Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: DH File Photo
The National Education Policy (NEP) will be scrapped in Karnataka from the next academic year, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced on Monday.
Siddaramaiah was speaking at a general body meeting of the Karnataka Congress.
“The NEP, which was introduced by the previous BJP government, will be completely scrapped from the next academic year,” Siddaramaiah said in his first comment on the matter.
The Congress, in its manifesto, had promised to scrap the NEP. It will be replaced by a state education policy (SEP).
“Scrapping the NEP requires some preparation. There was no time for it this year. By the time elections got over and our government came, the academic year had started. We decided to continue with NEP this year in order to ensure there’s no disturbance,” Siddaramaiah said.
In August 2021, when the BJP was in power, Karnataka became the first to adopt NEP in higher education. The Congress had criticised the NEP, dubbing it the “Nagpur Education Policy”, meaning it was designed to push the RSS agenda.
“Students, parents and even teachers are against NEP,” Siddaramaiah said. “By not implementing NEP in any other state, the BJP has sacrificed the interests of students in Karnataka where it was rolled out first,” he said.
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