Expert panel on NEP has submitted observations to Bengal government, says member

KOLKATA: A committee of experts formed in West Bengal to examine the National Education Policy, 2020, has submitted its findings to the education department, one of its members said on Wednesday.

The panel, constituted in the first week of April in 2022, comprises Columbia University, professor, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Jadavpur University, vice chancellor, Suranjan Das and Harvard University, professor, Sugata Bose, among others.

"Yes, the observations made by every member have been collated and communicated to the principal secretary of the education department for consideration. The department is in the process of evaluating the same," the senior academic told PTI. The panel member also said the department will come up with an official response after carefully scrutinising the recommendations made.

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It may also seek further guidance from other experts on certain aspects, he added. Education minister Bratya Basu had told PTI on Tuesday that the experts in the committee will guide the state as and when the NEP is implemented. "These are all reputed persons known for their accomplishments internationally (committee members).

They have made us proud, our state proud. They will guide us (about) which part of the NEP has to be implemented and which portion discarded," he had said. The Union government had on July 29, 2020 approved NEP 2020, replacing the 34-year old National Policy on Education, 1986.

According to the draft policy, students will have to take school examinations in graders 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by appropriate authority. Board exams for grades 10 and 12 will be redesigned. Basu had earlier slammed the formulation of a new pattern of learning without taking the states into confidence.