New Education Policy: Govt withdraws provision of suggestions

Suggestions, not draft uploaded on website; some people put it out of context: Education minister.

After Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis asked the state principal education secretary to withdraw the New Education Policy (NEP) ‘draft’ which has been uploaded on the official website of the Maharashtra Government, Education Minister Vinod Tawde has clarified that the document was not the draft but only a compilation of suggestions received from people. The document had received strong criticism from various teachers’ and parents’ associations across the state.

Commenting on the same, Tawde said that for the proposed NEP, the government had asked officials, teachers, principals, education experts and NGOs to organise discussions and give suggestions. After receiving a splendid response, the ministry thought of uploading the suggestions online for the benefit of people and to maintain transparency.

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“Nowhere in the whole document was it mentioned that this is an official draft issued by the education minister. However, some local representatives used the topic for political gain and changed the context of the document for their benefit. These are not suggestions of the education department or the state government,” said a statement issued by Tawde’s office.

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The statement further read, “Till now, the decisions were made directly by the government, without considering the opinions of people. This is the first time that the government took villages, districts and cities under consideration and asked for the opinion of grassroot people. But sadly, it was misused by some and therefore, we’re withdrawing the provision of providing suggestions. Now, the government will directly issue the final draft of NEP. It will be made sure that the draft does not violate the Constitution.”

Commenting on the withdrawal, PR Patil, head of Maharashtra State Arts and Sports Teachers’ Coordinating Committee, said, “It is good that the government has taken the decision to withdraw the document. It should’ve been made amply clear on the website that it was not an official document. The situation was confusing because the government asked people for suggestions based on the report by November 23. But it was not mentioned anywhere that the report itself was a compilation of the suggestions.”