NEW EDUCATION POLICY2020

These days India is going through a phase of change. In fact this complete decade will be remembered as a historical decade for our country. The country has achieved some very big milestones towards the growth of our country in each & every sector whether it is in Agriculture sector through Direct Benefit of Transfer(DBT), Industrial sector especially for MSME through huge increase in credit guarantee given by the government, Banking sector through Demonetization or in increased tax collection through GST. The government has launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna to provide affordable housing to the urban poor along with the world's largest government sponsored healthcare program i.e. Ayushman Bharat Yojana. In the same manner of reforms, our Prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi has now come up with a revolutionary Education policy i.e. the New Education Policy.

Education policy can be considered like a back-bone for the country which provides essential support to the whole education system. Education policy is very much important to achieve the goal of providing quality education across the country. Without a compatible education policy the whole education system either may collapse or become irrelevant. Hence it requires timely up gradation to match with the evolving circumstances & social conditions. Therefore our government took the decision to form a new education policy.

It's been a magnificent history of education system in India since Vedic period. We read about the existence of Gurukuls/Ashrams in ancient India where students used to live & study under the guidance of saints. The world's oldest literature i.e. the 4 Vedas were written during this period. The ancient Indian sub-continent had some renowned universities for example, Nalanda & Taxila which are considered to be the oldest universities in the world. At that time students from across the globe used to come India to study in these universities. However it's really surprising to hear the fact that in modern times, the very first education policy was constituted in India after 21 years of independence by the Prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi in the year 1968. The main objective of this policy was to provide free & compulsory education to every children. After this, a new education policy was launched in 1986 that was again modified in 1992. This policy introduced the concept of a common entrance exam like JEE/AIEEE on all India basis for admission to all the professional or technical courses. 

Now our government has decided to replace the 34 years old national policy on education with the New education policy 2020. A committee was formed in Jan2015 under the chairmanship of late Mr. T.S.R.Subramanian to do research & analysis for the New education policy. The committee had submitted it's report in May2016 based on which the draft NEP was submitted in the year 2019 by the drafting committee headed by eminent former ISRO scientist Dr. K. Kasturirangan. After this, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) started the consultation process for the New education policy from across the country upto the level of Gram panchayat. Then after receiving & incorporating a number of suggestions the final draft was approved by the Union cabinet and released by our Prime minister on 29th July 2020. Along with this, the HRD ministry is now officially named again as Education ministry.

The vision of NEP2020 is to make India a global knowledge superpower. It is designed to revamp our British era education system to meet up the requirements of today's competitive world. According to NEP learning should be holistic, integrated, enjoyable & engaging. It is a progressive shift towards a more scientific approach to education. Some of the important highlights of this policy are:

1. Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE):- 

In NEP2020, the existing 10+2 system will be replaced by a new curricular structure of 5+3+3+4 corresponding to the age groups of 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 & 14-18 years respectively. This system will comprise schooling of 12 years along with 3 years of Anganwadi/Pre-schooling, thus the new education policy has covered the age group of 3-6 years with emphasis on compulsory education in early childhood.

2. Education in Mother tongue:-

According to the New education policy, teachers will teach lessons in mother tongue or regional language up to Class 5 so as to avoid any kind of language compulsion. The policy states that children learn more quickly in their home language. This will be applicable in both public & private schools.

3. Establishment of a single apex body:-

Statutory organizations like UGC & AICTE etc will be replaced by Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) that will be set up as a single governing authority for entire higher education, excluding medical & legal education. HECI will consist of four independent agencies named National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation, General Education Council (GEC) for standard setting, Higher Education Grant Council (HEGC) for funding & National Accreditation Council (NAC) for the accreditation. 

4. Focus on Extra-curricular & Vocational stream:-

In India co-curricular activities like sports has always been underestimated. Due to this kind of mindset, we are still lagging far behind in the Olympics as compared to other countries. Under NEP2020, there will be no rigid difference between curricular & extra-curricular activities, between vocational & academics streams. 

We Indians mostly focus on memorization of concepts & sharp memory or good grasping capacity is often misinterpreted as intelligence in our country. Students with sharp memory always get good marks in exams because of their theoretical knowledge but most of them don't get good jobs due to the lack of practical knowledge. Unfortunately previous education policies of India didn't mention anything regarding job-oriented education. To overcome this drawback now Vocational training will be started in schools from 6th standard. This is definitely going to completely change the overall growth of our students.

5. No Dropouts:-

This is something what we can call a true educational reform. We know that in our country many of the students have to leave the college in middle of the course without getting a degree due to some unfavorable social & economic conditions. The NEP2020 provides multiple entry & exit options with appropriate certification for this period. The college will give certificate after completing 1 year in a course, a diploma after 2 years & a Bachelor's degree after a 3 year programme. The government is also going to set up an Academic Bank of Credit for digital storation of academic credits earned from different institutions that can be transferred & counted towards final degree earned.

6. Significant role of Teachers:-

The NEP emphasizes teachers to be at the center of the fundamental reforms in the education system. By the year 2030, the minimum degree qualification for teachers is going to be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree. As per NEP2020 the states will have to fill the vacant posts of Teachers. The policy focuses on improvement of the ratio b/w students & teacher. It states that there should be a teacher available on every 30 students. 

Apart from these key points, NEP incorporates many other interesting features like:

• The government has launched a Digital learning platform named DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure For Knowledge Sharing) to enhance equitable education for students.
• For the very first time, the national education policy of India has included some provisions for 3rd gender or transgenders. For this, a separate Gender inclusion fund is allocated for inclusion of women & transgender people in NEP.

The aim of the new education policy is the universalization of education with 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in school education by the year 2030. Although dropout rates have been declined in higher education during last 5 years. The government has taken a number of corrective measures to minimize the dropout rate. Recently in a webinar our Education minister Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said that many other countries are also referring to the New Education Policy of India. 

In the Colonial era, Britishers made education policy for slave Indians when the East India Company needed educated Indians for routine clerical jobs because it was cheaper to get Indians rather than Englishmen from England for such small level jobs. They wanted Indians who could understand English so that they could work like interpreters b/w the British government & the locals. They wanted Indians to be educated in the western style of education. They started a new education system in India not to educate Indians but only for fulfilling the needs of the colonial empire. 

Once the great Nelson Mandela said that, "Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world" but unfortunately the education policies implemented in the early years of post independence failed to construct a proper base of education system in India as those were highly influenced by the colonial era education system. There was an overemphasis on bookish knowledge, students were not provided practical experiences where they could apply theory to everyday life. Even the teachers didn't receive the needed training. That time the purpose of education in India was not to receive education but to only pass the exams. Such inappropriate education system completely failed to provide the quality education & produced graduates who were not competent enough to grab a good job. This degraded level of education increased unemployment in our country. Our previous education policies only made us job seekers not the job providers & still we outsource a huge no. of manpower to the developed countries like USA. India is a country of  brilliant minds & with the help of a good education policy it could become the country providing the most number of employers contrary to the current percentage of unemployed youth.  The New Education Policy 2020 shall definitely lead the country towards becoming a "Vishwa-Guru"