National Education Policy 2020 UPSC

National Education Policy 2020

In May, 2019, the Committee led by the Chairman Dr. Kasturirangan submitted the Draft National Educational Policy to the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD). 

Last month, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the National Education Policy 2020. The new policy aims to pave way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country. This policy will replace the 34 four old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. 

New National Education Policy 2019 (NEP) For 21ST Century New India

• This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. 

• New NEP has been built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability. 

• This policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student. 

• NEP aims to include children during their most foundational years from 3-6 years for their care and education. It will help to bring back 2 crore out-of-schools and drop-out children into the formal educational fold and help India in achieving universalisation of school education. Thus, NEP stays true to its commitment and philosophy of 'no one to be left behind' by including children in the age fold of 3-6 years. 

• Critical thinking, experiential and application-based learning, flexibility in learning, focus on life skills, multidisciplinary and continuous review are some of the salient features of this policy.

• Academic Bank of Credits, National Research Foundation, and National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy are some of the landmark policies, which will help in transforming our educational ecosystem. 

Major Initiatives of New National Education Policy 2019 

• New Policy aims for Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in school education by 2030. 
• NEP 2020 aims bring 2 crores out of school children back into the main stream. 
• New 5+3+3+4 school curriculum with 12 years of schooling and 3 years of Anganwadi/ Pre-schooling.
• Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools.
• Vocational Education to start from Class 6 with Internships.
• Teaching upto at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/regional language.
• Assessment reforms with 360-degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes.
• Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035; 3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education.
• Higher Education curriculum to have Flexibility of Subjects.
• Multiple Entry/Exit to be allowed with appropriate certification.
• Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits.
• National Research Foundation to be established to foster a strong research culture.
• Light but Tight Regulation of Higher Education, single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions
• Affiliation System to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges. Over a period of time, it is envisaged that every college would develop into either an Autonomous degree-granting College, or a constituent college of a university. 
• NEP 2020 advocates increased use of technology with equity; National Educational Technology Forum to be created
• NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups
• New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and HEs; National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit , Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up.
• A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with NCERT. By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree. 
• Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards in the country. 
• The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education. 
• Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body the for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education. HECI to have four independent verticals - National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC ) for standard setting, Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding, and National Accreditation Council( NAC) for accreditation. 
• Public and private higher education institutions to be governed by the same set of norms for regulation, accreditation and academic standards. 
• An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration. 
• NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups 
• The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.