Education Minister Pokhriyal: Not been able to give Sanskari education that ought to be imparted

The NEP 2020 is not just a national policy but international, effective, inclusive and all-in-one, said the Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal. He also added that the language policy does not exclude anyone but lets students be aware of the country's inclusivity and diversity. Pokhriyal was addressing more than 330 heads of institutions along with 1.5 lakh teachers at the National Assessment and Accreditation Council's online conclave Acharya Devo Bhava.

Pokhriyal said that the NEP does not talk about excluding English at any point. "The NEP gives the children in Uttar Pradesh an option to study Tamil or Malayalam and students in South India can learn languages like Punjabi. This will give them an insight into the diversity of this country. Have countries like Japan or Israel become regressive by teaching their mother tongue?" he asked.

Reiterating his popular thoughts on India being the erstwhile world leader, Pokhriyal said that the NEP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will get us back on the world map again — as a leader. "Over these 70 odd years of Independence, we have not been able to give the sanskari education that ought to be imparted in the primary stages of education. It has been rejected in the name of progressive education and has been blamed for taking the country back in time. We were making machines, not human beings. The PM has said that we will not only make a good human being but a global being as well," said the minister who started his career as a teacher in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Saraswati Shishu Mandir.

Talking about great teachers, he said that Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was very fond of him and they always spoke about education whenever they met. "He asked me about the songs of nationalism that I had written which used to be featured on the radio. He asked me why can't we have a book that collates all these poems and songs. I did it and he unveiled it at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. But before that, I had sent one poem to him which had brought tears to his eyes. That day, I realised the ocean of nationalism inside Dr Kalam," he said.

The teachers are the pilots who will implement the NEP 2020 on the ground, said Ramesh Pokhriyal. Without a teacher, a human being is just a puppet, said the Education Minister. "They are the ones who give us knowledge and also teach us how to introspect. I understand the difficulties a teacher has to go through on a personal level. It's not an easy feat to impart knowledge and it takes a lot of hard work to do so," he said.