The draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 determined itself to draw into a high-profile controversy quickly after the Ministry of Human Sources Development published it online for soliciting remarks late last month. The point of contention: the NEP’s advice that Hindi be mandated as one of the three languages to look at in faculty. The opposition in south India, especially inside Tamil Nadu, changed so sturdy that the NEP committee hastily withdrew the linguistic policy mandate at the problem.
Scrutiny of the 484-page NEP 2019 exhibits a difficulty deserving of wider, more heated competition. The phrases “secular” or “secularism” are not found everywhere. The NEP 2019 is anticipated to reset the authority’s investment coverage on training, the shape of faculty training, the curricular layout for faculty and higher education, and the nature of trainer schooling and recruitment, among others. A clear, unequivocal dedication to secular education is vital as an anchor for these bold reform proposals.
The missing phrase
The absence of the word “secular” within the NEP 2019 becomes all the extra mentioned while the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986, which laid down the coverage framework which publications the Indian schooling system at present, the National Curricular Framework (NCF) 2005, which formed the premise of the revision of the National Council Of Educational Research And Training (NCERT) textbooks, and the National Curricular Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTF) 2009 are delivered into view.
The NPE 1986 categorically states: “All instructional programs will be carried on in strict conformity with secular values.” Among the “social values inside which we discover our educational pursuits”, the NCF 2005 affirms, “the first is a dedication to democracy and the values of equality, justice, freedom, the challenge for others’ properly-being, secularism, appreciate for human dignity and rights.”
Another example notes: “Seeking steerage from the Constitutional vision of India as a mundane, egalitarian and pluralistic society, founded on the values of social justice and equality, certain huge objectives of education have been recognized on this report.”
The NCFTE 2009 broadcasts that the United States needs instructors who “promote values of peace, democratic way of existence, equality, justice, liberty, fraternity, secularism and zeal for social reconstruction”.
