National Education Policy 3rd Anniversary

National Education Policy 3rd Anniversary – In India, The 3rd anniversary of the National Education Policy (NEP) is being celebrated on July 29th. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 completes three years of its successful implementation across all the educational institutions in the country. The Govt of India planned to include young children from the age of three to eight in the formal education system.

National Education Policy 2020

The National Education Policy of India 2020 (NEP 2020), was started by the Indian Govt led by PM Modi on July 29th, 2020 with the vision of a new education system in India. NEP 2020 took place off the previous National Policy on Education, 1986.

The policy is a comprehensive framework for elementary education to higher and vocational training in both rural and urban India. The main objective of the policy is to transform India’s education system by 2030.

On the 1st of August 2022, the PIB informed that according to the “Unified District Information System for Education Plus” (UDISE+) 2020–21, over 28 languages will be used in teaching and learning in grades (1–5) including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Nepali, Maithili, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, English, Bodo, Khasi, Garo, Mizo, French, Hmar, Karbi, Santhali, Bhodi and Purgi.

The “10 + 2” structure will be replaced with the “5+3+3+4” model.

Salient Features of NEP, 2020

Details of the salient features of NEP 2020 are as follows-

1. Ensuring Universal Access at All Levels of schooling from pre-primary school to Grade 12;
2. Ensuring quality early childhood care and education for all children between 3-6 years;
3. New Curricular and Pedagogical Structure (5+3+3+4);
4. No hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between    vocational and academic streams;
5. Establishing National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy;
6. Emphasis on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages; The medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language.
7. Assessment reforms – Board Exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired;
8. Setting up of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development);
9. Equitable and inclusive education – Special emphasis given on Socially and Economically Disadvantaged  Groups (SEDGs);
10. A separate Gender Inclusion fund and Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups;
11. Robust and transparent processes for recruitment of teachers and merit based performance;
12. Ensuring availability of all resources through school complexes and clusters;
13. Setting up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA).
14. Exposure of vocational education in school and higher education system;
15. Increasing GER in higher education to 50%;
16. Holistic and Multidisciplinary Education with multiple entry/exit options
17. NTA to offer Common Entrance Exam for Admission to HEIs;
18. Establishment of Academic Bank of Credit;
19. Setting up of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs)
20. Setting up of National Research Foundation (NRF)
21.  ‘Light but Tight’ regulation
22. Single overarching umbrella body for promotion of higher education sector including teacher education and excluding medical and legal education- the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)-with independent bodies for standard setting- the General Education Council; funding-Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC); accreditation- National Accreditation Council (NAC); and regulation- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC);
23. Expansion of open and distance learning to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER).
24. Internationalization of Education
25. Professional Education will be an integral part of the higher education system. Stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities, or institutions in these or other fields, will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions.
26. Teacher Education – 4-year integrated stage-specific, subject- specific Bachelor of Education
27. Establishing a National Mission for Mentoring.
28. Creation of an autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration. Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education.
29. Achieving 100% youth and adult literacy.
30. Multiple mechanisms with checks and balances will combat and stop the commercialization of higher  education.
31. All education institutions will be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a ‘not for profit’ entity.
32. The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education sector to   reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.
33. Strengthening of the Central Advisory Board of Education to ensure coordination to bring overall  focus on quality education.

Source – PIB