Last year the Indian National Congress (INC) formed the Karnataka state government with a thumping majority. The multitude of factors that pushed the INC towards this electoral victory have a common thread- a large section of the masses have been heavily impacted by the continuing economic and communal onslaught on them. The win also involved making certain election promises to the students and youth of the state regarding education and employment. One of the principal promises made was to scrap the National Education Policy 2020 that was hurriedly implemented in Karnataka in 2021 by the BJP government. In August, 2023, it was announced by the Congress government that NEP will be scrapped from 2024-25 academic session and replaced with a state-level education policy. In October last year, the Karnataka government announced the formation of a 15-member panel for drafting the State Education Policy (SEP henceforth). The committee was supposed to come up with its first draft in February this year. Expectedly, the timeline is askew now, with the draft SEP slated to come out in August. Only time can tell whether Congress will deliver on its rhetoric of social and economic justice through the SEP. The trend so far, be it handing over schools to private players, inadequate allocation of funds, half-hearted undoing of textbook revision done by BJP etc., has not really been heartening.
While all this has been going on, students have been facing utter uncertainty in colleges. Due to the abrupt implementation of the NEP in 2021, lakhs of students were left in the lurch. Similarly, the scrapping of NEP without a well-structured SEP in its place has also left many facing sudden curricular changes. While most colleges started double-major degree courses during the NEP years, the 2024-25 session onwards, it has been reverted to a triple major leading to massive confusion. Some colleges have even implemented it in the name of SEP despite there being no published draft yet. These constant back and forths without ensuring any kind of participation of the stakeholders in the decision-making do not show a rosy picture of the days to come. In this situation, it becomes doubly important to criticise anti-student changes that are currently being undertaken as well as present a vision for a model, pro-student SEP.
The education budget 2023-24 is an important starting point for this discussion. At the very least it must be said that there has been no effort to make a budget that will effectively pull public education out of the quagmire it is in or to recover the loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A few details are outlined here:
1.) Insufficient Nutrition Support: The allocation of Rs. 280 crore for providing supplementary nutrition twice a week to 60 lakh children from class one to ten appears insufficient.
2.) Inadequate Funds for Maintenance: A meagre grant of Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 45,000 is provided to each government Primary and High School for maintenance and upkeep of the buildings.
3.) Limited Focus on Quality Education: The budget does not outline specific measures to improve the quality of education, such as teacher training programs, curriculum reforms, or pedagogical advancements.
4.) Inadequate Emphasis on Teacher Welfare: 10 crores has been allotted to train around 8000 teachers which comes to only Rs. 12500 per teacher.
Apart from these, certain alarming incidents that raise questions on the intentions of this government that came back to power riding high on promises of social and economic justice, must be noted. A target to develop 2000 hobli (a cluster of villages) level schools across rural Karnataka on the public-private-partnership model has already been laid out. Mushrooming of unregulated private schools continue. Bengaluru alone has 3500+ schools that run without admitting 25% students from marginalised sections as mandated by the RTE. The textbook revisions by BJP have been only partially undone with Tipu Sultan still being shunned. Student council elections have been scrapped as well in many private colleges while the ban on student unions continues. For many years now, stipends to students coming from marginalised backgrounds passing with first class in SSLC (10th) have been stopped. State-level scholarships like SSP have been irregular and inadequate. Fee hikes in private colleges are unregulated while infrastructure is crumbling in government colleges/PUCs. Students pursuing their degrees in agriculture across the state are fighting to resist privatisation of agri-institutes. Placement scenario is dismal in most private engineering colleges in Bengaluru including the likes of Ramaiah Institute of Technology, CMRIT etc. A nominal scrapping of NEP 2020 does not amount to much if there is little focus on universal and equitable education.
The time has come to remind the current government of the interests of the students:
1.) Ensure dignified and universal employment.
2.) Universal and equitable education should be provided.
3.) Revoke all government school closures, fill up all teacher vacancies, take back all saffronised textbooks through implementing a scientific curriculum, and provide protein-rich midday-meals in schools.
4.) Government schools must not be handed over to corporate players.
5.) Private colleges must undergo regular scrutiny to regulate arbitrary fees. Elected student unions should be formed to keep in check authoritative decisions of the management.
6.) Agricultural institutes must not be privatised. Government professional degree colleges must ensure full placement.
7.) Proper implementation of reservation policies must be ensured.
8.) Introduce pre-matric scholarship for students from minority communities.
9.) Bring back student union elections in colleges and universities of Karnataka.
10.) Ensure proper maintenance of hostels meant for students from the backward classes.
11.) Revise scholarships for research scholars. Meet the demand of revision of fellowship for veterinary students.
12.) Saffronisation of educational institutes must be dealt with stringent action against the perpetrators.
