NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2020
A Student's Perspective
On July 29 2020, the government announced a new National Education Policy (NEP) proposing drastic changes in school and higher education.
The policy is worded quite complicatedly for the average student to fully understand. So , I would like to talk about the New Education Policy (2020) from a student’s perspective.
Let's start with the definition of NEP.
An NEP is a comprehensive framework to guide the development of education in the country. NEP is not a compulsory law which all states have to follow , it is more of a guideline . New education policies are implemented every few decades. So far India has seen a total of three NEPs, that is not counting the revisions made to the pre existing policies.
The first one being in 1968 , under then PM Indira Gandhi. The 1968 policy called for fulfilling compulsory education for all children up to the age of fourteen and focus on learning of regional languages, outlining the three language formula to be implemented in secondary education - the instruction of the English language, the official language of the state where the school was based, and Hindi.
The second NEP was implemented in 1986 , under then PM Rajiv Gandhi. This national policy for education focused on the removal of disparities and to equalise educational opportunity, especially for women, Schedule Tribe (ST) and the Schedule Caste (SC) communities. The policy expanded the open university (university with an open door academic policy, with minimal or no entry requirements) system with the Indira Gandhi National Open University. The 1986 policy was revised in 1992 by then PM P.V. Narsimha Rao.
Now coming back to the latest national education policy of 2020, announced by PM Narendra Modi. This policy brought forward some sweeping changes , one being the change in structure of school education , which until now was 10+2 (ages 6-16 and ages 16-18, with pre-school not being recognised as “formal education”) , has been changed to a 5+3+3+4 design . In this ages 3-8 is foundational stage , 8-11 is preparatory , 11-14 is middle and 14-18 is secondary. Now pre school too will be recognised as formal education .
The NEP also puts emphasis on importance of regional languages, it says students until class 5 should be taught in their mother tongue or regional language.
In school education, the policy talks about mending the curriculum, easier Board exams, a decrease in the syllabus to retain “core essentials” and focus on experiential learning, critical thinking and overall holistic development of the student as a person.
The New Education Policy includes extension of Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18.
Vocational education will be integrated into all schools and higher education institutions (HEI) in a phased manner over the next decade.
Let's talk about the timeline of implementation of National Education Policy 2020 (for classes 9 , 10 ,11 and 12).
The implementation of new assessment pattern for class IX will roll out from 2021-22 session and class XI from the session 2023-24.
Implementation of new curriculum, assessment pattern and new Board exam patterns for class X rolls out from 2022-23 while for class XII from 2024-25
By 2040 , the policy expected to be fully operational .
Education being on the concurrent list , requires the cooperation of both state and centre , this implies that there a chance that the projected timeline may be delayed.
This new educational policy seems like a game changer. It can bring India’s education to the standard to that of a developed nation and catapult India into the big league. However , the devil lies in the details . We can't make a conclusive analysis until a more details of this bill have been provided. Strict and effective execution too plays a major role in the success of this bill , in the past similar seemingly radical acts have fizzled out due to the lack of proper implementation.
