Educational institutions are being transformed into centres for promotion of hyper-nationalism and corporate-driven vocational training under the New Education Policy (NEP), Gandhian M.P. Mathai has said.
He was inaugurating the Education Protection Assembly organised jointly by the Thrissur Civil Society and the All India Save Education Committee at the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Auditorium here on Tuesday.
The meeting, held with strong demands to withdraw NEP 2020 and revoke the PM SHRI agreement signed by the Kerala government, saw sharp criticism of what speakers described as an ideology loaded with neuronationalism agenda.
“Utility alone drives these new reforms. The NEP aims to turn the new generation into machines devoid of humanity, life and love,” poet Rafeeq Ahamed remarked.
Speakers, including literary critic Prof. P.V. Krishnan Nair, writer Shihabudheen Poythumkadavu and M. Shajar Khan, addressed the inaugural session chaired by senior journalist M.P. Surendran. The leaders jointly unveiled a draft alternative people’s education policy, holding it up as a counter-vision to the centralised NEP framework.
In a presentation on ‘federalism and the NEP,’ Left thinker Azad said the policy represented “a shift from Nehruvian nationalism to Hindu nationalism,” rooted in a spiritual-cultural majoritarian framework. The centralisation of educational authority, he argued, aimed at dismantling States’ powers and imposing a long-term ideological structure beginning from primary education.
Writer Rajan Cherukad, speaking on DPEP (District Primary Education Programme) and the NEP, said Kerala’s primary education had suffered since the DPEP era, when foundational literacy weakened. He said the NEP continued the same trajectory by glorifying vocational skill training while undermining formal learning. Both models rejected exams and continuous academic rigour, leading to the erosion of memory and critical thinking, he added.
In a session on the “Indian Knowledge System,” Mr. Surendran warned that the new narrative risked turning science into myth and silencing those who questioned authority.
Former SCERT research officer K.V. Manoj, speaking on “The dimming futures of teaching and learning,” said the NEP reduced teachers to mere assistants, promoting a classroom vision where the teacher was rendered unnecessary.
The assembly concluded with a call for united resistance and the formation of a broad platform against the NEP and PM SHRI. The forum includes advisers such as K. Satchidanandan, K.G. Shankara Pillai, and A.K. Ramakrishnan, with Dr. Azad as chairperson and Mr. Surendran as convener.
Numerous educators, cultural activists, civil society leaders and education enthusiasts participated, representing the collective conscience of Kerala’s educational community.
Published – December 02, 2025 07:01 pm IST
