India’s New Education Policy 2020
July 30th, 2020 India introduces a new Education policy. Chief of the Draft committee was ISRO ex-Chief Mr. Kasturirangan Ji and my fellow state wala Amit Khare an Indian Administrative Service officer from Bihar/Jharkhand cadre and currently serving as the Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development along with others have come out with a very promising framework. This is an important decision by the Modi Government and should be appreciated, though it’s very late, at least 5 years late. Let us review the salient features of the new policy.
Salient Features of the New Education Policy 2020:
- 10+2 board structure is dropped
- New school structure will be 5+3+3+4
- Up to 5 preschools, 6 to 8 Mid School, 8 to 11 High School, 12 onwards Graduation
- Any Degree will be of 4 years duration
- 6th std onwards vocational courses available
- From 8th to 11 students can choose subjects
- All graduation courses will have major and minor. Example – Science students can have Physics as Major and Music as minor also. Any combination can be chosen.
- All higher education will be governed by only one authority.
- UGC AICTE will be merged.
- All Universities’ – Government, Private, Open, Deemed, Vocational, etc will have the same grading and other rules.
- New Teacher Training board will be set up for all kinds of teachers in the country, no state can change.
- The same level of Accreditation to any college, based on its rating college will get autonomous rights and funds.
- The new Basic learning program will be created by the government for parents to teach children up to 3 years at home and for preschool 3 to 6.
- Multiple entries and exit from any course.
- A credit system for graduation for each year student will get some credits which he can utilize if he takes a break in the course and comes back again to complete the course.
- All school exams will be semester wise twice a year.
- The syllabi will be reduced to core knowledge of any subject.
- More focus on student practical and application knowledge
- For any graduation course if the student completes only one year he will get a basic certificate, if he completes two years then he will get a Diploma certificate and if he completes the full course then he will get a degree certificate. So no year of any student will be wasted if he breaks the course in between.
- All the graduation course feed of all Universities will be governed by a single authority with capping on each course
Next should be the course content and the grading system ..History book should change drastically in this new policy. Few people think the direct mention of the USA and its IVY league model may not be good!
I guess they needed a reference point and hence the USA model on the Ivy League was used, which is not wrong. One has to get inspired by the leader. This is also moving away from the existing British model.
To me one point that was probably missed was the evaluation or the grading system.. Let us make the grading system where kids don’t mug up the books and vomit on the answer sheets .. Let us have a system where they write something original from their very own understanding and give them high grades for doing so, hence promoting original thinkers, leading to more leaders in multiple fields.
Last year, I wrote in my Book (India: An Unbroken Civilization) on the importance of the Mother’s tongue as the medium of education till the elementary class, it was great to see that being considered.
Lastly, have Patent filing and White papers writing part of the evaluation process from 9th onwards!
Great start India!
PS: This has come just a few hours back, so whatever little info I have as of now is reflected above.
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It is better late than never. The 2020 National Education Policy (NEP) replaces the 34 years old policy from 1986. At first glance, my reaction to NEP was like putting new wine in the old bottle. But I was wrong. This policy is bold, comprehensive, innovative, futuristic, and visionary. However, it has a lot of jargon and increased bureaucracy with many new entities/structures to be created. This may not necessarily be realistically implementable without a firm timeline, strong political will, and change of heart and attitudes among the bureaucrats. The framers of the 60-page document do deserve commendation but the devil may not be known until the implementation details which is barely one-page long. I am hopeful because of the noteworthy rare recognition about the implementation, “Any policy is only as good as its implementation. Such implementation will require multiple initiatives and actions, which will have to be taken by multiple bodies in a synchronised and systematic manner.”
This NEP, at last, recognizes and makes a commitment to restoring the rightful place and nurturing, preserving, and integrating the rich heritage and legacies of ancient Indian knowledge in the modern holistic approach to education. This NEP mentions the culture of Gurukuls, recognizes the failures of the past, and charters a new path for 21st century NEW INDIA.