New Education Policy 2020

On 29th July, the Union Cabinet approved the new Education Policy (NEP) and renamed the Human Resource Development Ministry as Education Ministry. The committee headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan suggested changes in the education system under the NEP 2020. It will replace the first NEP, which drafted in 1986 on the recommendations of the Education Commission headed by then UGC Chairperson D Kothari (1964) and updated in 1992.

Key Provisions of NEP 2020

1. School Education

• Restructuring School Curriculum: The NEP recommends that current 10+2 structure of school education be redesigned into a 5-3-3-4 design comprising: five years of foundational stage (for ages 3 to 8); three years of preparatory stage (for ages 8 to 11 or classes three to five); three years of middle stage (for ages 11 to 14 or classes six to eight), and four years of secondary stage (for ages 14 to 18 or classes 9 to 12) to make it more relevant to the needs of students at different stages of their development. The mid-day meal programme will be extended to preschool children.
• Early Childhood Care and Education: The Committee observed that over 85% of a child's cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of six. It recommends that Early Childhood Care and Education for children in the age group of 3-6 should be incorporated in the school structure by following the 5+3+3+4 design of school curriculum. ECCE will be delivered through stand-alone aanganwadis, aanganwadis located with primary schools, preprimary sections in existing primary schools, and stand-alone pre-schools. Further, a national curricular and pedagogical framework for ECCE will be developed by the NCERT. Aanganwadi workers with senior secondary qualifications and above, will be given a six-month certification programme in ECCE.
• National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy:The Committee observed that a large proportion of the students currently enrolled in elementary school (over five crore) have not attained foundational literacy and numeracy (the ability to read and understand basic text, and carry out basic addition and subtraction). It recommends that every student should attain foundational literacy and numeracy by grade three by 2025. To achieve this goal, a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will be setup under the MHRD. A national repository of high-quality resources on foundational literacy and numeracy will be made available on government's e-learning platform (DIKSHA).

• Ensuring Universal Coverage and Inclusivity: The Committee observed that although Right to Education Act, 2009 has been successful in achieving near universal enrolment in elementary education but retaining children in schools is challenging. The declining gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher grades indicates large dropouts from the schooling system. The decline in GER is higher for certain socio-economically disadvantagedgroups, based on: gender identities (female, transgender persons), socio-cultural identities (scheduled castes, scheduled tribes), geographical identities (students from small villages and small towns), socio-economic identities (migrant communities and low income households), and disabilities. It recommends that schemes/policies targeted for such groups should be strengthened. Further, special education zones should be setup in areas with significant proportion of such disadvantaged groups. A gender inclusion fund should also be setup to assist female and transgender students in getting access to education. It envisages 100% GER in school education by 2030.
• Medium of Instruction: It should be mother tongue or regional language till class 5, preferablytill class 8 and is applicable to both public and private schools.
• Flexible Three Language Formula: There will be greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any State. The three languages learned by children will be the choices of States, regions, and the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India. Sanskrit will be offered as an option at all levels of school and higher education. Other classical languages will also be available, possibly as online modules, while foreign languages will be offered at the secondary level.
• Assessment of Students: Class 10 and 12 board examinations will be made easier, to test core competencies rather than memorised facts, with all students al- lowed to take the exam twice. Future redesigns could include modular or semester-wise board exams, ex- ams at different levels of difficulty or separate exams for objective and descriptive type questions.
• Teacher Training and Management:The existing B Ed. programme for teacher training will be replaced by a four-year integrated B.Ed. programme that combines high-quality content, pedagogy, and practical training. Teachers will be required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of continuous of professional development training every year. A national curriculum framework for teacher education will be formulated by the National Council for Teacher Education, in consultation with NCERT. Teachers should not be engaged in non-teaching administrative activities and excessive teacher transfers should be stopped (unless in special circumstances as decided by state governments).
• National Educational Technology Forum: To ramp up digital learning, a NETF would be created. Technology will be used in education planning, teaching, learning and assessment, administration and management and regulation Report cards will include students’ self-assessment as well as by teachers.
• School Regulation: For governance of schools, a new accreditation framework and an independent authority to regulate both public and private schools will be set up.

2. Higher Education

• Increasing GER: The NEP aims to increase the GER in higher education to 50% by 2035 (GER was 26.3% in 2018). Institutions will have the option to run open distance learning and online programmes to improve access to higher education, which will improve GER in the country.
• Restructuring of Institutions: All higher education institutions (HEIs) will be restructured into three categories: (i) research universities focusing equally on research and teaching, (ii) teaching universities focusing primarily on teaching, and (iii) degree granting colleges primarily focused on undergraduate teaching. All such institutions will gradually move towards full autonomy - academic, administrative, and financial. All HEIs should eventually be transformed into large multidisciplinary universities and colleges with 3,000 or more students. By 2030, there should be one multidisciplinary HEI in, or near every district.
• Multidisciplinary Education: The curricula of all HEIs should be made multidisciplinary to integrate humanities and arts with science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The undergraduate degree will be made more flexible with multiple exit options with appropriate certification. For example: students will receive a certificate after one year, diploma after two years, bachelor’s degree after three years, and bachelor’s with research degree after four years.
• Academic Bank of Credits: An academic bank of credit will be established to digitally store academic credits earned from various HEIs for awarding degrees based on credits. HEIs will have the flexibility to offer different designs of masters’ programmes.
• M.Phil.: The M.Phil. programme will be discontinued.
• Regulatory Structure: The regulatory structure of higher education in India will be overhauled to ensure that the distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding and setting academic standards are performed by separate, independent bodies. This will minimise conflict of interest and eliminate concentration of power. To ensure this, the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be setup with four independent verticals:
  • National Higher Education Regulatory Council as a single regulator (including teacher education, excluding legal and medical education),
  • National Accreditation Council for accreditation of institutions,
  • Higher Education Grants Council for financing of higher education institutions,
  • General Education Council for specifying the cur- riculum framework and learning levels for higher education.
• National Research Foundation: Keeping in view low investment on research and innovation in Indiaat only 0.69% of GDP, compared to 2.8% in the USA, 4.2% in South Korea and 4.3% of GDP in Israel, NEP recommends setting up of an independent National Research Foundation for funding and facilitating quality research in India.
• Foreign Universities: High performing Indian universities will be encouragedto set up campusesin other countries. Similarly, selected top global universities will be permitted to operate in India. A legislative framework facilitatingsuch entrywill be put in place. Such universities will be given exemptions from regulatory and governance norms on par with autonomous institutions in the country.
• Vocational Education: The Committee observed thatless than 5% of the workforce in the age-group of 19- 24 received vocational education in India during 2012- 2017 in contrast to 52% in the USA, 75% in Germany, and 96% in South Korea. Therefore, NEP recommends that vocational education should be integrated in all school and higher education institutions in a phased manner over the next 10 years.A nationalcommittee for integration of vocational education will be setup under the MHRD for this purpose. The national skills qualifications framework will be detailed further for each discipline vocation and profession. The NEP aims to ensure that at-least 50% of learners in school and higher education should be exposed to vocational education by 2025.

3. General Recommendations

• Higher Expenditure:While the current expenditure on education stands at 4.43 per cent of GDP, the NEP envisages to increase it to 6 per cent of GDP with cumulative contribution of Central and State governments.
• E-Courses in Regional Languages: E-courses will be developed in eight regional languages initially and virtual labs will be developed.

Significance

• The policy is a right step towards bringing transformational changes instead of gradual incremental changes in Education sector.
• Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• NEP 2020 is precisely what India needs to dominate in the future decades of growth, and drive the education requirements of our young population.
• Further, it 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.

Way Forward

• Education infrastructure is one of the important parameters which also needs a massive boost from the government authorities.
• The New Education Policy should have been implemented years ago to enable India’s education system to catch up with that of other fast-developing nations in Asia.
• The focus on light government regulation, multidisciplinary institutions and creating equivalence of vocational and academic streams are welcome, but these have been a part of other countries’ education models for years.
• It would have been good to have some more innovative ideas implemented like recognition of pathway/twinning programs with foreign universities, per- mission for for-profit firms to set up schools & colleges, allowing corporate CSR funding for primary research in universities and allowing universities to offer online degrees to outside their geographical jurisdiction.
• However, the NEP only provides a broad direction and is notmandatoryto follow. Also,educationis a concurrent subject (both the Centre and the state governments can make laws on it). Therefore, the collaborative effort of states as well as centre is vital to implement the policy in letter and spirit.