Urban Mirror Correspondent
New Delhi, November 02: Even before the NDA government announces “New Education Policy†(NEP) after forthcoming assembly elections, the Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today demanded complete overhauling of the system to make it inclusive covering primary to higher education. The LGP said that K Kasturirangan committee which is finalising the draft report of NEP should look into whole gamut of the problem and not just piecemeal changes in the education system, as there is need for major changes to make it relevant with the present requirement.
The spokesman of the LGP said here on Friday that the new policy should have the ability to constantly evolve to meet the growing challenges posed by both growth in knowledge and techniques. The contours of the existing policy was laid almost three decades back with hardly any basic changes in subsequent years, the spokesman said and added the NEP should incorporate the positive elements which have emerged in the last three decades. The spokesman said the emphasis should be on quality education with major thrust on rural education, application of acquired knowledge, capacity building, innovation, research and expanding the catchment areas of beneficiaries. The spokesman said this is the second draft the NDA government has got prepared, earlier one by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramaniam in 2016, and so far there has been directionless approach in the matter.
The spokesman said the two recent surveys- National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2017 and Annual Education Status Report (AESR)- have painted a grim picture of primary/middle education system in the country. In fact these reports are direct indictment of the central and state governments for their failure in managing state-run schools.
The spokesman said ASER has amply indicated that comprehension levels of students across the country are below par in rural areas. The spokesman said poor quality of students is also largely because of low standard of educators and positive results could not be achieved without enhancing their quality. The spokesman said in order to improve the situation and bring students of rural areas at par with their counterparts in urban, comprehensive changes are required with provision of proper funding and infrastructure. The Spokesman said the NAS report has pointed out that inadequate funds, staff crunch and crowded classrooms were major bottlenecks in the improvement in public education system. The spokesman said the systematic failure with rampant corruption in the education has stressed the whole government school system and the government is least bothered about improvement.
