National Education Policy 2020 by: Renu

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NEP 2020 calls for building the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by MHRD. In this mission, the states will prepare an implementation plan to achieve foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary school students until grade 3 by 2025.

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) has emphasised on the use of mother tongue or local language as the medium of instruction till Class 5 while recommending its continuance till Class 8 and beyond. It recommends that all students will learn three languages in their school under the formula.

The policy provides for reforms at all levels of education from school to higher education. NEP aims to increase the focus on strengthening teacher training, reforming the existing exam system, early childhood care and restructuring the regulatory framework of education.

According to the NEP 2020- New Academic Structure, the old 10+2 system will be replaced with the new 5+3+3+4 system. It will consist of Foundational stage (3 to 8 years), Preparatory stage (8 to 11 years), Middle stage (11 to 14 years) and Secondary stage (14 to 18 years).

It is a well-known fact that, after independence, the nation has already witnessed national policies like NEP-1968, NPE-1986 and its revised version POA-1992. But, keeping in view the neo-normative standpoints, demands of the 21st century society and new milieu of the millennium, our education must look forward for incorporation of the changes taking place and addressing the issues in the curriculum to the intended beneficiaries to bring a viable economic and social order in the country for realising the constitutional goals and philosophy of the nation.

The introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, after three decades has been one of the biggest highlights in the Indian education industry. It is a comprehensive policy that emphasises universities' multidisciplinary & multimode approaches, and education backed by technology.

The first full year after the release of the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 on 29 July 2020 has been a mixed bag with respect to implementation efforts by the Central and State governments and their autonomous agencies. The first step in the implementation, renaming the erstwhile Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) as the Ministry of Education (MOE) as suggested by the NEP, was immediate, given that the Union Cabinet approved this change at the same time as the policy itself. However, the progress since then has been chequered.

SARTHAQ defines activities associated with each recommendation of the NEP 2020. It delineates 297 tasks, identifies the agencies responsible for taking up each one of them, and also specifies the timelines and intended outcomes of these tasks.

The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSE&L) of the education ministry was quick off the mark to announce a slew of measures to implement NEP 2020. It organised the ‘Shikshak Parv’, a festival for teachers, from 8-25 September 2020, along with consultations with States and Union Territories (UTs), autonomous bodies, and all other stakeholders to discuss various recommendations of NEP 2020 and its implementation strategies. The outcome was a comprehensive implementation plan SARTHAQ (Students’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement through Quality Education), released on 8 April 2021. SARTHAQ defines activities associated with each recommendation of the NEP 2020. It delineates 297 tasks, identifies the agencies responsible for taking up each one of them, and also specifies the timelines and intended outcomes of these tasks.

Early education
Given the NEP 2020’s major decision to replace the 10+2 system with the 5+3+3+4 system and its emphasis on the first five years of early childhood care and education beginning at age three, the DoSE&L also launched the ambitious NIPUN Bharat initiative to ensure foundational literacy and numeracy for all children by the year 2026–27. This is a much-needed and welcome move since the rest of NEP 2020 will be largely irrelevant for children if this most basic learning—reading, writing, and arithmetic at the foundational level—is not achieved first before building upon it, as experienced in the past.
DoSE&L is also strengthening and revamping existing programmes such as the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to align it with the recommendations of NEP 2020. It has introduced the national mission to improve learning outcomes through an integrated teacher training programme called NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) for teacher development. Other initiatives listed in DoSE&L’s one year achievement report include: The strengthening of vocational education initiatives in Samagra Shiksha; introducing key stage assessments for determining the health of the system and learning outcomes through SAFAL (Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning); the announcement of NDEAR (National Digital Education Architecture), an open, interoperable, evolvable, public digital education infrastructure that will keep pace with the rapid expansion of technology, and improvement of the ease of doing business for educational institutions, amongst others. The DoSE&L, through a steering committee under Dr K. Kasturirangan, is also working closely with the states to implement reforms and develop the State Curricular Frameworks followed by the National Curricular Framework.

Higher education
The situation in higher education, on the other hand, has evolved at a much slower pace. For instance, the four-year undergraduate programme, one of the cornerstones of NEP 2020 to provide holistic and multidisciplinary education or liberal education, has not yet been included in the list of degrees approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC). One of the critical responsibilities of the Department of Higher Education, as envisaged by NEP 2020, is the setting up of a new framework for the regulation and maintenance of standards in higher education as per its constitutional mandate. The new framework envisages that distinct, independent, and empowered bodies will perform the separate roles of regulation, accreditation, funding, and standard setting. Such segregation of functions is necessary to eliminate overlapping jurisdiction, create checks and balances within the system, minimise conflicts of interest, and eliminate concentration of power. NEP 2020 stipulates the formation of these four structures as independent verticals within the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), an umbrella institution, to ensure their working synergy. HECI and its associated verticals will come into being through an Act of Parliament, but there are no indications that such a bill is ready yet.
One of the critical responsibilities of the Department of Higher Education, as envisaged by NEP 2020, is the setting up of a new framework for the regulation and maintenance of standards in higher education as per its constitutional mandate.

NEP 2020’s decision to deviate from the vision of the draft NEP 2019 and exclude medical and legal education from the proposed new regulatory architecture may need to be revisited in the future since it prevents the full benefit of the new regulatory architecture from accruing to multidisciplinary HEIs.


Meanwhile, UGC, the present regulator-cum-funding agency, has initiated significant changes to support the NEP. The Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), which will allow students to accumulate credits and earn various degrees over time, has been rolled out, albeit for only a few institutions. Accumulation of credits is likely to be a boon to poor students, especially women, who are often forced to drop out for economic and social reasons. The ABC will support students’ mobility across HEIs and support lifelong learning for the youth and adults—the need of the hour in a fast-changing technological world. Other UGC initiatives include guidelines for multiple exits and multiple entry in HEIs, apprenticeship-embedded degree programmes, and guidelines for the internationalisation of higher education, amongst others.

The nation has got another National Education Policy (NEP-2020) after a gap of 34 years, after prolonged academic debates, discourse and discussion and, ultimately, we are going to address its features in letter and spirit. India, under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the past eight years has gained a special place for itself at the international arena. It is reflected in reformative steps taken by the government of India in every sphere, including economy, research, defence, health, agriculture and education in toto. In the last eight years of Modi’s government, there are many reforms undergone in education and social sectors such as institutional growth of higher educational institutions, Pradhamantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Pradhanmantri Kisan Pension Yojana, Jan Dhan Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Atal Pension Yojana, Ujjwala Yojana, AMRUT Yojana, Digital India Mission, Stand-up India, Namami Gange Yojana, community interaction through Man Ki Baat, and Startup India for innovation and entrepreneurship in India, and many others.

The long cherished and the most awaited dream of the National Education Policy (NEP-2020) has become reality by the government of India for further course of action. After declaration of the policy document, over the last two years we have been observing, many national webinars, seminars and academic debates are going on by the policy-takers and stakeholders on the practical understanding and implementation of the policy.

Just as the 1986 policy was accompanied by a Programme of Action (PoA) 1992, it may be worth preparing a PoA for NEP 2020 to facilitate faster implementation. Overall, 2021 saw HEIs and all other stakeholders trying and understanding the spirit of the policy and making their own implementation plans in the policy’s intended spirit. The year ends on an exciting note as we look forward to many of the transformative changes that will be on the anvil in 2022.

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