DMK seeks withdrawal of draft NEP

Says the draft proposes to promote caste-based education

DMK MPs led by Kanimozhi and Tiruchi N. Siva submitting the party’s report on the draft New Education Policy to Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in New Delhi on Monday.

The DMK on Monday urged the Centre to withdraw the draft National Education Policy 2019 (NEP) saying that instead of addressing the core issues of scientific and technological advancement of India, it indirectly wanted to protect caste hierarchy system.

DMK MPs, including Tiruchi N. Siva, Kanimozhi, Tamizhachi Thangapandian, submitted a letter to Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in New Delhi along with the report of the committee that was appointed by party president M.K. Stalin to study the draft NEP.

“It [draft NEP] is against the Constitution, federalism and social justice. Instead of talking about national and people’s development, it places more thrust on caste-based education ( KualakkalviThittam) ,” the DMK said, explaining why the party had opposed and rejected the draft NEP.

“It talks about Hindi and Sanskrit imposition. It will hinder the educational development. It aims to transfer the educational powers of the State government to the Centre. It is against educational rights of children and rural people of India,” the DMK said and urged the Centre to transfer education from the concurrent list to the State list. The DMK rejected the suggestion that the Nalanda and Takshashila universities would be the model universities, contending that they admitted only upper caste students.

“A vast majority of people were refused admission in those universities,” the DMK in its report pointed out.

The DMK said reservation based on social and educational backwardness was not mentioned anywhere in the draft NEP.

“In higher education and research, scholarships for socially and educationally backward is also totally absent. In a society where the majority suffers from social oppression, the draft NEP speaks only about merit and merit-based scholarships. The concept of merit is illusory,” the report said.

The DMK took exception to the policy of admitting a child in school for formal education at the age of three. “It is against the children’s rights,” it said and added that the draft NEP would only favour the upper class.