New Education Policy "More Important Than Rafale Aircraft": Shiv Sena

The New Education Policy 2020 unveiled by the Government of India is more important than the procurement of Rafale fighter planes but there are concerns on its proper implementation, Shiv Sena said in its mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi did a good job. He changed the country's educational policy completely. This change occurred after 34 years. This is more important than the Rafale planes from France. We call the new education policy important as the country has now got the Ministry of Education. So now the country will get an Education Minister. If a person is knowledgeable in the education sector then let him become Education Minister. Many people who do not have finance-related information or who do not have health-related information, often those ministries were given to those who did not do good work there," an editorial in Saamana read.

The Shiv Sena welcomed the policy for its focus on education up to class fifth in the mother tongue but expressed reservation whether this will only be limited to government schools and not spread to private schools run by missionaries and others.

"One thing is good that education up to the fifth grade is kept in the mother tongue. The demand for education in the mother tongue was constantly being made by the Sangh Parivar. The only question is that this mother tongue should not be limited to education only in government schools. There are English medium schools, ''convent schools'' of missionaries, Central schools and how will we implement this mother tongue education rule in the context of international schools?" the editorial read.

"Today there is a wave of education in English all over the country. Language and culture are dying due to this. People have assumed that the mother tongue is not suitable for livelihood, business, industry and research. Marathi schools were closed in cities like Mumbai and Thane. Marathi teachers became unemployed. This picture is surprising," it added.

Saamna further said that the proposed change of education from 10+2 to 5+3+3+4 is a step towards a more practical, skill-based and quality-oriented setup. But it went on to say whether the desired results will be achieved is circumspect as the quality is hardly valued in the system.

"According to the new policy, the exams of the tenth-twelfth have now ended. By cancelling their boards, the Central government has prepared a new framework of 5+3+3+4. Future education will not only be a book-making or graduate-producing factory but also practical and professional. The fear of results has been removed. Results will also be evaluated by the student, classmates and teachers themselves, not only by giving marks and remarks of teachers," it said.

"The standard of education which was once ''tenth-twelfth'' will no longer be there. The importance of certificates in the tenth-twelfth system has been done away with. Modi government abolished percentage competition. Governance also does not run on the criteria of quality, what about education there? There is an eagerness to know in which university will prepare the curriculum of the new educational policy and from which branch (university) these experts are coming," it read.

The Shiv Sena mouthpiece expressed concern that there is no scope for moral education in the new education policy.

"The system of teaching morality lessons is not available in the new education policy. Graduates and skilled people can be established, but we must also develop a good man, a good citizen. It is not possible to be a good politician without a citizen respecting rules, constitution, law and majority. Looking at the current mess in politics, there is a need for this moral lesson," the editorial read.