Karnataka: SEP proposals evoke mixed reactions from stakeholders

The State Education Policy (SEP) Commission’s report, which was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday, elicited mixed reactions from stakeholders. While parents welcomed most of the commission’s recommendations, schools found some of the prescriptions retrogressive.

Parents’ associations were elated with the commission’s recommendation to make education free and compulsory till class 12, lauding the panel for taking cognisance of the difficulties of children from the underprivileged sections of society. While existing norms under the Right To Education (RTE) Act mandates free and compulsory education for all children till class eight – till the age of 14 – the SEP’s report extends this provision to all kids till the age of 18.

The proposal to establish a permanent authority for regulating fee too has found favour among parents. B N Yogananda of the Karnataka State Private Schools and Colleges Parents’ Association Co-Ordination Committee said that, while the two aforementioned recommendations were welcome, the committee would wait for the receipt of the entire report before offering any further observations on the same.

Parents, however, are not too pleased with the two-language policy that the commission has recommended, pointing out that such a decision should best be left to the students.

The Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka too is unhappy with the proposed two-language system. Such a move would take the students back by 30 years, feared the body. “It goes against the interests of students, parents, and the verdict of the Constitutional Bench,” the association said.

D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the association, said that implementation of the two-language policy would be detrimental to Kannada. “For instance, in an Urdu-medium school, if Urdu is the first language or medium of instruction, the second language will be English. What will happen to Kannada then,” he asked.

The recommendation to do away with NCERT standards for the textbooks too has been criticised by the association, which pointed out that such a move would put Karnataka’s students at a disadvantage, when they were vying with those from other states in competitive examinations such as NEET and JEE. “We feel this report is politically motivated,” said Kumar.

Former BJP MLC Arun Shahapur urged the state government to make the report public, so all stakeholders could have an open discussion on the proposed policy.

“Given that the few details of the policy revealed to the public are lacking in clarity, we do not wish to respond to those at this point,” said Shahapur, who feared that the nuggets of the policy thus far disclosed to the public were susceptible to be studied under a political lens.  

Other stakeholders have also questioned the state government’s failure to make the SEP’s draft available to the public. They demanded that it be uploaded for public consumption so the stakeholders could raise any objections they had.