The Ministry of Education announced the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) on 29.07.2020. The special features of NEP 2020 include:-
Ensuring Universal Access at All Levels of schooling from pre-primary school to Grade 12;
Ensuring quality early childhood care and education for all children between 3-6 years;
New Curricular and Pedagogical Structure (5+3+3+4);
No hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams;
Establishing National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy;
Emphasis on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages; The medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language.
Assessment reforms - Board Exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired;
Setting up of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development);
Equitable and inclusive education - Special emphasis is given to Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups(SDGs);
A separate Gender Inclusion fund and Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups;
Robust and transparent processes for recruitment of teachers and merit-based performance;
Ensuring availability of all resources through school complexes and clusters;
Setting up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA);
Exposure of vocational education in school and higher education system;
Increasing GER in higher education to 50%;
Holistic Multidisciplinary Education with multiple entry/exit options;
NTA to offer Common Entrance Exam for Admission to HEIs;
Establishment of Academic Bank of Credit;
Setting up of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities(MERUs);
Setting up of National Research Foundation(NRF);
‘Light but Tight’ regulation;
The single overarching umbrella body for the promotion of the higher education sector including teacher education and excluding medical and legal education- the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)-with independent bodies for standard setting- the General Education Council; funding-Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC); accreditation- National Accreditation Council (NAC); and regulation- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC);
Expansion of open and distance learning to increase GER.
Internationalization of Education
Professional Education will be an integral part of the higher education system. Stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities, or institutions in these or other fields, will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions.
Teacher Education - 4-year integrated stage-specific, subject-specific Bachelor of Education
Establishing a National Mission for Mentoring.
Creation of an autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, and administration. Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education.
Achieving 100% youth and adult literacy.
Multiple mechanisms with checks and balances will combat and stop the commercialization of higher education.
All education institutions will be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a ‘not forprofit’ entity.
The Centre and the States will work together to increase public investment in the Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.
Strengthening of the Central Advisory Board of Education to ensure coordination to bring overall focus on quality education.
Ministry of Education: In order to bring the focus back to education and learning, it may be desirable to re-designate MHRD as the Ministry of Education (MoE).
After extensive consultation with all parties, including state and local governments, the NEP 2020 has been finalized. This Ministry has informed all State/UT Governments about the need to implement NEP 2020 in its entirety. The Ministry of Education is also hosting "ShikshakParv" from September 8 through September 25, 2020, to discuss various NEP 2020 implementation themes and solicit suggestions. A conference of governors on the "Role of National Education Policy in Transforming Higher Education" was also organized by the ministry. Vice Chancellors of State Universities, Governors and Lt. Governors of States and Union Territories, Education Ministers from States and UTs, and other dignitaries attended the conference. Widespread coverage of NEP 2020 has received an overwhelmingly positive response from stakeholders.
The vocational education system is seen as being less superior to traditional education, according to NEP 2020. Therefore, this policy calls for the gradual integration of vocational education programs into mainstream education in all educational institutions in order to address the social status hierarchy associated with vocational education. Secondary schools will work with ITIs, polytechnics, local businesses, and other organizations to achieve this. Additionally, skill labs will be established in the schools using a hub-and-spoke model, allowing other schools to utilize the space.
Improving the quality of education across all levels from primary to university level is a continuous and ongoing process. Several initiatives are currently being undertaken in this direction. The SamagraShiksha, an integral scheme for School Education as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme is being implemented and aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education. It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, and secondary to senior secondary levels. In higher education also, various schemes, namely, RashtriyaUchchatarShikshaAbhiyan (RUSA), Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), Global Initiative for Academics Network (GIAN), Impacting Research, Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT), Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQIP), Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), National Digital Library, campus connect programme, UchhatarAvishkarAbhiyan, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Impactful Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS), Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA), National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) are being implemented to improve the quality of higher education. A number of initiatives are also undertaken by UGC and AICTE for quality improvement in higher and technical education.
Without a doubt, NEP 2020 supports and anticipates a significant increase in public investment in education on the part of the federal government as well as all state governments. Together, the Center and the States will increase public investment in the education sector to, at the earliest, 6% of GDP.
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