Will not accept if NEP is forced on states, says West Bengal education minister

Kolkata: West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu Tuesday said the state government won't accept attempts by the Centre to force the National Education Policy (NEP) on the state as Bengal has its own culture and education system. Basu warned that since education is on the concurrent list, the Centre should not ram its own point of view through the new policy.

In the "constitution, education is on the concurrent list. It is a delicate subject; if the BJP government tries to take a `Tughlaqi' (whimsical) approach, we won't accept it. Wherever we have something to say, we will place our views, and whatever can be accepted, we will accept it. We will move as per directions of our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,” he told reporters.

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Critics of the NEP have pointed out that stress on teaching all subjects in the mother tongue including in technical institutes as well as stress on the classical language Sanskrit may prove detrimental.

Basu also said the state is also mulling to recruit around 15,000 teachers under School Service Commission (SSC).

“There are some legal issues. We are working as per the directions of the Court. Six officers of SSC are regularly hearing complaints and addressing them. We will then submit that list of complaints to the Court. We are hopeful that we can recruit around 15,000 teachers under SSC in the future,” he said.