Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said the new National Education Policy (NEP) is the need of the hour to enable Indian students compete in the 21st century, while asserting that the views of the RSS on the NEP are nationalistic.
Karnataka is the first state to implement the NEP.
Bommai also said the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) should continue as it is an extension of the Common Entrance Test (CET) that Karnataka and many other states have been holding for those seeking admission to different colleges.
He said Tamil Nadu does not have any experience of the CET and therefore, does not have the right to oppose the NEET.
“We are in the 21st century and we don’t need Macaulay’s education system. Macaulay’s is a 200-year-old education system and Europe is seeking change. To suit the 21st-century needs, we need a change,” Bommai said at the India Today Conclave here.
The NEP not only aims to “rewrite wrong things” but also looks towards the future, he said, adding that with the emergence of science, technology and artificial intelligence, there is a need to prepare rural children to compete in the international community.
“We cannot be spectators when our children are not given the right kind of education and not prepared very well to face the world. We are giving the best education for the next generation (through NEP),” the Karnataka chief minister said.
He also said there is nothing wrong with what the RSS has said about the NEP. “RSS thoughts are national thoughts. What is wrong with it?” he asked.
On opposition parties criticising the NEP, the BJP leader said the Congress is a part of political history and that is why it thinks of history as it suits it.
“They have written history and it is about the Nehru and Gandhi family. They have written history about Congressmen. In the Indian independence struggle, peasants, workers and a lot of people laid down their lives. They are anonymous soldiers but were never mentioned. They want to live with the false history,” he said.
Asked if his father and former Union HRD minister S R Bommai would have been comfortable with the new NEP, he said, “Times have changed. There was no digital world when my father was there. The electronics were not there. Things have changed now. It’s a global village now.”
Bommai further said he was part of “Macaulay’s education system and I don’t want my grandson to be a part of it. He should be in tune with the most flexible, modern and well-equipped deserving depository of knowledge”.
On Tamil Nadu opposing the NEET, the Karnataka chief minister said the neighbouring state never had any competitive exam as admission to colleges was based on marks there.
However, Karnataka and other states have CET, where children from all walks of life can compete for any college. States with no competitive exams have a lot of seats in the management quota for students from the privileged class, he said.
“NEET is nothing new for us. It is an extension of CET for us. We have not only allowed people from Karnataka, but from other states like Bihar in CET. NEET should continue,” he asserted.
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