The Education system of India is surely not in the best condition. The COVID and post COVID scenario has squeezed out a large section of students. The largest part of this large section comprises marginalized students, both socially and economically.
Percentage of students dropping out has increased by 4.02% at secondary level and 7.27% at the higher secondary level. The fatal virus was raging through this country. Situations were very fragile. The central govt. of Indian facing no opposition in the Parliament brazenly passed the bill of NEP. It is a document of nearly a thousand pages. Obviously it is not practically possible to summarize thousand pages of cruelty. Let us try and discuss few major points which can slaughter the system of education and jeopardies the concept of Democracy.
ABOLITION OF RESERVATIONS
The system of reservation has been in the constitution since its very beginning Dr. B R Ambedkar himself raised from Mahars. In the feudal caste system, Mahars are considered untouchables. He was very aware about the prevalent oppressions and exploitations. They were deprived of their basic philistine sentimentalism.
Ambedkar almost single handed brought a neo democratic revolution. During the BJP era the stagnancy in the number of seats seems unbreakable. Finally the government has decided to break the deadlock by drawing the system of reservation out of existence. Now what are the consequences?
Consequences are very straightforward. There would be no social parity which would eventually serve as a shield for the upper caste. The issue of reservations has not been addressed once in those thousand pages.
DISSOLVING THE UGC AND REPLACING IT WITH HECI:
First we need to understand the terms UGC and HECI. UGC or the University Grant Commission is a body that grants fellowships and scholarships to meticulous students. This served the economically backward students to compete with the privileged ones.
HECI will be a new avatar of UGC with a different vision, focus and powers. While UGC has been vested with grant-giving powers, HECI will have no funds to dole out. This is a decision based on the recommendations of many government committees which pointed out how the fund-giving functions of the UGC allowed for over-regulation –– an oft compromised UGC inspection regime that has led to an inevitable quality decline in India’s higher education system. The money saved from this will nourish the Adani Modi relation.
POLICIES HAMPERING THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
The system of M Phil does not exist anymore. We have witnessed the consequences in the NET. There is a subsequent fall in the number of research scholars. lesser seats, abolishment of the ugc grants all together it's accumulative effort by the government to manufacture workers for the west. Tenure for BA Honours has been increased to four years instead of three. Students can opt for flying education viz one can study physics in first year and sangeet in second year. There is a mass privatization of the institutes. Curbing the syllabus, including Sanskrit and forcing students to study Hindi as their second language instead of vernacular can be categorized under saffronization of education system.
POLITICAL AGENDA
There is no doubt that the ruling body at the centre is a fascist force.The system of education according to me is designed to have a desired outcome that serves more than one purpose.Firstly it is designed to manufacture workers instead of thinkers.
Education serves as a base for an individual to decide what is right and what is wrong. It is a very smart move to shut the voices against the state.
Adding on to it there is a greater purpose to be served. India being a third world country is teeming with unemployed youth. It's a lucrative spot for the western capitalists to invest.
It is even for them to generate the surplus by underpaying the people in the east.
Due to a considerable difference in economy it's easier for the corporates to fool
people in the east. This is also how India is sacrificing its youth to serve the neo liberal economy or the economy for the global market.
"OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM WAS DEVELOPED FOR AN INDUSTRIAL ERA WHERE WE COULD TEACH CERTAIN SKILLS TO OUR CHILDREN AND THEY WERE ABLE TO USE THESE SKILLS FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES WORKING PRODUCTIVELY IN AN INDUSTRY." - Naveen Jain