PANJIM: The State Legislative Assembly on Monday witnessed heated discussion on the implementation of new National Education Policy (NEP). The Opposition, while disclosing that they are not opposing the National Education Policy, questioned the hurry of the government in implementing it, without giving proper thought and lack of infrastructure in schools.
While Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa questioned why foreign languages were excluded, Aldona MLA Carlos Alvares Ferreira alleged a hotchpotch between aspects of NCERT and CBSE elements in Goa’s NEP implementation. He also questioned how the quantum of syllabus would be adjusted with half-day classes.
In his reply, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant admitted that 100 per cent infrastructure was not in place and that the state-of-the-art Talent Development Centre (TDC) laboratory for teachers will be set up in the SCERT premises at Porvorim, within the next two years. The government has given its administrative approval for the laboratory at an estimated cost of Rs 90 lakh; the file has now been sent for financial approval, he told Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas.
The government will create requisite infrastructure for implementing NEP in government schools within the next one or two years, Sawant said. He also assured the House that foreign languages such as French, Portuguese and German will be continued and that NCRF was mandatory for all boards and not only for CBSE.
With regards to grant-in-aid schools, the school managements have been asked to take the responsibility of upgrading the infrastructure, he said. As of now the time-table has not been changed and children can go home for lunch and come back for additional classes of NEP, he added.
Citing several flaws in the NEP implementation, Adv Ferreira asked, “How do you reconcile the NEP implementation for Goa in the background of NCERT requirements for the National Curriculum Framework which is prescribed by NEP when the syllabus is still not yet out?”
