Bengal govt not to implement National Education Policy in near future: Minister

West Bengal government will not implement the National Education Policy (NEP) in the near future as it goes against the federal structure of the country, State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said on Monday.

He was speaking to reporters after attending the ‘Governor’s Conference on the Role of NEP in Transforming Higher Education.’

“There is no question of implementing the NEP in Bengal in the near future. We have severe reservations about certain aspects of the NEP as it undermines the federal structure of the country. It also seems to be curbing the role of state governments with regards to education. More discussion should be held with all the stakeholders,” said Chatterjee.

He also said that presently, tackling the Covid-19 pandemic is the key priority of the state government.

Chatterjee said that he had objected to the Centre’s decision of not including Bengali in the list of classical languages.

“Centre’s framing of the NEP in such unilateral manner goes undermines the federal structure of the country. Despite education being a subject on the concurrent list of the Constitution, Centre acted in such a manner. This is unacceptable to us,” said Chatterjee.

He also accused the Centre of not paying attention to the state governments’ opinions regarding the NEP.