Bengaluru, Sep 3 (IANS): The National Education Policy (NEP-2020) takes freedom of the student to the subject level, Karnataka's Higher Education Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said on Thursday.

Addressing a meeting of legislative councillors, elected from teachers and graduates constituency, at Vidhana Soudha, he said that the earlier policy gave freedom of choosing the combination, and now with NEP-2020, this has been extended to the subject level.

"The very core of NEP lies in its approach towards decentralisation. It wants to take decentralisation up to the institution level. It also aspires that colleges should come out of the current affiliation system and each institution should grow independently capable of awarding a degree on its own. NEP wants to transfer not only the educational autonomy but also the administrative autonomy to the institutions," he said.

However, stressing that the government will not impose anything forcefully in the name of NEP, the Minister said that it prepares the model framework as per NEP guidelines and the governing councils of the institutions will have the freedom to play a crucial role in its implementation.

"A few are criticising NEP and terming this as saffronisation of education... How can making future generations aware of our heritage and culture be called saffronisation," he said.

This is the beginning and a lot needs to be done with regard to NEP implementation. There will be more legislative and administrative measures to come in the future with regard to this, he added.

MLC K.T. Srikathegowda suggested providing training to faculty with regard to NEP implementation. He welcomed the government's decision of making learning Kannada mandatory for two years at the degree level, but stressed that learning English should also be given priority.