The Karnataka government’s decision to revoke implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 has not gone well with many stakeholders in the field of education. 

Chief minister Siddaramaiah, keeping up the Congress party’s election manifesto promise said that NEP2020 would be done away with and that the state would have its own education policy.

The formal announcement was made when Siddaramaiah presented the state budget on Friday. 

D Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Management of Private Schools Association in Karnataka said, 

“The state has decided to make do with NEP and have an education policy of its own. This is not a healthy development. Not everything was wrong with the NEP. In terms of the implementation, the state will face a huge challenge in terms of according the same priority to early years of learning.” 

He said that most private schools had adopted and implemented chapters 1,2,3 of the NEP framework and that it would be challenging to see it replicated. 

” The phase between 3-6 years was given importance by NEP. Except that there is no designated curriculum, private schools still continue to offer good pre school and pre primary education. But such is not the case with government schools. In the name.of foundational learning, only anganawadis exist. The focus is on health and nutrition and not education. hence, just like the NEP , the state, in its policy must ensure foundational learning is given prominence.

” They must ensure that no child is deprived of quality education from the pre-primary ages. Should we need to have a different policy, consider all the good aspects of NEP 

Meanwhile, 

Niru Agarwal, Trustee, Greenwood High International School said, “Te budget provides a much-needed impetus towards empowering the education sector. The budget has taken the very important initiative to address learning deficiencies among children as this has been the most critical task for students after the pandemic. The announcement on improving nutrition and infrastructure is welcome as children from schools will find greater motivation to attend classes and benefit in terms of better health. The initiative to train staff in English is also a positive step as progress in the current scenario is linked to one’s ability to be good in the language. The integration of tech by setting up innovation labs in colleges and much more are thoughtful decisions to move towards uniform quality of education across the state. All in all, this is a balanced budget for the Indian education sector.”