Promotion Of Sanskrit In NEP 2020 Is Discriminatory: NEFIS
The recently adopted new National Education Policy, or NEP 2020, that highlights the study of Sanskrit “highlight the utter insensitivity towards the other languages”, according to the North-East Forum for International Solidarity(NEFIS). According to the forum, emphasis on the Sanskrit language is discriminatory to Schedule 8 and other languages of India and can be seen as an attempt by the “government to impose a single identity on the various peoples of India”.
The NEP 2020 document promotes Sanskrit as an “important, enriching option” for students in school and higher education, including the proposed “three-language formula”.
North East India is home to traditions, languages, and cultures that are different and unique.
“The reasoning of the policy makers is incorrect at least and outrageous at best since the languages in the country are a result of various influences, not just that of standardized classical languages,” an official statement said.
The NEP 2020, which was approved by the cabinet without discussion in the parliament, will “worsen the already pathetic situation of education in the country”, the forum said.
The policy, according to the forum, “has incorporated the interests of the industry and corporate sector.”
Entrance-Based Admission
The proposal for admission through entrance examination, as discussed in the NEP 2020, will also affect North Eastern students.
“The measure to institute entrance examinations conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA) instead of marks attained by students would further imperil the chances of the students of the state boards as due recognition to the diversity of content of state board syllabi will not be adhered to,” an official statement said.
“It should be noted that majority of the school students study in schools which are affiliated to the state boards. In the admissions to the few premier institutions these students are penalized in so far as their marks tend to be far less than that of those in central boards to which generally the elite government and private schools are affiliated,” the statement added.
The solution to this problem, according to the forum, is not admission through entrance test but building more infrastructures, and providing more funds to the regional education institutes.