What major changes will National Education Policy 2020 bring?
NEP 2020 is not about tweaking the educational system, but transforming it. It will change all aspects of education, at all levels. For instance, children between the ages of three and six would be brought into the fold of formal education for the first time. The NEP will also help in achieving foundational literacy and numeracy for all children by the age of eight. The Central government has launched a national mission to achieve the objectives of this policy.
The NEP emphasises the importance of bilingual and multilingual education for all children. Moreover, vocational training will be integrated into school education. Classes from nine to 12 will be combined into a programme during which students will be allowed to make choices across a range of subjects, including science, social science, the arts, vocational education and even sports. The basic degree for a school teacher will become the four-year Bed.
Multidisciplinary education and research universities will be set up. Also, a national research foundation (NRF) will be set up to nurture research in the university system. The higher education system will be restructured into research universities, teaching universities and autonomous degree-granting colleges. The focus will be on providing autonomy, with accountability, to higher education institutions so that they can lead the transformation.
Could you elaborate on the changes specific to higher education?
Higher education will become much more student centric and focus on building 21st century skills. Youth and adults will have the opportunity to keep learning throughout their lives, as and when necessary, to keep pace with a fast-changing world. The steps like the setting up of an Academic Bank of Credits, a liberal undergraduate education and the integration of vocational education will all contribute towards this. The NEP will take higher education away from lecture-based pedagogy.
Higher education will see a completely new regulatory framework that will have four independent verticals—for regulation, accreditation, funding and standard-setting—under the umbrella of the Higher Education Commission of India. The system will grow, but it will also require consolidation since over 65 per cent of the 42,000 plus colleges have less than 500 students at present. Only 4 per cent of the colleges have enrolment greater than 3,000.
It is important to note that higher education in India is largely private (79 per cent of institutions and 66 per cent of enrolment). The NEP has provided encouragement and support to the private sector by treating them on par with government institutions, with regards to regulation and access to research funding. The regulatory framework will help in weeding out institutions that are unable to improve their standards over a period of a decade or more.
It (the new regulatory framework) will also phase out the affiliation system and create autonomous institutions that will be able to innovate in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. It will help provide mobility to students across streams through the creation of a national higher education qualification framework that will also be interconnected with the national skills qualification framework.
What was the vision with which you drafted the NEP?
The focus of the NEP is captured in one of the statements in it: “Providing universal access to quality education is the key to India’s continued ascent and leadership on the global stage in terms of economic growth, social justice and equality, scientific advancement, national integration, and cultural preservation.”
Key considerations include emphasis on the full development of human potential as articulated in the declaration of human rights in 1948; an education system that draws upon India’s heritage and value systems; the unfinished agenda of previous policies; the sustainable development goals; seeking to create a flexible yet integrated system of education that facilitates national development, and preparing students to realise their own dreams and aspirations and secure their future and that of their families, and also to contribute to society and the country.
How does the NEP compare with the education policies in western countries?
As you know, we had wide ranging consultations while formulating the NEP. These consultations and the knowledge of the members of the committee meant that we had a comprehensive understanding of the educational systems in [countries like] the US, Europe, South Korea and Israel.
Furthermore, there were the key elements of India’s educational system consistent with our culture and ethos that needed to be included. Therefore, though the policy recognises the centrality of Indianness, it incorporates the best of experiences and practices of other leading countries engaged in innovative concepts in education and research. Thus, if the NEP is implemented in the spirit in which it was created, it will give India an education system that is second to none.
You have stressed that the NEP will make India a knowledge hub. How will that happen?
India must ensure that it is in a position to generate knowledge across disciplines. The students must become active participants in the process of knowledge creation from a young age, beginning at secondary school. The NEP enables this transformation as it reorients the pedagogy from rote learning to learning how to learn and inquiry-driven learning. It provides autonomy to institutions, encourages research and innovation. It also makes provision for research funding across disciplines and levels through the NRF.
To read the full interview
Visit www.theweek.in
