The NEP 2020 is an extension of the ongoing Right-wing agenda and incorporates a lot of what these forces in the country want. None of it is new though — dropping c h a p t e r s , c h a n g i n g textbooks, this has always been in place. This is a complete reversal of Nehruvian ideals, and we had been doing great so far. The talk of granting autonomy to colleges and introducing fouryear programmes is also about a disturbing shift towards privatisation and Americanisation of higher educational institutions, which would work towards excluding the poor.
The shift towards such a foreign neoliberal model is totally unsuited for the majority of the population.
This is also a considerable attack on good central universities in India. The move towards regional languages as the medium of instruction is also doubtful. Moreover, the language of educational materials and skill training has not been developed to accommodate this. Can you imagine learning about nuclear physics in Hindi? Overall, the NEP sounds like a wishy-washy policy.
Aditya Mukherjee is a historian and JNU professor. As told to Poulomi Paul.