For decades, the Indian education system has measured a child's calibre in percentages. The board result is increasingly seen as a student’s identity, and somewhere in that race, the child gets lost. The numbers tell one part of the story, but they leave out curiosity, resilience, empathy, and the ability to fail and recover, qualities that determine how a person actually navigates the world.
This is where the need for a broader, more balanced approach to education becomes evident. One response to that problem is holistic education, which does not replace academic rigour; it restores the context around it, acknowledging that a child is a cognitive, emotional, social, and physical being, and that a school must develop all four areas, not just the first.
What the policy gets right
India's National Education Policy 2020 formalised this shift in thinking. NEP 2020 mandated a holistic, 360-degree progress card that reflects a learner's development across cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains, including self-assessment, project-based learning, role plays, and group work. The Indian Ministry of Education is promoting a more holistic approach to learning by restructuring the curriculum to include arts, sports, vocational skills, and values alongside science and mathematics, recognising the importance of developing well-rounded learners.
This approach is further strengthened by the nationwide adoption of the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) across all 36 States and Union Territories, a significant step forward for early childhood education.
Building on this, the NIPUN Bharat Mission is working toward ensuring every child attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Grade 3 by 2026–27. The initiative has already reached more than 5 crore children across over 6 lakh schools, reflecting the scale at which foundational learning is now being prioritised across the country. Alongside this, more than 12.97 lakh teachers have also been trained under the NISHTHA programme (FLN) to strengthen classroom delivery and learning outcomes.
The policy momentum behind holistic education continues to gather pace. The PM SHRI scheme aims to develop over 14,500 exemplary schools aligned with NEP's holistic vision, with 12,079 schools already selected across states and union territories, and implementation progressing in phases. Each of these schools is designed as a living model of holistic learning, with smart classrooms, sports grants, career counselling, and vocational exposure built into the school's structure rather than offered as afterthoughts.
These are not peripheral experiments but a fundamental rethinking of what schooling in India is meant to achieve. Collectively, these reforms signal a shift towards a holistic education system that goes beyond academic achievement to nurture well-rounded learners.
Gap between policy and classroom
Policy momentum is real, but the gap between intent and implementation remains hard to ignore. According to ASER 2024, only 23.4 per cent of Class III students in government schools can read a Class II-level text. This points to a fundamental challenge. While NEP 2020 emphasises activity-based and experiential approaches, their impact remains limited when foundational skills are weak. Across states, teacher readiness and infrastructure remain uneven. At the same time, areas such as sports, arts, and life skills are still pushed to the margins in many schools, rather than being integrated into everyday learning.
The gap becomes visible most clearly inside the classroom itself. A recent NITI Aayog report notes that many reforms introduced at the policy level are still taking time to translate into routine teaching practices. In several schools, learning continues to revolve heavily around textbooks, while examinations still place greater emphasis on memorisation than understanding. The report also highlights that teachers are often managing classrooms with very different learning levels, without always receiving adequate practical support or training. As a result, while education policy is increasingly moving towards experiential and student-focused learning, classroom practices in many places still continue to follow far more conventional patterns.
What holistic practice looks like
Holistic education is ultimately shaped by what schools choose to prioritise in regular practice. Vocational exposure from Class 6, as envisioned under NEP, enables students to explore aptitudes beyond the traditional arts-science-commerce divide. Trained and well-resourced counsellors ensure that emotional development is treated with the same seriousness as academics. Assessments should focus on students’ competencies through application, rather than mere recall. It also calls for the consistent integration of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, including physical education and creative expression, into the educational process, rather than treating them as secondary to academic pursuits.
The national digital infrastructure supporting this shift has expanded considerably. SWAYAM, India’s indigenous MOOC platform, recorded 5.8 crore enrolments as of January 2026, reflecting a growing demand for learning that goes beyond rote memorisation. The tools already exist, but their real value depends on how they are used, whether to encourage deeper understanding and curiosity in classrooms or simply deliver existing content in a digital format without meaningful change.
The reframe India needs
There is no inherent conflict between academic success and well-rounded education. The ability to cope with stress, collaborate with others, and think creatively is an important part of what makes a learner successful in school. Increasingly, this is what education outcomes are also beginning to indicate: schools that invest in social-emotional learning, physical wellness, and arts education consistently show stronger academic outcomes.
In 2024–2025, India recorded nearly 25 crore total school enrolments, and what students take away from school today will shape much more than academic performance in the future. If learning remains focused only on theoretical knowledge, students may score well yet still struggle with real-world situations later on. Schools also need to help children think independently, communicate clearly, adapt to change, and deal with challenges with confidence. These abilities will matter just as much in the years ahead. Marks on a report card will always carry importance, but some of the most valuable parts of learning, like confidence, curiosity, resilience, and emotional maturity, are not always visible in scores.
The author is s MD of AASOKA, by MBD Group. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK
