National Education Policy - 2020
Table of Contents
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Why is it in the news recently ?
The Union Cabinet approved a new national education policy on July 29 2019 after 34 years of gap. This new national education policy 2020 is currently under implementation. The last time the national policy on education have been launched was in 1986.
Historical point of view
In the history of India so far only three national educational policies have been introduced. Those are National Education Policy 1968,1986 and 2020. A few years back, in 1992, the old national education policy - 1986 was revised.
In June 2017, a committee chaired by former ISRO chief Dr. K Kasturi Rangan was set up to formulate a new education policy. The committee submitted the draft of the National Education Policy in May 2019.
In this context, the National Education Policy, 2020 was adopted by the Government of India on July 29, 2020. This new national Education Policy replaces the 34-year-old national education policy of 1986. Another drastic change made by the Government of India is to rename the Ministry of Human Resource Development into the Ministry of Education.
Below are some historical evolutionary events that have taken place over time regarding educational policy :
☆ University Education Commission (1948-49).
☆ Secondary Education Commission (1952-53).
☆ Education Commission (1964-66) Dr. DS Kothari.
☆ National education policy in 1968.
☆ 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976 enforced "Education" changed from a state list to a concurrent list.
☆ National education policy in 1986.
☆ National education policy 1986 was amended in 1992.
☆ 86th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2002. Inserted article 21A declares that the state shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of 6 to 14 years aiming to achieve "education for all".
☆ In 2012, the Justice Verma Commission also stressed the need to improve the quality of pre-service and in-service teacher education.
☆ T.S.R Subramanyam commity on 2016.
☆ Dr. K. Kasturirangan committee report on 2019.
The vision of NEP - 2020 :
☆ The main vision of the national education policy 2020 is to synchronize with Goal 4 of UN sustainable development. SDG is “To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.
☆ The new education policy will focus mostly on India's ambitions for the 21st century and its goal is to declare India a world superpower in terms of knowledge. Based on this vision, NEP-2020 has set 2040 as the deadline to meet its goals and objectives.
☆ The new education policy aims to achieve a 100% GER i.e Gross Enrollment Ratio in preschool to secondary level by 2030 and should achieve a 50% GER i.e Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education by 2035. Another major focus is to target all universities and colleges to be multidisciplinary by 2040. This policy aims to increase employment in the country.
☆ NEP hopes to strengthen the vocational education system in the future. By 2025, it is estimated that more than 50% of learners will have to pursue vocational education through the school and higher education system.
☆ The policy is committed to raising government spending on education to the recommended level of 6% of GDP, as predicted by the 1968 policy.
Budget Allocation for Education in India :
☆ 2019-20: 2.8%.
☆ 2020-21: 3.1% (as per the revised estimate).
☆ 2021-22: 3.1% (as per the budget estimate).
To reach 6% of GDP standards, the 2022-23 education budget should be almost double that of last year's allocations.
The biggest demand from academic experts this year should be an increase in total allocation of more than 6% and The government provided an increase of 11.86%.
Important principles of national education policy 2020
☆ Identifying, recognizing, and promoting each student's unique ability.
☆ Assurance provides all levels of school education from pre-primary school to grade 12 until it becomes a universal level of access.
☆ There is no strict separation between the arts and the science, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams.
☆ Priority should be given to all students achieving foundation literacy and numerical knowledge by grade III.
☆ Provide flexibility to go through their own ways according to their own talents and interests.
☆ Multi-disciplinary and holistic education across the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and sports.
☆ Prioritize conceptual understanding rather than learning for exams.
☆ Promote values, and ethics, and encourage creative and critical thinking which helps to improve logical decision-making and innovation.
☆ Promote multilingualism and teaching in the local language.
☆ Focus on life skills such as communication, cooperation, and teamwork.
☆ The widespread use of technology in teaching should eliminate language barriers in teaching as well as increase access to students with disabilities.
☆ Quality education should be considered a fundamental right of every child
Structure of the NEP - 2020 Curriculum
NEP 2020 has restructured the current curriculum in both school and higher education. It recommends revising the existing (5 + 5 + 2) form of the new structure of (5 + 3 + 3 + 4) which has a strong foundation of child care and education from the age of 3 years.
Briefly, we will look into the Curriculum stage wise :
☆ 5 years of the foundation phase: 3 years of pre-primary school and grades 1, 2.
☆ 3 years of the subsequent primary phase: Grades 3, 4, 5.
☆ 3 years of the Upper Primary phase: Grades 6, 7, 8.
☆ 4 years of upper secondary phase: Grades 9, 10, 11, 12.
The policy also recommends the building of world-class Multidisciplinary Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), also known as Multidisciplinary Educational Research Universities (MERUs).
Policies of NEP-2020 :
☆ NEP-2020 considered 3-8 years of age is to be the primary stage of the child that is crucial for his / her development. That's why every student should attend fundamental literacy and numeracy(FLN) by grade 3.
☆ When it comes to higher education reform, major structural reform is modulating higher education institutions into large multi-disciplinary universities, colleges, and knowledge hubs.
☆ This policy treats equity as a holistic concept focusing on socio-economic disadvantaged groups (SEDGs) and regions. The policy recommends declaring areas with a high population density of disadvantaged groups as Special Education Zones (SEZs) where all schemes and policies will be implemented more effectively.
☆ This policy has made some major reforms in school education and higher education, especially the Establishment of school complexes/clusters, the establishment of school standards and authority, and reforms of the school examination board.
☆ The policy mainly focuses on Governance reforms in higher education including the establishment of a single regulatory body with 4 verticals on the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). Those 4 vertical bodies are 👇
☆ NEP-2020 advocates for the institutionalization of an effective quality assurance and accreditation system by establishing the States School Standards Authority (SSSA) as an independent state-wide body.
☆ Proposed to establish the new NEP-2020 National Educational Technology Forum (NETF). This approach aims to appropriately integrate technology into all levels of education to improve teaching, learning, and evolutionary processes.
☆ NEP-2020 suggests the use of Indian languages, arts, and culture at all levels of education. The policy proposes to set up an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation(IITI) to promote Indian languages. It was also suggested that Sanskrit should be brought into the mainstream in schools and institutions of higher learning.
Reforms of NEP-2020 :
☆ The NEP-2020 is expecting the collaboration of NCERT, SCERT, and state boards should together work towards reforming the curriculum, syllabus, and associated assessments.
☆ A Holistic Progress Card (HPS) has been developed to provide equal attention to learner growth in all areas of development. HPC establishes an important link between home and school. It captures the uniqueness of each learner on the cognitive-effective scale.
☆ NEP-2020 also focuses on Teacher Education Inline, which proposes a variety of programs such as the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) National Professional Standards for Teachers(NPST), the National Mission for Supervision (NMM), and at least 50 hours of continuous professional development for each teacher, in one year.
☆ NEP-2020 proposes to transform all stand-alone teacher education institutes (TEIs) into multi-disciplinary institutes by 2030. To focus on Teacher Training capacity building, a National Initiative for School Heads and Teachers Holistic Advancement (NISHTHA) is a first-of-its-kind teacher training program under Samagra Shiksha wherein the Government of India through its academic bodies NCERT and NIEPA.
☆ Vocational subjects were introduced as an additional subject at the secondary level and as a compulsory elective subject at the senior secondary level under Kamagra Shiksha in schools. The scheme covers public schools and government-aided schools. Currently, various components of vocational education are supported by national agencies or institutions such as the Pandit Sundarlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), the National Skill Development Corporation, and the Sector Skill Council.
☆ The Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2009 defines good quality primary education in accordance with the standards and regulations set norms specified in the Act.
Schemes launched by GOI to boost up the NEP :
☆ To provide quality education for all, the government of India launched some schemes to promote equity for disadvantaged groups and weaker sections. Those teams are namely centers sponsored scheme of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan(SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan(RMSA), and Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan(RAA).
☆ A national initiative for proficiency in reading with understanding and numeracy(NIPUN Bharat) was launched on 5 July 2021 to enable every child in the country to acquire basic literacy and numeracy (FLN) in grade 3 by 2026-27.
☆ Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme, Smart classrooms, and ICT labs have also been set up in the Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya Vidyalayas.
☆ Pm eVidya is a comprehensive initiative under the Atmanirbhar Bharat program that integrates all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education to enable inclusive multi-mode access to education. For example Diksha APP, ePathshala, Swayam Prabha DTH TV channels, community radio, podcast Shiksha Vani, and Barkhaa-reading series for "all" adapted by the DEGSN at NCERT in 2017.
☆ SAFAL (Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning Levels) This capability-based Assessment will be introduced to grades 3,5 and 8 in CBSE schools from the 2021-22 academic session according to NEP-2020. It focuses on core concepts, application-based questions, and testing for advanced thinking skills.
☆ Vidyanjali 2.O is a voluntary management program that helps the community/volunteers to connect directly with the government and government-aided schools to share their knowledge and skills and to assist in meeting the needs of these schools.
Challenges of NEP-2020
Fund Allocation :
NEP-2020 expects to increase education spending from 4.6% to 6% of GDP. It is INR 2.5 lakh crore per annum. Funding at 6% of GDP after covid is questionable. If govt is willing to spend that much amount yearly, they need a proper planning structure to build schools and colleges across the country, appointing teachers and professors.
Opening of Multi-Disciplinary universities and colleges :
Currently, there are more than 1000 universities functioning in India and it is very difficult to transfer those universities to multi-disciplinary institutions while doubling those universities by 2035 is a very tough task for the government.
Providing training for large-scale teachers :
The country needs structured reforms to train teachers, as well as a systematic approach to changes in the thinking of teachers, as well as parents.
To Achieve a 100% GER in preschool to secondary level by 2030 :
According to the results of the National Achievement Survey conducted in 2017, Nearly 18% and 13% of children in the 3rd grade are below the basic level in language and numeracy, and 15% and 18% of children in the 5th grade are below the basic level in language and numeracy. Only 47% and 53% of students in 3rd grade and 47% and 44% of students in 5th grade are proficient in numeracy and statistics respectively. Based on the above report there is an urgent need to focus on ensuring that the student achieves the desired learning abilities in each grade.
Integration of the new education policy in the federal states :
Education is a joint list according to the constitution and there is a big challenge to the integration of this system between the states. Added language barrier for this integration challenge.
Way Forward
☆ NEP-2020 expects to increase education spending from 4.6% to 6% of GDP. But developed countries spend up to 20 percent of their GDP on education and India must also increase its spending to succeed in its quest to bring the education sector up to global standards.
☆ Given the current state of the economy, the Government should begin to evaluate PPP models without further delay so that the private sector can cooperate and utilize its expertise collectively to accelerate the transformation of education in India.
☆ With the modernization of school and college infrastructure, teachers also need to specialize in advanced teaching and practices. and teacher training to become adept at new-age technologies.
☆ As we saw during the epidemic, e-learning is the way forward. So Government should concentrate on digital infrastructures like expert online teaching models, and AR/VR technologies to overcome gaps in physical teaching and modern lab infrastructure.
☆ The next decade will see a major change in the education system in India as a result of uniform evaluation schemes across schools and continuous career counseling sessions.
Reference :
https://www.publicationsdivision.nic.in/
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Article Contributed By :
Mehar Routh
