NEP-2020 undemocratically implemented by Union government: Thorat

“The Union government has implemented the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) undemocratically, without consulting state governments. It is moving towards the complete centralisation of education,” said Prof. Sukhadeo Thorat, educationist and Chairman of the Commission for State Education Policy (SEP).

Inaugurating a seminar ‘Towards People’s Policy on Education 2026’ — an alternative to NEP 2020, organised by the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) in the city on Saturday, he said that in the name of the Indian Knowledge System, irrational and unscientific curricula were being designed. 

Privatisation impact

“Since the wave of privatisation in the 1990s, educational inequality has been rising. Approximately 67% of higher educational institutions have become self-financing and private. Due to escalating fees, a 22% dropout rate is observed among economically disadvantaged sections. Consequently, universal education has become a mirage,” he said, and called for the adoption of a ‘People’s Education Policy' that is scientific, secular, democratic, and universal, treating education as a public good rather than as a commodity. Prof. Thorat chaired a committee that drafted the Karnataka State Education Policy.

Jawahar Sircar, former Member of Parliament (MP) and former Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, said, “NEP-2020 is a bureaucratic tool designed to implement four main objectives: centralisation, corporatisation, communalisation, and privatisation of education.” He emphasised that the incumbent regime in Delhi doesn’t respond to mere petitions and urged that NEP-2020 be challenged across all platforms, including in the Parliament and judiciary.

Resered for elite

Prof. Ram Puniyani, a retired professor from IIT Bombay, alleged that while quality education is reserved for the elite, public schools are being closed, and thousands of teaching positions remain vacant. He strongly criticised the systematic attack on scientific temper and rational thinking. He highlighted alarming changes, such as the removal of the Periodic Table and the Theory of Evolution from textbooks, which undermine established scientific foundations. “All historical progress is built on the foundation of rational thinking, and we must protect it. It is essential to fight to prevent the country from slipping into a dark age,” he said.