in mother tongue at least till the primary level which can be extended and pursued up to doctoral studies.
Pro Vice-Chancellor of the university V.D. Mytri presided over the function. Secretary of the Sharnabasaveshwar Vidya Vardak Sangh Basavaraj Deshmukh, Registrar Anil Kumar Bidve, Registrar Evaluation Lingaraj Shastri, Dean Lakshmi Patil and others were present.
