Reiterating his government’s decision not to implement the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), Higher Education Minster M.C. Sudhakar has said that the State will implement its own education policy.
“The previous BJP government has already taken initiatives to implement the NEP 2020. Some institutions have been implementing it for the last two years. Keeping all aspects in mind, especially the interests of students, we will take a decision. A meeting of educationalists and experts will be convened to discuss the pros and cons before implementing the State Education Policy,” Mr. Sudhakar told media representatives at a press conference at Gulbarga University here on Monday.
The Minister was here to participate in the 41st Convocation of Gulbarga University.
On the question of filling vacant faculty posts in higher educational institutions, Mr. Sudhakar said that there are 32 government universities, including Gulbarga University, and around 15,000 guest lecturers are working in them.
“We will take a decision on filling vacancies in these institutions in the days to come. As much as 6% of the budgetary allocations will go to primary and higher education in the State. Higher education will get only 1.7% of the total budget. Most of the amount will go as salaries to the staff. The allocation being made to higher education has not been increased for the last 10 years. This has become a hurdle in the way of improving the quality of higher education. Keeping all these factors in mind, I am expecting an increased allocation for higher education in the next budget,” Mr. Sudhakar said.
To a question, the Minister said that he has already convened a meeting of Vice-Chancellors of all the State-run universities and a first round of discussion on the problems that these institutions are facing has ended. “We will hold another round of discussions presided over by the Chief Minister and try to find solutions,” Mr. Sudhakar said.
