NEP sets back Indian education by 100 years, claims Bengal varsity teachers' body

Two left-leaning organisations of university teachers on Wednesday opposed the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 approved by the Union cabinet, and one of them claimed that it has set back education in the country by at least 100 years.

Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) and All Bengal University Teachers' Association (ABUTA) also alleged that the NEP would destroy the democratic characteristics of the countrys education system.

"The NEP 2020 seeks to replace the inclusive, democratic, progressive, idea of India by a narrow, sectarian and bigoted notion, driven by the compulsion to propagate the divisive ideology of a particular political party," JUTA General Secretary Partha Pratim Roy said in a statement.

"It has set back education in India by at least a century," it said.

ABUTA said the NEP destroyed the scientific, secular and democratic characteristics of the countrys education system.

The policy would be detrimental to economically disadvantaged students and destroy the public-funded education system by opening the sector entirely to corporates, ABUTA state committee member Goutam Maity said.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the new NEP and renamed the HRD Ministry as Education Ministry.

A single regulator for higher education institutions, multiple entry and exit options in degree courses, discontinuation of MPhil programmes, low stakes board exams, common entrance exams for universities are among the highlights of the NEP.