The All-India University Employees’ Confederation (AIUEC), a conglomerate of labour unions functioning in different universities across India, has planned a nationwide protest against the proposed Draft National Education Policy - 2019 (DNEP-2019) on Wednesday.
Speaking to The Hindu , M.B. Sajjan, general secretary of AIUEC, said over two lack non-teaching employees working in over 300 universities across the country would join the decentralised protests.
“It is the first organised and nationwide protest against DNEP-2019. We are mobilising teaching and non-teaching staff and students of Gulbarga University and staging a two-hour protest outside the administrative complex of the campus,” he said.
Mr. Sajjan said that DNEP-2019 undermines the social equity and democratic access to education and it impedes unconventional, critical thinking and free enquiry by tying value education up with a vedic belief system, that is not in consonance with the current times and constitutional principles.
“The DNEP-2019 is converting the study of history into the study of Hindu mythology. There is a rich tradition of Indian philosophy and instead of developing it further, the DNEP-2019 is converting the study of Indian philosophy into the study of Hindu theology. Its recommendations on recruitment and service condition of faculty and non-teaching employees have a disastrous impact on talent and morale. It doesn’t address the long-standing concerns and insecurities of people employed in higher educational institutions,” he said.
