Amidst a raging debate on National Education Policy (NEP) and State Education Policy (SEP), the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) of professors, and former vice-chancellors of various universities across the country, have drafted ‘People’s Education Policy 2025’ (PEP), calling it an alternative to NEP.
Rajashekar VN, member of AISEC, said, “We have pointed out many drawbacks in NEP from the time it was introduced. We have drafted PEP, which is still open to suggestions and changes from various stakeholders in education. We will place it before the Union and state governments in January and push for its implementation.”
PEP favours appointment of adequate teachers, not to assign non-academic work to teachers, removal of no-detention policy, reintroduction of year-end exams, and implementation of the two-language formula, among others.
Meanwhile, educationists have criticised the state government for not rejecting NEP, and for the delay in posting the SEP report in the public domain.
Kathyayini Chamaraj, an educationist and executive trustee of CIVIC, said, “I don’t understand the reason for the delay in posting the SEP report in the public domain. It was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah two months ago. I had submitted a memorandum with certain suggestions to one of the members of the SEP committee. The memorandum was given after consulting teachers and anganwadi workers, who are part of elementary education in the state.”
Kathyayini said the state government has not rejected NEP. “There are many issues with NEP. It has no proper mention of ‘free and compulsory education’, except once. In that case, how can one justify Article 21A which provides for free and compulsory education for those in the age group of 6 to 14?”
She said neither the Union government nor NEP has taken a stand on whether a child should be in school or college till the age of 18. This means the child can drop out after 14 and start working as a labourer. Then, in what way vocational training is going to benefit them?
As per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) Plus, the rate of enrolment of children in schools is on the decline. It fell from 26.36 crore in 2018-22 to 25.17 crore in 2022-23 and from 24.8 in 2023-24 to 1.55 crore in 2024-25.