Vidhya Bharati in a new form?

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, DEC. 22. The Opposition parties are preparing themselves to question the direction and substance of the ``clandestine and surreptitious manner in which the present Government is seeking to make fundamental changes in the National Policy on Education.''

The Centre has convened a meeting of State Education Ministers to discuss its recently prepared `National Curriculum Framework for School Education.'

Eleven Rajya Sabha members, belonging to different parties, have written a letter to all the Chief Ministers to alert them on the nature of changes being proposed in the curriculum framework.

It appears that the Vajpayee Government may have a fight on its hands similar to one it faced when it tried, two years ago, to introduce ``a sectarian agenda'', prepared by an RSS affiliate, Vidhya Bharati Shiksha Sansthan.

Mr. Eduardo Faleiro (Congress), Mrs. Chandra Kala Pandey (CPI-M), Mr. V. Dhammaviriya and Mr. Ram Deo Bhandary (RJD), Mr. Gandhi Azad (BSP), Mr. Mirza Abdul Rashid (National Conference), Mr. H.K.J. Gowda (Janata Dal), Mr. V. Raghavan and Dr. Biplab Dasgupta (CPI), Mr. R.S. Gavai (RPI) and Mr. R. Margabandhu (AIADMK), have alleged that the National Curriculum is an attempt to `circumvent the authority of Parliament'.

The MPs see the `National Curriculum' as part of the strategy of the Government `which has converted all the educational bodies coming under the purview of the Ministry of Human Resource Development into instruments of implementing the ideological- political agenda of the Sangh Parivar.'

``It is a reflection of the major departure which the present Government is relentlessly pursuing in the content and process of education by giving it a sectarian, and chauvinistic orientation in the name of value education, spiritual education, indigenous education, education about religions, etc...'' they say.

Elitist, racist...

The MPs also have another basic objection to the philosophy behind the Curriculum. ``It is elitist and possibly racist,'' they say.

``The curriculum introduces new elements of inequality by what it says about the education of the gifted and talented children and contrary to all educational norms the identification of the gifted and talented is to begin from the earliest stage of education,'' they inform the Chief Ministers.

The National Curriculum document, `talks of assessing their emotional and spiritual quotient.

Thus every child according to the philosophy of this document is born with not only a fixed quantum of intelligence but also a fixed quantum of emotion and spirituality, which will be measured.'

The overall impact would be `further inequalities in education as well as elitism which it is mixed with obscurantism in the name of spirituality.'

The MPs invite the Chief Ministers to raise their collective voice to have the document rejected.

While the Congress and the Left Front Governments (West Bengal and Kerala) are expected to oppose the curriculum, the response of the Governments in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh would be significant.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : Shahi Imam threat to seek Arab sanctions
Next     : Stop double game, SP tells BJP allies