Draft Education Policy 'undermines' RTE, will 'close down' schools meant for poor

By Our Representative
An Ahmedabad discussion on the New Education Policy (NEP), the draft of which recently released by the Government of India, reached the drastic conclusion that, if implemented, it will “reduce” the number of schools in villages and towns, directly impact minorities, Dalits, Adivasis and other marginalized sections.
Asserting that it seeks to hand over eduction to capitalists, participants in the discussion – who included representatives from the Right to Education (RTE) Forum Gujarat, Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) – the discussion ended with burning of copies of the draft NEP.
MCC convener Mujahid Nafees, who also represented the RTE Forum, said that the government has failed to implement the RTE Act, and the draft NEP talk of doubling the budgetary allocation for education is an “eyewash.”
Pointing towards the draft mentioning the need to relax RTE norms in private schools, Nafees said, the overall quality of education cannot be improved by eliminating the minimum criteria mentioned in the RTE Act.
Insisting on the need to have a strong regulatory framework for private schools to implement the Act, he objected to the draft favouring closing down schools in the name of consolidation of education.

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