Srinagar, Mar 12 (KNO): CPI(M) Central Committee Member and MLA Kulgam, Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami, on Wednesday cautioned the government over the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in Jammu and Kashmir, stating that the entire crux of the policy is to commercialize education and deny poor students the right to knowledge.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) Correspondent, Tarigami, while participating in the ongoing discussion on the budget presented recently by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the legislative assembly, said that the much-hyped NEP is fraught with dangerous consequences and that the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir must remain extremely cautious in its implementation.
"It is being claimed here that the New Education Policy will be actively implemented and strengthened in Jammu and Kashmir. When I look at the history here, you will see that when Sheikh Sahib was there, you can look at the manifesto of that time. What was mentioned about education and health? There was a promise of universal education at that time when there was no mention of it anywhere else in the country. We had a robust education as well as a healthcare system in place," Tarigami said.
He added that since the new education policy has been implemented, commercialization and privatization have turned education into a tool for making money, making it marketable. "Another issue is centralization. You might have heard that the UGC has issued a circular order. Now, the Vice Chancellors of every state will be selected by those in Delhi. Whether it is Jammu and Kashmir or other UTs or states, they do not have the authority to decide on education, which is a concurrent subject, a state subject. Now it is being centralized," Tarigami said.
Tarigami urged the government to save education from becoming a market commodity. "It is not a market commodity," he emphasized. Referring to the Education Minister, Sakina Yatoo, Tarigami urged her that even if she cannot stop the NEP, at least this new policy should not be further enhanced.
"You keep talking about a level playing field, but where is the level playing field? Where is the child who cannot even afford slippers in the village, in the remote areas? Where will he go at this pace? My question is in front of you. If I do not have an answer, we should at least try to find an answer and keep it on the agenda. Schools require fees, private schools require fees. Where will the poor class, who are daily wage laborers, small farmers, or small workers, send their children? Where will they go? This is not education. In the name of education, an elite class is being prepared to serve corporate interests," Tarigami said.
Referring to the health sector, Tarigami said that its privatization will prove detrimental to the poor. He said that attempts are being made to turn the health sector into a money-minting machine. "People who can afford healthcare and are rich will go to Chandigarh or Delhi. Where will the poor go? Those who cannot even afford an auto, where will they take the sick to Delhi and Ahmedabad?" he questioned.
He also mentioned that even when certain parties have differences with the name of SKIMS, the healthcare institution is an institution of the poor. "Take care of it. I once talked about its autonomy, and then some people here said the era of autonomy is gone. I then said Chandigarh's institution is also autonomous. Certain people are allergic to the word autonomy," Tarigami added.
Tarigami further condemned the police action on daily wagers who were demanding regularization. He said cases have been registered against them while their genuine needs were undermined. "The daily-rated workers here have been denied the minimum wages, and while their counterparts have got their due in Ladakh, the daily wagers here are being plunged into distress. I urge the Chief Minister to look at the wages being given in New Delhi and Ladakh and see what is being given to the daily wagers in Jammu and Kashmir," Tarigami said—(KNO)