Opposition political parties has urged the government to ensure that the proposed education policy is “inclusive” and “bereft of any ideology” as a draft was thrown open for a debate in the Rajya Sabha. The Opposition in the Rajya Sabha slammed the draft education policy as one lifted out of RSS documents, while the government argued it is not a draft policy but merely inputs for a new one.

CPM MP Sitaram Yechury, who opened the discussion, said the policy that had been uploaded is geared towards “3Cs - centralisation, commercialisation and communalisation”. He said, “This document is a complete lift from an RSS document presented in Amarkantak. This in the name of Vedic education we are converting the study of history into the study of Hindu mythology, the study of Indian philosophy into a study of Hindu theology, we introduced zero to the world but it was the reassertion of the Brahminical culture in the 6th century AD that destroyed that education system by promoting the caste system. Ekalavya is a classic example. Those caste lines are being resurrected in the name of Vedic education.”

“No education system can survive if you infuse textbooks with ideology… ABVP is entering every campus, occupying the vice chancellor’s office, creating an atmosphere of violence and running a parallel administration. You should bring out a white paper saying we are the Sangh and all ideology will be of RSS. You have saffronised every post in the country,” Former HRD minister Kapil Sibal (Congress) said.

The new education policy, coming after a gap of nearly three decades, aims to lay a road map for the education sector. The draft policy states that the aim is to ensure “quality education and lifelong learning opportunities”. It includes issues ranging from pre-school education, curriculum renewal, school assessment, quality assurance, internationalization, faculty development in higher education and language and culture in education.

By Premji