Panaji, May 23 (IANS): Stating that children are pillars of future, Goa Forward President and MLA Vijai Sardesai has asked the government not to implement National Education Policy hastily, when the stakeholders are not prepared for it.

"If NEP is implemented hastily, then we are playing with the future of students. They are pillars of the future. We should not make mockery of it. Government should implement it when all things are in place. It should take all in confidence," Fatorda MLA Sardesai said, while speaking to reporters in South Goa.

He said that the opposition had opined that if the infrastructure is not ready and if the government is not prepared, then NEP implementation should be postponed. "It has been done in other states. Why hastily implement it here, when nobody is prepared for it," he questioned.

"Parents, teachers and students are the stakeholders of NEP. There will be no exam till standard fifth, only assessment of students will be done. Hence, we need to see if parents and students are prepared for it," he said.

Sardesai said that the education secretary has said that they want some breathing space and school reopening could be postponed to July 1. "What does this mean that the government is not prepared to implement NEP. So they want to train teachers for one month (in June)," he said.

He said that the 'Samant committee', which has been entrusted with work to add Goa's history in the syllabus, has demanded a six months extension to prepare it.

"Committee has demanded a six month extension. This means the syllabus is not ready, and even students and teachers are not ready. Then, why are you implementing it?," he questioned.

He said that general consensus is that NEP should have been postponed if the government is not prepared for it.

"Under the National Curriculum framework for the foundation stage, the syllabus has to be translated into Konkani and Marathi. Even this is not done," Sardesai said.