Seeking extension in the date of advancing suggestions and objections regarding the New Education policy till December 31 from the present August 31, the Punjab Government on Friday has also urged the Central Government to make available the policy draft in Punjabi language too.
The State Government has placed a demand before the Centre to extend the date by another four months so as to get more time for arriving at consensus with regard to the policy which is likely to have an effect on the linguistic as well as cultural scenario of the State.
State’s Higher Education Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, in a communication to the Union Human Resources Development Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Friday, said that the new policy is likely to have an effect on the education policy of Punjab as well as the Punjab, Punjabi and Punjabiyat.
“Apart from this, the new policy also puts a question mark on the existence and future of the educational institutions of the State. The deep brainstorming is needed with all the stakeholders to arrive at a consensus pertaining to the proposed policy,” he said.
Bajwa demanded from the Union Minister that it is not possible for the State Government, academicians and the educational institutions to send their suggestions till August 31, hence the
date must be extended till December 31.
The Minister also demanded that the draft of the new policy must be made available in Punjabi on the pattern of other regional languages so as to enable maximum stakeholders to go through and send in their suggestions or objections regarding the same.
Notably, the intellectuals and representatives of various organisations had been calling upon the Minister since the past few days expressing their deep reservations in connection with the issue.
In this regard, a delegation of the intellectuals, under the leadership of the former Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib Giani Kewal Singh, and Baba Farid University of Health Sciences’ former Registrar Dr Pyare Lal Garg had met the Higher Education Minister and impressed upon him to get the date of advancing suggestions extended as well as the reply of the Punjab Government.
