National Independent School Alliance questions the exclusion of the mention of Direct Benefit Transfer in the NEP draft

Vinod Kakumanu
July 31, 2019, 5:32 p.m.

National Education Policy is posed as a democratic and inclusive draft, however, there are issues which have found vocal detractors. The fiercest opposition that erupted in the wake of NEP promulgation was against the imposition of Hindi as a compulsory subject. The order was rescinded eventually. Now, the body representing 60,000 private schools, National Independent School Alliance (NISA) has voiced its criticism of the NEP by alleging that it is taking effect at the expense of the autonomy of the independent schools.

The points of contention include the extension of the rights of the School Management Committees (SMCs) which the alliance alleges to be detrimental to the autonomy of the private unaided schools. The private schools are exempted of SMCs under the RTE act and the recommendation will not only burden the management and parents but also pose another deterrent to the Eduprenurs interested in starting a new school.

In addition to that, NISA has demanded that the draft National Education Policy be made available in vernacular languages to make it accessible to the common folk. The other features to which alliance seems to have taken an exception includes the exclusion of the mention of Direct Benefit Transfers as a means to extend the access of children to quality schooling in the NEP.

NISA is of the opinion that the per capita expenditure on education should be converted into targeted scholarship via the mechanism of Direct Benefit Transfer. This, according to representative of NISA will arrest the siphoning of the public funding of schools besides strengthening the position of parents.