Sticking to its manifesto promise, the Congress government in Karnataka is planning to scrap the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP) and formulate a state education policy. On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said, “We have come out with a manifesto, Karnataka will have a State Education Policy, there will be no 'Nagpur Education Policy'. We will discuss it thoroughly.” Reiterating the same on Thursday, he again referred to the NEP as the Nagpur Education Policy (suggesting that it drew its inspiration from the RSS headquarters), and said, "There should be an elaborate discussion on the NEP. I am an educationist by choice. I run educational institutions and I cannot understand the NEP. I have discussed with students and teachers, and they are unable to get the gist of NEP." In 2021, Karnataka had become the first state in the country to announce implementation of the NEP in higher education. The BJP, which was in power at the time, had called it a “well-thought policy in the interest of students”. A source in the Congress said the new policy would include lessons on “Karnataka’s culture and personalities belonging to the state”. "Many states have introduced state education policies taking cues from the NEP. They have also left out parts of the syllabus by ruling out certain portions that they have objections to. Karnataka will follow the same line," the source said. The writers and intellectuals who had a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on May 29 are also said to have demanded that the NEP be scrapped. Besides, the Samaana Manaskara Okkoota-Karnataka, a forum that comprises Kannada writers and intellectuals, wrote a letter to the CM demanding this, and suggesting that the textbook syllabus changes made under the BJP government be looked at and, if needed, the books earlier in circulation be brought back. Siddaramaiah had said after the meeting that talks would be held on the NEP and the revisions in textbooks. "We cannot allow the education sector to be adulterated in the name of the NEP. A separate meeting will be convened in this regard once again to discuss it comprehensively and take strict and definite decisions. The act of polluting children's minds through texts and lessons cannot be condoned. As the academic year has started, we will discuss and take action so that the education of the children is not disturbed." Asked whether the government was planning to scrap the NEP, Higher Education Minister M C Sudhakar said, "I cannot make assurances regarding scrapping the NEP without knowing the actual facts. There could be certain positives and negatives in policy matters. Our party feels there are certain negative things. so we said we would be scrapping it.” Last year, the Centre had told the Lok Sabha that West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are the only states which have not shared the status of implementation of the NEP with it. Earlier in 2022, West Bengal also set up a panel to examine the policy.
