West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Monday expressed “serious reservations” over the new National Education Policy ( NEP) and said it was not possible to implement it in five years. Mr. Chatterjee said the State government has set up a six-member committee to look into NEP, and it will send a report to the Centre by August 15.
The State Education Minister said that the committee comprise Lok Sabha MP Saugata Roy, educationist Pabitra Sarkar and Avik Majumdar, indologist Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, and vice-chancellors Suranjan Das and Sabyasachi Basu Roychowdhury. The Minister also added that organisations working in the field of education can also send their recommendations to the education department by August 15.
The first sign of disapproval of the NEP by the Trinamool Congress government came a couple of days ago when Mr, Chatterjee said that he felt that the policy has been “copied from foreign education systems”. “A detailed discussion will be held with our educationists and student’s bodies. We will be able to tell our views on the NEP once discussions are held,” the Minister had said on August 1. The Union Cabinet approved the new National Education Policy (NEP) on July 29.
The Students Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of Communist Party of India ( Marxist), has also taken to the streets in protest over the NEP .
