Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ripped into the British education system which is currently followed in most schools and colleges in India and has called for urgent reforms in the sector to take the nation forward.
"The British provided this education system to prepare a servant class for themselves to meet their needs," Modi said at an education summit in the historic city of Varanasi in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
Modi elaborated that the system provided an education that prepared a person to get a mediocre clerical job in a British colonial system in place of enabling oneself to achieve a career. He emphasized that the entire focus of the British education system was to provide jobs while imparting knowledge and expertise was never promoted. This resulted in many Indians gaining degrees, but skilled manpower remained elusive to the country.
"After independence, there were some changes in it [this system] but a lot remained," he added.
"There has been no dearth of talent in our country. But unfortunately, we inherited a system where the meaning of education was to get a job. The education system created by the Britishers was never part of the Indian ethos," he stated.
"We should not just produce degree-holding youths but make our education system such that we create human resources that are needed for the country to take it forward," Modi explained.
In his interaction with over 300 educators and Uttar Pradesh government officials, Modi said that the NEP can change the landscape of India's education system as it focuses on India's local languages, instead of English.
"The era that imposed anything without understanding has gone. We have a blueprint for education, institutions and human resources, keeping this in mind. The children should be made skilled according to their talent. The education policy is preparing the ground for this," Modi concluded.
India's National Education Policy claims to now focus on the holistic development of an individual.
The main goal of the NEP is reportedly to develop the "creative potential" of a person. It is based on the principle that education should provide a platform for all individuals to develop critical thinking, problem-solving and social, ethical, and emotional capacities.
The event was being held in the prime minister's parliamentary constituency of Varanasi and was organized by the Education Ministry in partnership with the Banaras Hindu University.