NEP ensures public and private sector to compete on equal terms: Kasturirangan

New Delhi: The national education policy (NEP) neither promotes nor neglects private sector in education, but it has ensured equal opportunity to both private and public schools to compete, K. Kasturirangan, chairman of the NEP drafting committee said Thursday at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit.

“We have brought the private school and public schools at the same level, there is an even handedness we deal with. We are not dealing with them separately,” he said.

“I also want to say that the policy, allows you to share the resources in public institutions and private institutions, so there can be agreement on this…the policy has given enough thought to make sure that public schools and private schools can compete on equal terms together,” he said negating any tilt in the new policy that has come after a gap of 34-years.

The former ISRO chief said while giving an equal footing to both, the government system will have to make the public schools as good as the “perception with regard to the private schools”.

One section believes that the NEP promotes privatization, another section believes the private sector was neglected, he said. “I think neither is true…it's a very balanced and very well nuanced policy,” he explained, adding further that experts and authorities associated with the NEP formulation did give a lot of thought to this private vs public question.

Central Square Foundation (CSF) founder and venture capital veteran Ashish Dhawan said private sector should get greater autonomy and authorities also need to incentivize private sector education. Dhawan, whose venture philanthropy CSF works in the school education space, said 47.5% of the students are in private and private aided schools in the country.

“I think if we care about all our children…we need to look at the private system and say that look they play a role. Some are bad actors, but I think many of them are actually doing a service to children. So lower the regulation. Get rid of the license raj. But we should insist on greater autonomy, greater transparency and demand greater accountability from them as well,” Dhawan said.

Regarding the language debate around NEP, Kasturirangan said the policy does not change the three-language formula. "There is absolutely no inhibition to learn whatever a child wants to learn. Language formula is based on science," he said. Kasturirangan also touched upon the merit of four-year-undergraduate education that focuses on depth in learning in higher education system, and reiterated the role technology will play in the sector.

India unveiled its new NEP in July this year after a gap of 34 years and this is the third NEP of independent India. The new policy redraws the schooling system on a 5+3+3+4 formula instead of the current 10+2 model, bats language learning in primary education level, a multi-layered university education system, integration of vocation education with the mainstream academics, creation of a research foundation and less weight in exam system among other issues.