By F. M. Britto
Raipur, Aug 3, 2020: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has questioned the National Education Policy introduced by the federal coalition government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Will the private schools also teach in the regional language?” asks Baghel, who heads the central Indian state’s Congress-led government. He warns of disparity between students of government schools studying in the local language and those in private school children where English would be medium of instruction.
In a news item published in the Dainik Bhaskar, Aug 2, the chief minister questions about the children studying in the regional language. Since hundreds’ of central government employees get transferred every year from one state to another, if the child studies in Chhattisgarhi one year in Chhattisgarh and then he goes to Maharashtra next year and then the following year to Gujarat, what happens to his regional language? he asks.
Questioning the definition of the ancient Indian language, Baghel asks, “Are Sanskrit and Hindi ancient Indian languages or the tribals’ dialects of Halbi, Gondi or Kannada?”
Claiming that Chhattisgarh state follows the correct pattern, the chief minister said, local dialects are being taught in the schools as a supplementary language. If the local language is considered the main language, he says the students’ base of education will get weakened.
Baghel has objected adding the anganwadi (nursery school) along with the primary. He says the anganwadi is being run in one room by one teacher with a helper. He questions the feasibility of running three classes there. Saying that it is not practical, he has asked the federal government to rethink it. The infrastructure has to be made first, he has suggested.
He said, during this Covid-19 pandemic nothing is said about imparting education. Whereas the New Education Policy says that the government will spend 6 percent of GDP for education, Baghel questions how it can spend since now it has only 2.8 percent.
He has also accused the new policy for not speaking anything on the new infrastructure.