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Summary of the talk!

1. We feel that we can learn things in higher education that will help us improve the society. But is our education system being able to provide such things? Even before NEP, there were many issues, and NEP will only make them worse.

2. In Karnataka, we got the school result in May 2024. Only 73% students were able to pass - a 11% drop from last year. Many students were given grace marks to pass this exam. This shows, students learning outcomes in schools are quite bad.

3. More than 25% teacher vacancies exist in the government schools in Karnataka. Similar trends exist in degree and junior colleges. Barely any permanent teachers!

4. The govt education system is insufficiently funded. While we are asking for nearly 10% of GDP to be spent on education, like even the Kothari Commission (from the 1960s) asks for 6% of GDP with increase in every year. But we are spending barely 2.9% of our GDP on education. Except for few exceptions like Kerala. State allocation is pretty low and is not spent properly.

5. Education is considered to be a class reproduction tool - especially the ruling class ideology. The motive is to keep people in the class that they belong - upper class stays at the top. In India, caste also joins this bandwagon. In higher edu institutes, enrollment ratio of Bahujan students is inadequate and below the reservations quota.

7. Is our education policy truly representative of our needs? Globalization brought with it privatization in education under the WTO rule. Education was understood as a commodity for investments and money making.

8. So how does NEP increase these existing issues? NEP forgets the Right to Education which has a long movement behind it. Instead, it focuses on privatizating education by keeping no cap on fees. School mergers are being pushed under this policy which translates into school closures in remote villages. Because of which, young children are walking long distances to reach their school. (Ideally, RTE says that a primary school should be within 3 kms and a middle school within 5)

9. UGC funds would slowly be pulled back and big-cats in education would come in. This would firstly, reduce accessibility for marginalized and vulnerable students. Additionally, it would impact fundamental research projects.

10. NEP pushes for making education online! This decreases faculty positions and intra-class learning. It also pushes for vocational education - when the infrastructure does not exist for such a reality. This would only push for caste based occupations within the education system.

11. NEP not only prioritizes privatization but also saffronisation. Basic sciences and social sciences research is being neglected and replaced by a focus on Vedic traditions, Sanskrit language, religious texts and books.

12. While Education is a part of the Concurrent list, NEP centralizes education and gives more importance to the central govt in implementing and formulating educational policies in the state.

13. So what can we learn from the soviet union? Within the first year of the Russian Revolution, the number of schools were doubled. And they reached 100% enrollment in schools. It was completely free and for everyone. Additionally, adult education was started for workers who were given full paid leave to pursue their studies. Many libraries and common hall were established, where radios and TV were setup to expose people to new ideas.

14. Most importantly, students in institutes and within schools were an important voice in making education policy under the soviet model.