National Education Policy 2020

The Union Cabinet has recently approved the National Education Policy 2020 making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors.

Background

• The new National Education Policy (NEP) will replace the existing National Policy on Education which was first formulated in 1986 and last modified in 1992.

New National Education Policy 2020

• 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.
• The new policy is based on a draft prepared by a committee led by former Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief Kasturirangan.
• The New Education Policy includes an extension of the Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18 and seeks to reduce the content load in the school education curriculum.
• It will introduce four-year undergraduate degrees with multiple entries and exit options, abolish the Phil. Degree, and establish a common higher education regulator with fee fixation for both private and public institutions.

Important Highlights

For School Education

• Ensuring Universal Access at all levels of school education.
• NEP 2020 emphasizes on ensuring universal access to school education at all levels- Pre School to secondary.
• About 2 crores out of school children will be brought back into the mainstream under NEP 2020.
• Early Childhood Care & Education with new Curricular and Pedagogical Structure
• With an emphasis on Early Childhood Care and Education, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years
• This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child.
• The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling.
• NCERT will develop a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to the age of 8.
• Early Childhood Care (ECCE) will be delivered through a significantly expanded and strengthened system of institutions including Anganwadis and pre-schools that will have teachers and Anganwadi workers trained in the ECCE pedagogy and curriculum.
• The planning and implementation of ECCE will be carried out jointly by the Ministries of HRD, Women and Child Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare (HFW), and Tribal Affairs.

Attaining Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

• The NEP recognizing the foundational Literacy and Numeracy as an urgent and prerequisite to learning.
• NEP 2020 calls for setting up of a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by MHRD.
• States will prepare an implementation plan for attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools for all learners of grade 3 by 2025.

Multilingualism and the power of language

• The policy has emphasized mother tongue/local language/regional language as the medium of instruction at least till Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond.
• Sanskrit to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an option for students, including in the three-language formula.
• Other classical languages and literature of India also to be available as options.
• No language will be imposed on any student.
• Students to participate in a fun project/activity on ‘The Languages of India’, sometime in Grades 6-8, such as, under the ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ initiative.
• Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardized across the country, and National and State curriculum materials developed, for use by students with hearing impairment.

Equitable and Inclusive Education

• NEP 2020 aims to ensure that no child loses any opportunity to learn and excel because of the circumstances of birth or background.
• Special emphasis will be given on socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) which include gender, socio-cultural, and geographical identities and disabilities.
• This includes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund and also Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups.

Higher Education

• Increase GER to 50 % by 2035
• NEP 2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035.
• Holistic Multidisciplinary Education
• The policy envisages broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Undergraduate education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entries and exit points with appropriate certification.
• UG education can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification within this period.
• For example, Certificate after 1-year, Advanced Diploma after 2 years, Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s with Research after 4 years.
• Regulation
• Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education.

Financing Education

• The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in the Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.

UPSC