Purpose of National Educational Policy
The National Education Policy is basically a comprehensive framework that is required to guide the development of education in our country. The first educational policy was passed in the year 1968. Till date India has had three NEP’s till now. First got released in 1968m second in 1986 which later got revised in 1992 and the third was was released on this Wednesday on 29th July, 2020. Many sweeping changes have happened, here is a look of all below:
Highlights of National Education Policy 2020
- According to the new NEP the local or regional language or the mother tongue should be the medium of instruction up to class 5 in all schools. Sanskrit is to be offered at all levels in the schools, however foreign languages from secondary school level.
- As per the policy “no language will be imposed on any student”.
- The 10+2 structure has now been replaced with 5+3+3+4 which says 12 years of school and 3 years of pre-school or Anganwadi. These years are to be bifurcated as follows:
- Foundational stage (ages 3 & 8)
- 3 years of pre-primary (ages 8 to 11)
- Preparatory stage (ages 11 to 14)
- secondary stage (ages 14 to 18)
- According to the revised structure the age group of 3 to 6 years which is uncovered and recognized globally as crucial stage for development of mental faculties, under the school curriculum will be catered to.
4. No more exams will be held every year. Instead of that school students will only sit for the exam at classes 3, 5 and 8. as far as assessment in other years is concerned it will shift to regular and formative style promoting learning and development, testing higher order skills including critical thinking, analysis and conceptual clarity.
5. For classes 10 and 12 Board exams will continue to happen, however these will also be re-designed keeping in mind the “holistic development” of a student. A new national assessment centre will be established for this – PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development).
6. NEP proposes 4 year undergraduate program which also gives multiple exit options to the students thus, ensuring flexibility. after completing four years of study a multi-disciplinary bachelor’s degree will be awarded. Those who will exit after 2 years will be awarded a diploma and those who will leave after 12 months will have a vocational/professional course. Master of Philosophy (MPhil) courses are to be discounted.
7. Higher education will be regulated by Higher Education Council of India (HECI) and it will focus on institutions having 3000 or more students. The HECI will not, however, have jurisdiction over legal and medical colleges.
8. The new NEP aims at reducing the curriculum load of students thereby allowing them to become multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary. No rigid separations between science and arts will be there, neither in vocational and academic stream and nor between curricular and extra-curricular activities.
9. According to NEP the higher education institutions like IITs will move towards “holistic education” by the year 2040 with inclusions of subjects like humanities, arts for those who are studying science subjects and vice-versa.
10. As mentioned above also that higher education will be regulated by A Higher Education Council of India which will be set up. The council’s goal would be to increase the gross enrollment ratio from 26.3 percent (2018) to 50 percent by 2035.
11. The HECI that will be formulated will have four independent verticals including:
- Higher Education Grants Council for funding
- National Accreditation Council for accreditation
- National Higher Education Regulatory Council for regulation
- General Education Council to set standards
12. The HRD Ministry will now be renamed as the Education Ministry said by a senior HRD Ministry official said.
13. Lok Vidya a National Committee for the integration of vocation education will be made accessible to students. A National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education would be constituted by the education ministry.
14. Best and high performing Indian universities will now be encouraged to set up their campuses in other countries. Selected universities from top 100 world universities will be facilitated to operate in India.
15. NRF (National Reasearch Foundation) to be established with the aim of enabling a culture of research. It will be independently governed by the government by a Board of Governors that will be rotating. The Board of Governors would comprise the best of researchers and innovators across multiple fields.
16. The new NEP 2020 proposes setting up of an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) laying significant emphasis on Sanskrit and other Indian languages.
17. There will be multiple entry and exit programs according to this new NEP of the 21st century. A 50% gross enrolment ratio is what the government is aiming by 2035. For those who wish to leave the course in the middle for any reason their credits will be transferred through the Academic Bank of Credits said by Amit Khare who is the secretary of the education ministry.
18. Curriculum content is to be reduced in each subject. This is basically happening to create some space for critical thinking, holistic approach, discussion-based learning, analysis based learning, inquiry based and discovery based learning.
19. Experiential learning at all stages is to be promoted. This will include arts-integrated and sports-integrated education, hands-on learning and story-telling-based pedagogy.
20. Subjects like arts and crafts, physical education and vocational skills will be incorporated in the school curriculum throughout in addition to humanities, science and maths.
21. Regular health check-ups will be organized for school students on regular basis. The nutrition and mental health of the children will be addressed. This will be done with the help of healthy meals and regular health check-ups. Health cards will be issued.
22. Open schools and NIOS to offer courses for grade 3, 5 and 8 that will be equivalent of the formal school system. Secondary education programs should be equivalent to to grades 10 and 12.
23. A National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will be set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on priority.
24. Every child will move to a “Preparatory Class” or “Balavatika” before the age of 5 years. There will be an ECCE-qualified teacher for this.
25. Early childhood care and education curriculum (ECCEC) will be planned and implemented jointly by the Women and Child Development (WCD), Tribal Affairs, Ministries of HRD and Health and Family Welfare (HFW).
26. Further viable models of Board Exams are to be developed over time including annual/semester/modular Board Exams which will further include subjects beginning maths at two parts or objective and descriptive type.
27. For adult learning tech based options will be developed including online courses/modules, ICT-equipped libraries, satellite-based TV channels and online books etc.
28. Holistic report card for students is to be generated that will inform about their skills and other important points along with marks obtained by them in all the subjects.
29. NTA (National Testing agency) to offer a common entrance exam having a high-quality common aptitude test along with common subject exams such as arts, languages, science, humanities and vocational subjects. This will be done at least twice a year for university entrance exams.
30. The content will now focus on applications, ideas, key concepts and problem-solving. Both learning and teaching will now be conducted in a more interactive manner.
31. The Indian sign language is to be standardized across the country along with the National and State curriculum materials developed that is used by the students with hearing impairment.
32. For enrichment activities such as sports, quizzes, vocational crafts and arts bagless days will be encouraged.
These are some of the changes that have been brought after 30 years as the first education policy was released in 1986. This is all from us related to the new National Education Policy 2020 that was released on 29th July, 2020.
