The Karnataka government on Monday decided to withdraw the National Education Policy (NEP) and come out with a state education policy that would be implemented from the next academic year.

The decision was taken after a high-level meeting of state government officials, academics and vice-chancellors of the state’s universities, deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar told reporters.

“We have decided to scrap the National Education Policy, which has been adopted by the BJP government. Next year, we are coming out with the new Karnataka Education Policy,” Shivakumar said after the meeting.

He said a special committee would be launched next week to work out the details of the proposed state policy in keeping with the requirements of the future.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah had recently confirmed that the NEP would be withdrawn next year in keeping with the Congress's election manifesto that promised to get rid of the contentious policy.

Shivakumar pointed out that several BJP-ruled states were yet to accept the NEP although the party has been pushing the policy that has come in for criticism from across the country. "Many BJP-ruled states have not shown any interest in the NEP while Tamil Nadu and Kerala have already rejected it,” he noted.

He stressed how Karnataka has over the years become an education hub and would hence be able to manage on its own without the NEP. “Karnataka is a knowledge capital and we have the largest number of international schools, primary schools and professional colleges. We have our own system of quality education,” he added.

The BJP has already come out against the Congress government’s plan to replace the NEP with a state policy.