– Mita Mukherjee

The new higher education minister of the BJP government in Bengal, Jagannath Chattopadhyay said on Wednesday that his department will adopt all the policies of the Narendra Modi government indicating that the Centre’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will now be fully implemented in the state.

Addressing a press conference with reporters immediately after assuming charge, the higher education minister promised that the new ” double- engine government” will try its best to arrest the increasing ” brain drain” from Bengal and improve the overall standard of education imparted in various institutions of higher education in the state which he said had been constantly declining during past several decades.

“The main aim of the BJP government in West Bengal is to ensure that Bengal regains its past glory in the field of education. Bengal had once achieved the highest position in the Indian Knowledge System. It gradually lost its glory. We promise to restore the lost pride… The BJP government wants to ensure that students of Bengal are not deprived of the benefits and facilities enjoyed by students in the entire country. So we will strictly follow all the provisions of each and every policy of the Centre. Our path towards development of higher education will not be different from that of the Centre….”, Chattopadhyay said.

As for putting an end to moving away of students from Bengal to other parts of the state and abroad, Chattopadhyay said, “Education has declined considerably during the last 15 years. This is the reason for students leaving Bengal. We will change this declining trend. We will take every possible step to create an environment of education where only merit will reign and we can proceed towards achieving excellence…” he said.

“Mediocrity reigned during 34 years of Left rule. There was no place for merit or excellence over the last 15 years. We will change this situation during the next five-year rule of the BJP government,” the new higher education minister said.

With the minister promising to adopt all the provisions of the NEP 2020, several academics see a possibility for overhauling the existing curricula and restructuring it with the components of the Indian Knowledge System as envisaged in NEP 2020.

The Mamata Banerjee government had accepted certain provisions of the NEP, for instance introduction of a four-year semester system at the undergraduate level scrapping the previous three-year bachelor degree courses. The NEP recommended replacing the 10+ 2 schooling system with a 5+3+3+4 structure.

The Trinamool government had opposed most of the provisions in the NEP particularly the system of admitting students at the state-aided colleges through the centralised Common University Entrance Test (CUET). The previous government had framed its own state education policy in 2023 which did not include several aspects of the NEP.

One of the core components of the NEP is to integrate traditional indigenous heritage spanning philosophy, science, medicine (Ayurveda) and arts into mainstream education with an aim to produce holistic learners by connecting India’s ancient wisdom with modern, interdisciplinary studies.

Since the announcement of NEP, academics across the country opposed the policy mainly because of its stress on the Indian Knowledge System.

Chattopadhyay, a former journalist, said that students of Bengal had suffered for 50 years because of the lack of a double -engine government in the state.

“Bidhan Chandra Roy was the last chief minister during whose regime the central government and the state of Bengal worked together. During the tenure of Siddhartha Shankar Ray the state could not enjoy the benefits of a double-engine government because of disturbances due to Naxalite movement at that time. We spent the next 50 years of the Left and Trinamool government opposing the Centre. Now we will ensure students get the advantage of the double-engine government in the next five years of our rule.”

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