National Education Policy (NEP) 2020

This article is written by Shruti Kulshrestha, a student of New Law College, BVDU, Pune.

INTRODUCTION

National Economic Policy 2020 was a welcoming decision amid all the negativities going across the world in 2020. The announcement was a surprise for several people. The changes were something that was not expected by educational experts. The NEP policy has impacted both the schools and colleges equally. The national economic policy 2020 has once again taught us the importance of teachers and inspires students to choose the teaching profession even more. Several steps are being taken to uplift the status of schools and colleges like scholarships, decent and pleasant conditions, housing etc. The policy is aimed to provide a higher and appropriate level of education so that everyone can be benefitted from it. The policy was introduced by the Ministry of Education to meet the requirements of the 21st century.

Changes brought through NEP 2020

From 10+2 to 5+3+3+4: Present 10+2 structure in which policy covered schooling from Class 1 to 10 and then Class 11-12 gives way to 5 years of primary education, 3 of preparatory, 3 of middle and 4 years of secondary schooling
Multi-Stream: Now the students in the school will have the flexibility to choose subjects across science, commerce and humanities; all subjects to be made available at two levels of proficiency.
Diluted Board: Board exams to test only basic capabilities; could become modular and will be offered twice a year.
Multilingual: 3 language policy will be there with preference given to local language medium of instruction till class 8.
Bag-Less Days: School students to have 10 bag-less days in a year during which they will be exposed to an informal internship of their choice.
SAT-like College Test: The National Testing Agency to conduct a common college entrance exam twice a year.
4-year Bachelor: 4-year multi-disciplinary bachelor’s program to be made available; the mid-term dropouts will be given credit with the option to finish degree after a period of the desired break.
No Affiliation: The next 15years colleges will be provided with graded autonomy to grant degrees, connection with universities to end, and also deemed university status,
Free Cap: Proposal to cap fee opportunity taken by private institutions of higher knowledge.
Going Global: Top global universities to be asked to come to India, the top Indian Institutions to be inspired to go global.

Features of NEP 2020

Self-reliant India: This policy is incorporated in such a way that it will help the education system to solve its problems on its own. Skill education is given prime importance, it will be inflicted on students from pre-school to class 12^th and it will help to empower students in at least one vocational skill.
Sustainable development goals: UN has given 17 sustainable development tools with SDG4. This will include activities for societies and will give a social cohesive atmosphere in schools. The aim is to prepare students to think and adopt eco-friendly lifestyle since the primary level of schooling. The development of an individual is not only limited to specific fields but to extend their education to climate, culture, values and environmental awareness.
Education as an economy booster: GDP OF 6% is to be invested in education to promote and uplift cultural heritage, increase GER in education, creating youth who will help build the nation and boost the national economy. The changes in policy will lead the students to be more productive; more focused and will ultimately contribute to high economy rate.
Internationalization of Higher Education: Internationalism of Higher education has been added for the first time in the policy of India. It aims to make India an education hub thereby attracting more foreign universities and promote research collaborations and student exchange between India and global institutions. This will help India to come across the foreign education system and how different people have a perspective towards education. It will give a boost to international business not only in education but also in support services and other sectors.
Digitalized pedagogy and classrooms: The current situation of Covid-19 has raised the need for digital India even more; the section talks about the creation of digital libraries, content, pedagogy and classrooms, online teaching and how e-education should be used to give a boost to the education system and make India digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
Equipping teachers with the latest technology and education methodology: There are several provisions that are introduced specifically for the training of teachers in school and higher education. The aim is to train them through digital technology. It even has high incentives for professionals to attract the finest talents to the industry. It also includes several courses in education via B.ED and compulsory certified education in teaching during Ph.D. enrolment for aspiring professors. They need to be given knowledge on the methodology and ways of knowledge transfer so that even students can be equally benefitted.

Conclusion

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a policy which tends to make education system more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary and according to the needs of 21^st century. The intention of the policy seems to be ideal for the welfare of the economy but its success and growth ultimately lies on how it gets implemented.

References

Ministry of Human Resource Development
Indian Express.com
The Hindu newspaper
NDTV
The Times of India

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