Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Manuel Badwar has said that the National Education Policy (NEP) has to be implemented, but not in a haphazard way.
“You can’t just force something down the throat. I feel that committees have to be formed comprising one of the best professionals in various fields, including representation from the teachers and political fields, etc to see that the NEP is not implemented in a haphazard way which could defeat its purpose,” he told Highland Post.
Stating that the strike by the Meghalaya College Teachers’ Association (MCTA) is legitimate, he said that the Vice Chancellor of NEHU should have also convened a meeting with all the concerned stakeholders at the same time to find a common ground.
“If you are meeting the concerned stakeholders separately then how will views and suggestions and discussion take place on the matter,” he said adding that somewhere there are miscommunications between NEHU and the teachers.
He however urged the teachers on strike to foremostly think of the students who will be mostly affected and missed out their courses.
Stating that government support should also come forth, he said that the education scenario in Meghalaya has dropped drastically and if the government really wants to focus to uplift the education system in the state, then it should also be participative, and make investment.
He said that in order to implement the NEP, the state also needs a support system because the resources have to be revamp as well.
“If you talk about private colleges they can raise their resources, and bring in more experts and trained teachers, in various fields and skills etc. If you talk about the government colleges you cannot and you have to consider the teachers-student ratio. You also cannot just implement a policy and use the existing manpower just because it has been directed from Delhi,” he said.
He said that every government college needs to first sit within their own committee and discuss the matter thoroughly and see all the requirements needed and be realistic in their demand like enhancing manpower, etc and the government should be able to allocate budget for such requirements and resources.
Badwar said that if you expect Economics teachers to do something unrelated to his subject then it will be unworkable especially in government colleges where resources are limited and where the teachers-students ratio does not match.
He said that lack of foresight from the administrators also could result in big problems even as he also referred to the CUET entrance examination that could hit the students of the state big time.
“These matters also have to be discussed in the department and the finance department that should make provision beforehand to ensure that the budget is available for implementation of such policies,” he added.
He further said that the NEP is quite good because not everybody can do their graduation for three-four years.
“In this policy a student who does his graduation for only a year gets a certification for that, and likewise those who do it for only two years gets a diploma, three years gets a general course and if they want to do specialization, etc which is very nice and right thing to do as there are those who cannot afford or cannot complete the full course but they still gets the certification and the policy also equipped the students with various skills,” he added.
