‘Save Education, Reject NEP’: 16 student groups to hold nationwide protest tomorrow

NEW DELHI: The United Students of India, a joint platform of all major students groups, will organise protests under the slogan, "Save Education, Reject NEP. Save India, Reject BJP" on January 12 at Jantar Mantar.

The nationwide movement will be organised against the “destructive measures adopted by the Modi government in the education sector”.

“The movement will mobilise the common students throughout the country under the slogan, "Save Education, Reject NEP. Save India, Reject BJP". As a part of the movement a massive students’ rally will be organised in the capital, Delhi,” it said. The students from across the country are expected to participate in the movement.

All India Students' Association (AISA), All India Students' Bloc (AISB), All India Students' Federation (AISF), Chatra Rashtriya Janata Dal (CRJD), Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), DMK Student Wing, Dravidian Students Federation, DSF, National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Progressive Students' Forum (PSF), PSU, Students Federation of India (SFI), RLD Chatra Sabha, Samajwadi Chatra Sabha, Satro Mukti Sangram Samiti, and Tribal Students’ Union will take part in the movement.

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Issues on implementation of NEP

Several academics, students groups, ministers, including Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, have voiced against the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP 2020), since its inception.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports, headed by Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Thakur, issued a report in September 2023 and pointed out the issues on implementation of NEP.

The report said that the multiple entry and multiple exit systems may not function in "highly populated India" and capacities of faculty “does not gel” with the requirements of implementing multidisciplinary education.

Last year, the Kerala State Curriculum Committee for Higher Education had recommended a four-year undergraduate programme with a single-exit option, which is different from that proposed in the NEP. “We emphasise that this recommendation of the commission is not the same as in the NEP 2020, where exits are envisaged at the end of every academic year. In contrast, we are suggesting a scheme with a single lateral exit option,” it read.