The new National Education
Policy (NEP) with major changes in the Indian Education System has been
approved by Union Cabinet on July 29, 2020. The policy holds a path to the
transformation of school and college education as well. While the National Education Policy was framed in
1986 and modified in 1992, it took 34 years to create a new one with
appreciable changes. Let’s know more!
The Draft NEP
In the country, many significant
changes have been taken place periodically. Development of science and
technology in the country is clearly seen. But, no government ever touched the
educational policy which actually needs a lot of changes to meet the challenges
of the 21st century. This is one of the reasons, people are
appreciating the step taken by Modi’s government while the major changes in NEP
2020 that helps developing students thus country is the other reason.
Though the new National Education Policy was approved
a few days back, the birth of the idea took place in January 2015! After many
high-level, consultation, recommendation meetings were held throughout 4 years,
the Committee for preparation of the draft National Education Policy submitted
its report to the Ministry on 31.05.2019. The Draft National Education Policy
2019 (DNEP 2019) is based on
the foundational pillars access, affordability, equity, quality and
accountability.
A brief summary of DNEP was
translated into 22 languages and uploaded on MHRD’s official website. After a special
meeting of CABE on National Education
Policy was held where 26 Education Ministers of various States and UTs,
representatives of States and Union Territories, Members of CABE, Heads of
Autonomous Organisations, Vice Chancellors of Universities, and senior
officials of the Central and State Governments were attended, 2 lakh
suggestions on the Draft National Education Policy were received.
A meeting on Draft NEP 2019 of
Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development was held on
07.11.2019. Finally, the New Education
Policy was released on July 29, 2020.
How the New Education Policy is Formulated?
To ensure the best National
Education Policy (NEP), expert opinions, field experiences, empirical research,
stakeholder feedback, and the lessons learned by best practices were taken into
consideration.
The approach of the new
National Education Policy includes:
A top-down approach based on
setting up an expert task force, working groups and sub-committees, where each
group was based on a thematic topic.
Recommendations based on field
visits, discussions, conferences, workshops, interviews, limited citizen
outreach, special studies, meetings with constitutional leaders and elected
officials.
The time taken for the consultation
process is from 6 months to 1 year which involves multiple stakeholders
including government, academia, industry, experts and media.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 Highlights
For School
1.
Universalization of Education: NEP 2020 aims for Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level
with 100 % GER in school education by 2030. This is the necessary step that is
taken to make the education available to everyone in the country.
2.
Open Schooling System: National Education Policy 2020 will bring 2 crore out of school
children back into the mainstream.
3.
Curricular Structure: The current 10+2 structure has changed into 5+3+3+4. The current
structure is as follows:
§ 5 years of foundation education to the age group of 3 -
8
§ 3 years of preparatory education to the age group 8 –
11
§ 3 years of middle education to the age group 11 - 14
§ 4 years of secondary schooling to the age group of 14 – 18
4.
Multi-stream: Students can choose subjects across streams. Co-curriculum and
vocational subjects like sports, arts, commerce, science, etc will be given
equal importance. Vocational courses with internship are being introduced.
5.
Coding and Other Skills: Coding will be introduced to the students from class 6 onwards contrary
to the current situation where students are getting introduced to it only after
class 12. Skills,
such as analysis, critical thinking and conceptual clarity will also be taught
in the school.
6.
AI for Students: The report cards of the students will be examined by teachers and Artificial
Intelligence-based software will be developed for students to track their
progress. All students have to take examinations in grades 3, 5, and 8 for
teachers to track the progress.
7.
Board Exams: The exams for class 10 and 12 will be held on two levels and they will
only test core competencies. Students will be given a second chance to write
exams in order to improve their score.
8.
Three-language Policy: The freedom to the state, region, and student to choose three languages
is to be continued with the local or mother tongue as the preference till class
8.
9.
Bag-less Days: School students will have 10 bag-less days in a year where they have to
undergo an informal internship of their choice.
For Colleges
1.
CEE for Admissions: The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct a common entrance
examination (CEE) for admissions to universities across the country. So, there
will only be a single gateway for schools to colleges. The common college
entrance exam will be conducted twice a year.
2.
Bachelor Degree: The undergraduate degree will be of either three or four-year duration.
The best thing is that students can have multiple exit options. There’s no need
to complete all the 3 or 4 years of a degree at once. The student will get a
certificate after 1 year and can continue to study after taking a gap.
3.
Global Universities: Top 100 universities in the world will open branches in India and India
too will be able to have campuses in other countries!
4.
ABC: An
Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) is going to be established for digitally storing
academic credits earned from different HEIs so that they can be transferred and
counted when the final degree is earned. So everything counts!
5.
Fee Cap:
Proposal to cap fee charged by private institutions for higher education. No
private college will now be allowed to cross the fixed fee proposed by the
government.
6.
No Affiliation: top universities affiliation with other small and medium colleges is
going to end. For the next 15 years, colleges will be given graded autonomy to
provide degrees.
7.
NETF: National
Educational Technology Forum (NETF), a free platform for exchanging ideas and
improving learning for the students will be created. NETF categorise emergent
technologies based on their potential and estimated timeframe for disruption
and submits the analysis to MHRD. Based on this, MHRD will identify the
technologies which are in demand.
Benefits
Ø Universalization of education ensures that every child
is getting their right to education. No one in the country would be left
uneducated which is the essential step taken.
Ø The new curricular structure (5+3+3+4) focuses more on
vocational education and imparts the knowledge of core subjects. Till now, 3 to
6 age group is unrecognised, but with the new structure, it will be recognised
globally.
Ø The students till now have no choice to choose their
subjects during school education. With this new National Education Policy, they
can choose vocational courses which will be given equal importance to normal
subjects.
Ø We have no internships and coding in the old system.
But, in NEP 2020, students can learn coding from class 6 and so they can learn
and develop skills early.
Ø Board exams are made easier. Most importantly,
students will be given a chance twice!
Ø AI technology will be provided for teachers and
students as well to track the progress of education.
Ø Mother tongue will be given preference until class 8
and the local languages will be recognised besides National language.
Ø Students can spend 10 ten days in a year without heavy
weight on their back!
Ø No multiple entrance tests for different universities.
The common entrance test is conducted for all universities and this makes
students focus on a single test without deviations. This test will be conducted
twice a year.
Ø As there are multiple exit options for Bachelor degree
now, students can take gap between the years if there need.
Ø Top universities from various countries in the world
will start their branches here and so Indian students can learn new skills and
can expect more quality education. Also, Indian universities will open campuses
in other countries. The mutual understanding between the countries will grow.
Ø From now, private institutions cannot levy huge fees for higher education. The government will set a fixed amount as the fee. This is a very beneficial step taken by the government to make higher education available to everyone.
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