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NEP 2020 document: 34 years interregnum. Dharmendra Pradhan: engagement disinclination

cessor Dharmendra Pradhan, a former ABVP (students’ been quiet on the education front. Occasional statements
wing of the BJP) leader in Odisha who was moved from of intent to universalise early childhood education, intro-
the Union petroleum ministry to Shastri Bhavan, Delhi in duce skills learning in primary-secondaries and interna-
July last year. tionalise the higher education sector have not been fol-
During a successful six-year stint in the petroleum lowed by implementation details. Admittedly, NEP 2020
ministry Pradhan had established a good reputation for implementation was derailed by the devastating Covid-19
liberalising the country’s hydrocarbons exploration policy pandemic during which all education institutions from pre-
dominated by the dog-in-the-manger public sector ONGC primaries to universities were under Central and/or state
and was the prime mover behind the prime minister’s Ujj- government-mandated lockdown for an unprecedented
wala scheme under which below-poverty-line households average of 82 weeks — the longest closure of education in-
were provided free-of-charge cooking gas cylinders, a pro- stitutions worldwide. However during the pandemic, there
gramme that won the BJP millions of votes in General Elec- was precious little communication from minister Pradhan
tion 2019. Delighted that he had replaced Hindi language or Shastri Bhavan, Delhi justifying the world’s most pro-
chauvinist Pokhriyal whose 25 months’ term in the ministry longed education lockdown. Citizens just had to lump it.
was a period of masterly inactivity, your editors enthusiasti- Moreover since then even the critically important issue
cally welcomed Pradhan’s appointment as Union education of making good the enormous learning loss of the world’s
minister by featuring a cover story introducing him to the largest child and youth population because of the unduly
public. But again despite numerous entreaties, all requests prolonged education lockdown, has been brushed under
for an interview with Pradhan to detail his plans and pri- the carpet. Alarming reports testifying that millions of
orities were rejected. Despite this rebuff, EducationWorld primary school children have totally forgotten alphabets
published a comprehensive lead cover feature titled ‘Can and numerals have been ignored by the education ministry
This Man Revive India’s Shattered Education System? (Sep- and state governments which manage the overwhelming
tember 2021 see www.educationworld.in). majority of the country’s 1.2 million government primary-
Since then except for sporadic, turgid official statements secondary schools.
posted on the Union education ministry’s website, all has Unsurprisingly, given the pervasive disinclination of

JULY 2022 EDUCATIONWORLD 35