Chandigarh, November 21, 2023 (Yes Punjab News)
Former education minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema today asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann to clear the Punjab government’s stand on the new national education policy which was being implemented by the State higher education department despite it being discriminatory towards Punjabi language and culture.
In a statement here, Dr Daljit Cheema said it was shocking that even as the Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal governments had refused to implement the new education policy in its present form, the State higher education department was holding meetings with University administrations to implement the new policy.
Asserting that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government must wake up from its slumber and understand that the new policy had been framed with the idea of one country, one language and one syllabus, Dr Cheema said “it is also aimed at reducing the influence of regional languages and culture”.
Dr Cheema said the Punjabi Sahit Akademi had already highlighted how the new policy would reduce credits given to Punjabi in the syllabus besides the fact that it was being imposed unilaterally without taking any recommendations from the Board of Studies of the Universities in the State. He said the Akademi had also highlighted how a new choice based credit system had been put in place which would reduce the mandatory credits necessary for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in Punjabi language.
Stating that the chief minister should take a stand and reject attempts to dilute the importance of Punjabi in higher education institutions in Punjab, Dr Cheema said “we have witnessed how an attempt is being made to reduce the importance of regional languages – be it at the higher education level or the school level – in the name of framing single national policies. This is a blatant attempt to strike at the lingual and cultural diversity in our country which should not be allowed at any cost”.
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