What to expect from National Education Policy 2020 ?

Educational system in India has witnessed remarkable evolution from 1968 to 2019 towards aligning the system with the standard worldwide policies. This journey has progressed from a traditional arrangement to a modern one by inculcating various requirements and needs along the way. The roles of distinct educational section for conveying information have been separate and learners utilize this opportunity for imbibing knowledge through the available techniques.

Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) drafted an education policy in 2019 which was formulated, released, and approved on July 29th, 2020 after being subjected to the arduous recommendations and various public consultations.

National Education Policy, 2020 aims at providing high quality education to the natives so that it can result in sustainable development and augmented knowledge amongst the learners. It emphasises towards comprehending the importance of mother tongue which may be a medium of interaction until Class 5th, however foreign languages will also be given prominence in development of learner. A more detailed language strategy is being formulated whose implementation will be at the discretion of State, Institutions, or any other mandate as per the guideline. It dedicates a unit to the digital learning which has proved as indispensable in the times of a pandemic

Major Reforms – School Education.

• Emphasis on Foundational Numeracy and Literacy along with the universalisation of Early Childhood Care Education.

• The current 10 + 2 system will be replaced by a new 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 curriculum, in accordance with the age 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 and 14-18 years, respectively.

• Reducing curriculum to core concepts and elimination of rigid distinction between academic and vocational streams and integrating mathematical thinking.

• Reform to inculcate 360 degree Holistic Progress Card tracking the achievement of the student

• Aiding and support to gifted and special talent students

• Proposing a National Assessment Centre – PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development).

Major Reforms – Higher Education

• 50 per cent Gross Enrolment Ration (GER) by 2030

• Holistic Multidisciplinary Education having multiple entry and exit points, UG programme for 3 or 4 years, PG programme for 1 or 2 years, Integrated Bachelor and Master and, discontinuation of M Phil.

• An Academic Bank of Credit to be established for digitally storing academic credits

• Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities MERU at par with IITs and IIMs and other top institutions in fifteen years.

• Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) to be set up as overarching umbrella body, excluding medical and legal education.

• The National Research foundation will be created as an apex body to formulate strong cultural and building capacity.

• Online Self Disclosure based transport system for Approval instead of Inspections.

These were some of the foremost and constructive reforms that has been undertaken in implementing the NEP 2020.

In addition to abovementioned reforms there has been focus on Competency and subject integration. There has been a proposition of development of Scientific temper, No Silos among subjects, promotion of digital literacy and, promotion of multilingual teachings.

Timelines for Implementation in NEP 2020

2021-22 – Formulation of National Curricular Framework for School Education

2022-25 – Common guiding set of National Professional Standards for Teachers. They will be prepared for the transformation in assessment

2025-26- Attainment of pervasive foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools for all learners. State Governments, Universities to optimize resources through mechanisms. Minimum fifty per cent of the learners will be exposed to vocational education.

2029-30 – Teacher education will gradually be moved into multidisciplinary colleges with minimum degree qualification of 4-year B.Ed.

Universal provisioning of quality early education.

2040 – Policy will be fully functional and comprehensive.

This policy was criticized for various reasons and was subjected to a protest by social media campaign from different parts of the country. Various other recommendations have been proposed in order to take into consideration the caste based reservations and merit based admissions in colleges.