Flawed Education Policy

Context: Homogenisation, centralisation outside political influence, enmity towards private enterprise, self-propagation of governing body and refusal to recognise caste calls for explicit remedial measures in NEP.

Flaws in NEP

• Lower public spending: i.e NEP allocates 6% of GDP to education, a meager increase of 1.7% of GDP from the present level.

• NEP aims to eliminate private funding: which constitutes a large part of funding at all levels of education.

• Notion that education should not be for-profit, private institutions: veil their “for-profit identity”, behind modest philanthropy. 
• NEP refrains from identifying caste: that produces and reproduces disadvantage, calling for specific remedies. 
• NEP enumerates SC, ST and minorities as Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs).
• Conversion of all colleges into autonomous bodies: governed by a Board of Governors (BoG) completely insulated from outside influence.
• Appointment of BoG members by the BoG itself restricts their ability to adapt to new challenges.
• There is no mention of elected student unions: in the NEP document.
• Elections and unions in universities and colleges would appear to be anathema (a person or thing accursed) to NEP. 
• Centralised funding of research in one body: will vet (to evaluate for possible approval) proposals for relevance, is not how knowledge grows. 
• Elected representatives of the people have a limited role: in centralised educational bodies.

Conclusion: A revamped central education body will guide state-level bodies in determining school curricula, taking out the role of state governments from the process.