On Wednesday, the Modi cabinet has approved the National Education Policy 2020. The announcement was made by HRD Minister Ramesh Nishank and I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar at a briefing. “The Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given approval to new education policy for the 21st century. It is important as for 34 years there were no changes in the education policy,” said Javadekar. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) has been renamed as the Ministry of Education.
The New National Education Policy has been approved for the first time in the last 34 years. The current NEP includes an extension of the Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18 along with a minimized syllabus reduced only to core concepts.
Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to be renamed as Ministry of Education: Ramesh Pokhriyal, Education Minister pic.twitter.com/GavwlnZKDE
— ANI (@ANI) July 29, 2020
The higher education secretary, Amit Khare in a statement said, India will achieve a 50% Gross Enrollment Ratio by 2035. The NEP was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992.
Highlights from the National Education Policy 2020:
1. The ministry announced that there will be holistic and multidisciplinary education in terms of the flexibility of subjects. The Ministry also announced all the courses at undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. level will be interdisciplinary.
2. All higher education institutions, except legal and medical colleges, will be governed by a single regulator. According to the Central Government’s new education policy, public and private higher education institutions will conform to a common code.
3. Entrance exams for universities and higher education institutions will be made common as per the next NEP.
4. The undergraduate degree will be of either 3 or 4-year duration, with multiple exit options within this period. The 4-year multidisciplinary Bachelor’s program, however, shall be the preferred option.
5. E-courses will be developed in regional languages; virtual labs will be developed and a National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) is being created.
6. Other features include graded academic, administrative, and financial autonomy of institutions and a single regulator for all higher education.
7. As per the National Education Policy 2020, e-courses in 8 major regional languages will be introduced instead of limiting the e-content to Hindi and English.
8. There are over 45,000 affiliated colleges in our country. Under graded autonomy, academic, administrative, and financial autonomy will be given to colleges, on the basis of the status of their accreditation.
9. Board exams will now test students’ actual knowledge instead of rote learning.
10. Home language, mother tongue or regional language to be the medium of instruction up to class 5.
11. The report card will comprise the assessment of the students by both teachers and fellow students. There will be an AI-based assessment of students each year.
12. School curriculum will be reduced to core concepts; vocational education will be integrated from class 6.
13. National Assessment Centre- ‘PARAKH’ has been created to assess the students