Change state education laws before applying NEP: Sisodia
HT Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said the provisions in different state education laws were hindering the implementation of the National Education Policy (2020) and that a legal framework was needed for the proper implementation of the policy and its alignment with state education laws.
The minister, who also holds the education portfolio, made these comments while attending the National Conference of School Education Ministers in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
“The recommendations of the recently introduced National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 are progressive, but it needs an enabling l egal framework to realise its full potential. There are many provisions in different state education laws which are restricting the proper implementation of NEP,” said Sisodia.
He also advocated for a legal framework to aid the implementation of NEP 2020. “There is a need for a new legal framework for NEP to align it with the forward-looking provisions of NEP 2020. Otherwise, the policy will not be able to cross the hurdles created by existing legal provisions and age-old practices,” the minister said.
He said some of the age-old rules and regulations governing the functioning of education departments were irrelevant in present times and restricted the implementation of NEP.
While giving the example of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, he said the Act was largely about private schools and suggested corporal punishment in certain cases which was against the Right to Education Act, 2009. He said while the provisions of the Act may have made sense at the time when these laws were made, they were hindrances in the present scenario.