National Education Policy 2020

Union Cabinet approved the National Education Policy 2020, paving way for transformational reforms in school and higher education sector in the country.

• In May 2016, ‘Committee for Evolution of the New Education Policy’ under the Chairmanship of Shri T.S.R. Subramanian, Former Cabinet Secretary, submitted its report.
• Based on this report, the Ministry prepared ‘Some Inputs for the Draft National Education Policy, 2016’.
• In June 2017 a ‘Committee for the Draft National Education Policy’ was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan, which submitted the Draft National Education Policy, 2019
• This draft was made public and opened for feedback after the Lok Sabha election in May 2019.
• NEP 2020 has been formulated after the process of consultation that involved nearly over 2 lakh suggestions from 2.5 lakhs Gram Panchayats, 6600 Blocks, 6000 ULBs, and 676 Districts.

• Despite the stated priority and the launch of a plethora of programmes, the state of education in the country remains a weak spot in society. Most objectives and goals have not been realised, even partially, largely due to the absence of a workable roadmap and continuing operational guidance.
• More significantly, heavy politicisation at every level of operation from the village/block level, accompanied by ever-increasing corruption, permeating every aspect of educational administration, have been the prominent developments in the past three decades or so.
• While gross enrolment in schools as also in higher education institutions has gone up sharply, these have been accompanied by many undesirable new factors.
• The failure of government schools to provide education of minimal quality has triggered large-scale entry of private or 'aided' schools, even in rural areas, but even these have not produced significantly better outcomes.
• While the Right to Education (RTE) Act has led to significant increase in enrolment, as also emphasis on infrastructure, new issues in the implementation phase have now arisen, which need to be addressed. In particular, the 'No Detention Policy' needs to be revisited, to ensure that it is optimally and judiciously implemented.
• There is no clearly laid out policy in respect of private participation in the education system, both at the school and higher education levels. The exponential growth of higher education institutions in the past two decades has been fuelled by the 'capitation fee' phenomenon, which thrives on black money and shadowy financial transactions.
• In an aspirational society, parents naturally desire that their children get a 'good education'. However, formally linking the development of skills in vocational fields, and bringing in an academic equivalence to vocational accomplishments, has not been seriously attempted.
• A major new dimension is the advent of information and communication technology. New technologies are now available for information dissemination, enhancement of skills and so many other end-uses, but they are not yet suitably adopted or adapted to the needs of the education sector.
• There is immense scope for harnessing technology to improve quality, teacher preparation, aid to teachers in classrooms, remedial coaching-possibilities that have not yet been seriously addressed.

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. Children with disabilities will be enabled to fully participate in the regular schooling process from the foundational stage to higher education, with support of educators with cross disability training, resource centres, accommodations, assistive devices, appropriate technology-based tools and other support mechanisms tailored to suit their needs.
• Every state/district will be encouraged to establish “Bal Bhavans”as a special daytime boarding school, to participate in art-related, career-related, and play-related activities. Free school infrastructure can be used as Samajik Chetna Kendras

Robust Teacher Recruitment and Career Path:

• Teachers will be recruited through robust, transparent processes. Promotions will be merit-based, with a mechanism for multi-source periodic performance appraisals and available progression paths to become educational administrators or teacher educators.
• A common National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education by 2022, in consultation with NCERT, SCERTs, teachers and expert organizations from across levels and regions.

School Governance:

• Schools can be organized into complexes or clusters which will be the basic unit of governance and ensure availability of all resources including infrastructure, academic libraries and a strong professional teacher community.

Standard-setting and Accreditation for School Education:

• NEP 2020 envisages clear, separate systems for policy making, regulation, operations and academic matters. States/UTs will set up independent State School Standards Authority (SSSA).
• Transparent public self-disclosure of all the basic regulatory information, as laid down by the SSSA, will be used extensively for public oversight and accountability. The SCERT will develop a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF)through consultations with all stakeholders.

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. 3.5 Crore new seats will be added to Higher education institutions.

Holistic Multidisciplinary Education:

• The policy envisages broad based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational educationand multiple entry 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.
  

• This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.
• The policy is based on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability, and Accountability.
• It is also aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• The policy 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.

• While the NEP 2020 has been hailed by most as a progressive shift in the government’s approach to school education, certain changes regarding the three-language formula has been criticised as the new policy states the regional mother tongue to be the medium of instruction till 5th grade.
• The document also emphasises on mathematics and computational thinking, besides mainstreaming Sanskrit to increase “knowledge on ancient India and its contributions to modern India”.
• The policy brings in major changes in the governance and academic structure of school and higher education. The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) has criticized the concentration of powers within a board of governors in universities.
• The DUTA's opposition to the draft NEP rested, among other things, on its proposal to dismember universities and handover every higher educational institution to a Board of Governors, which is to enjoy all powers hitherto vested in the governing authorities of colleges and universities as well as the UGC and other regulating bodies.
• Some other groups criticized the government’s passing of NEP without “extensive discussion” despite protests against the policy.

Education is a concurrent list subject; also most states have their own school boards. Therefore, the state governments would have to be brought on board for the actual implementation of this decision. Education and public health are possibly the two most important development vectors in a democracy. The reality over the past decades is that these have not received a fraction of the importance and focus they deserve. The ground reality today, depressingly, is quite different from what was envisaged in the policy pronouncement. It is hoped that the ministry's move will give a new direction to the education sector, halt the precipitous decline in standards, and pave the way for much better quality standards.