Talking on the policing of education and to make it equitable for all, the Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education said that there is a need to ensure that free and compulsory education, which covers only elementary level, is extended to the secondary level.
Ratnakar said there was a need to ensure that compulsory education extends till class 12 or at least till class 10.
The minister was speaking at a State-level consultation for New Education Policy (NEP) where various academicians and educationists gathered to debate and discuss problems and solutions in the current education system, recently in Bengaluru.
Highlighting another policy decision, he said that there was a need for pre-primary education to be integrated with primary education. “Currently, the anganwadis are being run by the Department of Women and Child Development and the schools by the Education Department. Integrating the two may help reduce privatisation,” he said.
Vice-Chancellors of various universities, representatives from non-governmental organisations, and department officials brainstormed on the symptoms that was felt are plaguing the Indian education system.
The Karnataka government, which has conducted consultations at the gram panchayat, district and taluk-levels, on 13 themes pertaining to school education and 20 themes on higher education, will compile them and present its view on the NEP to the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The National Policy on Education 1986, amended in 1992, has been the guiding document.
