NEP 2020 first attempt to decolonise India's education system: Kerala Governor Arlekar

NEW DELHI: Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar on Sunday said that the National Education Policy 2020 is the first serious attempt to decolonise the country's education system. Arlekar said that the country was moving forward with a "colonial thought" till now. "Our whole thinking was changed by the earlier education system. We did not even realise when it entered our family lives. We are now attempting to come out of that colonisation," he said, and urged everyone to be part of the change in the education sector.

The Governor, speaking at the national education conference, 'Gyan Sabha', organised by the RSS-linked Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas here, said that the education policy brought by the Narendra Modi government was "different from what has been taught to us for all these years". He said that India was 'vishwa guru' when it attained independence and even now. "But we were not able to assert it back then. When we became independent, it was only political freedom," he said, adding that Bharat could again become the 'vishwa guru' if the new education policy is accepted.

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"The question is whether you want to be a part of the change," he said. Addressing the gathering, which included Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, Arlekar also said that Viksit Bharat was not just an economic concept but "a wholesome development of the entire society and not just a particular section of it".