The politicisation of education TechTricks365

The politicization of education is not new in India or other parts of the world. In fact, political players attempt to strengthen their ideological support through the education system, even when they are not in the helm in power. We all remember how the ruling party of that time made a lot of hue and cry and even went to the Supreme Court to prevent the educational reform of 2000 and changed everything when they returned to power in 2004. They called this process detoxification when they changed the NCF 2000, which was just 4 years old. Many people who were in an important position at that time were replaced overnight. We all remember how some political party proposed National Integration through a textbook in 1981 and the same kind of efforts we saw in 1989 in West Bengal.

An urgent need for a curriculum update

In a similar case, we have seen when an alternative government has come to power either in Karnataka, Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh, they have tried to change the curriculum as per their understanding. It clearly reflects that the curriculum change is not an issue; here, the issue is who is changing the curriculum. 2020 NEP has come after 34 years, and the last NEP came into effect was in 1986, and the same way the last NCF came into effect was in 2005; till the last academic year, all textbooks followed the NCF-2005, which came into effect during UPA-1. Curriculum reform is an ongoing process as society and the knowledge system are changing very fast, and our curriculum is expected to follow suit. It is the government’s prerogative to initiate the process by keeping in mind the futuristic vision of education and society.

The AmritKal celebration gives the opportunity to find and celebrate many unsung heroes; it has talked about and celebrates their contributions. Before this, the Chhota Nagpur region and the north-east found it very difficult to connect with Indian textbooks. The Indian Textbook was very elite not only in terms of content but also in terms of who was preparing the content. The NEP has involved every district of this country and asked and included their ideas without any biases. The formulation of NEP and the preparation, as in the NCERt textbook, has given platforms to every section of society that is honoured by those ideas. These people were earlier outsiders, so maybe certain people do like their inclusion because they do not have that kind of ‘privilege’ which makes them ‘qualified’ in certain terms.

Outrage over much-needed reforms

UGC draft is progressive except for some of the suggestions on which we can disagree, but it was just a draft, and they have invited suggestions from the public. The last major UGC draft change happened in 2013. After that, some minor changes occurred in 2018, but the UGC draft 2025 has tried to transform the higher education system in light of NEP-2020. A lot of organizations and individuals have raised concerns, and a regulatory body must be considering those suggestions, but accusing the body by the head of the parliamentary board of a national party is unprecedented, and it should not have happened. It is classic politicization and dragging educational institutions into a political battle. Instead of the mainstream political front, a student or teacher-oriented entity should have taken this issue.

There is no doubt that India is a very diverse country so it is not possible to control education from the centre. That’s why we have education on concurrent list but if we examine closely it is the responsibility of the state to enhance the quality of education, mainly school education. The issue of the appointment of VC is not new in the Indian education system. Our education system has seen many instances of how the governor has appointed a VC of her/his choice. That is our constitution. We have made the governor a chancellor in state universities, and this has been in practice for decades, so why do we have the issue now? If the provision is problematic, there should be a discussion about removing such provision when you are in power, not when you are in opposition. The issue is that people who are opposing now, have supported this idea for decades, and that is problematic.

Politicizing infrastructure expansion

Now, it is evident that even basic infrastructure expansion in education is being politicized. While curriculum update was always a politically sensitive issue, it is disappointing that the consensus on undertaking infrastructure expansion is also being undone. The PM Shri school is one of the key flagship programmes which aims to transform school education, whether it is centre run school or state aid school through; through this project, the government wants to transform school education landscape and wants to build a model school at the block level, we all remember how during 2012, the government has brought model school scheme through PPP model. They have targeted 2500 schools while PM Shri scheme is targeting more than 14500 schools. This scheme not only transforms the school but also builds additional facilities at schools so students can get world-class facilities. These schools will attract students and will break the myth that government schools do not have good facilities.

The one major initiative of the present government is the opening of new higher education institutions in every state; the government keeps opening IITs, central Universities, NITs and AIIMs in every state, and sometimes it opens more than one central institution in populous states; it this not happened in 6 decades. It is a major move which not only indicates the aspiration of young India but also shows the commitment to the public, which aspires to get higher education—the NEP-2020 talks about getting 50% GER in higher education in 2035.

Everyone should stop politicizing education; education is not for any political party but for society. We must remember that rather than mobilizing public support, targeting educational Institutions essentially ends up damaging their autonomy and degrading their quality. Eventually, it is the citizens who have to pay the price of politicization. We are still struggling to get quality education because of our vast population, and we can not reach our target in one day. It is a long battle, and we all should support our future education without our political and ideological biases. Political parties must honour institutional autonomy instead of undermining it. They can send their suggestions and participate through various platforms without undermining it.

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