Bang or Whimper?
Sukanta Chaudhuri | 04 August 2025 | The Telegraph
There is an amphibian called the paradoxical frog. Its tadpole is three times the size of the adult. Our National Education Policy, now in its fifth year, has outdone this feat of shrinkage. The draft NEP filled nearly 500 pages; the final version, just over 60.
It makes up by a plethora of prescriptions. It extends the undergraduate course by a year without stipulating additional faculty, space or funds. It concentrates research under a single body with a pre-set range of topics. It drastically cuts down on grants. Instead, institutions must borrow from the Higher Education Financing Agency and hike fees to repay the loan. Admissions across India are increasingly centralised in one-size-fits-all entry tests. Academic autonomy and diversity vanish in the process…