Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Monday joined the protest over the recommendation of teaching Hindi in non-Hindi speaking states, as proposed in the draft National Education Policy 2019. Taking to Twitter, Siddaramaiah called it a 'brutal assault' on the non-Hindi speaking states.
"Ours is a land that exhibits Unity in Diversity. Peaceful coexistence is the need to establish harmony &any force shall work against the laws of society. For us Kannada is an identity, & learning any other language should be by Choice & not by imposition," the former chief minister wrote on Twitter.
"New National Education Policy draft imposes Hindi in non Hindi states & this goes against our sentiments. If recognition of regional identity is inconsistent according to few then imposition of Hindi is nothing but a brutal assault on our States," he wrote in another tweet.
"Instead of imposing Hindi, the government should focus on recognising regional identities & give more space to the states to express & manifest their ideas through their own culture & language. We are all Kannadigas in India," Siddaramaiah said.
Recently, a lot of political parties and academicians in non-Hindi speaking states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal have already cautioned the Centre against imposing any language against their wishes.
Earlier on Sunday, newly-elected South Bengaluru BJP MP Tejaswi Surya had said the facts of National Education Policy 2019 have been twisted.
He added that current draft of the NEP merely says that the 3-language formula can be continued in schools. The NEP doesn't impose, rather encourages, learning Hindi as a language in school, he said.
The draft of the new National Education Policy (NEP) was handed over to the country’s new human resources development (HRD) minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Friday, by the committee that was formed in 2017 and led by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan.
The draft NEP was also uploaded on the ministry’s website.
The recommendations, spread over 500 pages, also include changes to the training of teachers, suggestions on how school fees must be regulated, and the start of a new, four-year liberal arts undergraduate course that will let college students pick from a wider variety of disciplines to study.
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