The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 replacing the thirty-four-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.
Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, Secretary Higher education Amit Khare and Secretary School education Anita Karwal held a press conference today about NEP 2020.
NEP 2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035. 3.5 Crore new seats will be added to Higher education institutions.
Regulation
NEP 2020 seeks to create a Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education.
HECI to have four independent verticals – National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC) for standard-setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding, and National Accreditation Council (NAC) for accreditation.
Holistic Multidisciplinary Education
As per NEP, UG education can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification within this period. For example, a Certificate after 1 year, Advanced Diploma after 2 years, Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s with Research after 4 years. MPhil will be discontinued.
Further, an Academic Bank of Credit is to be established for digitally storing academic credits earned from different HEIs so that these can be transferred and counted towards final degree earned.
Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country.
The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
Early Childhood Care & Education with new Curricular and Pedagogical Structure
According to NEP, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively. This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling.
Further, NCERT will develop a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to the age of 8. The planning and implementation of ECCE will be carried out jointly by the Ministries of HRD, Women and Child Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare (HFW), and Tribal Affairs.
Multilingualism
The policy has emphasized mother tongue/local language/regional language as the medium of instruction at least till Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond. Sanskrit to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an option for students, including in the three-language formula. Other classical languages and literatures of India also to be available as options. No language will be imposed on any student. Students to participate in a fun project/activity on ‘The Languages of India’, sometime in Grades 6-8, such as, under the ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ initiative. Several foreign languages will also be offered at the secondary level. Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardized across the country, and National and State curriculum materials developed, for use by students with hearing impairment.
Assessment Reforms
All students will take school examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by the appropriate authority. Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will be continued, but redesigned with holistic development as the aim. A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), will be set up as a standard-setting body .
Online Education and Digital Education:
The NEP 2020 aims at promoting online education consequent to the recent rise in epidemics and pandemics in order to ensure preparedness with alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not possible, has been covered. A dedicated unit for the purpose of orchestrating the building of digital infrastructure, digital content, and capacity building will be created in the MHRD to look after the e-education needs of both school and higher education.
In June 2017 a ‘Committee for the Draft National Education Policy’ was constituted under the Chairmanship of Scientist Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which submitted the Draft National Education Policy, 2019 to the Human Resource Development Minister on May 31, 2019. The Draft National Education Policy 2019 was uploaded on MHRD’s website seeking inputs from stakeholders.
(With inputs from PIB)
Read the NEP 2020 here
http://theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NEP_Final_English_0.pdf
http://theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020729wqee233-1.pdf
