On July 29, 2020, A Union Cabinet Meeting Chaired by the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi approved a New Education Policy in India called the National Education Policy 2020. This policy is going to change the Indian Education System from School to College Level. Since, India’s Independence this is the third time a major change in the Education policy has happened in the country. The former ones happened back in 1968 and 1986 respectively. The main aim of this new education policy is to make India a global knowledge superpower.
Let’s see What changes this Policy has made to the Indian Education System.
What’s new in the National Education Policy 2020?
School or Secondary Education
National Education Policy 2020 aims to universalize the school education from pre to secondary level with 100% Gross Enrolment Rate by 2030.
This policy has replaced the existing 10+2 curricular structure with the 5+3+3+4 structure for the age range of 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
This Policy promotes 12 years of Schooling and three years of pre-schooling (may be at Anganwadi).
With this policy, Students can take the Class 10th and 12th board exam twice. Its focus is not on the memorised facts instead to test the core competencies.
From Class 6, students can go for Internships.
Till Class 5th, the students must be taught in the regional language and they should not be forced to choose any language.
The NCERT and the National Council for Teacher Education is going to make a new framework called the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE).
By 2030, the minimum qualification of a teacher will be 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree.
Higher Education
In Higher Education, this policy aims to increase the Gross Enrolment rate by 50% till 2035. The current Gross Enrolment rate in Higher Education is 26.3%.
The Ministry has said to increase 3.5 crore seats in Higher Education Institutions like IITs, NITs, IIMs and so on.
This policy has made the Higher Education more flexible giving multiple options to exit the curriculum at different period and for the same period the students to get the proper certification.
National Education Policy 2020 has discontinued the M.Phil. courses.
All courses at the Undergraduate, Postgraduate, and PHD Level can now relate to multiple disciplines.
Multidisciplinary Educational Institutions to be built in the country. Also, said that IITs and IIMs is suited for the best Multidisciplinary Institutions in the country.
A single umbrella body to control the Higher Education (except Medical and Legal Education) framework in the country is going to be made and said to be named the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI).
The Higher Education Commission of India will be further bifurcated into four councils controlling different set of standards.
The National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) to manage the regulation.
General Education Council to manage the Standard Settings.
Higher Education Grants Council to manage Funding.
National Accreditation Council to manage Accreditations.
After every 15 years the affiliation of Colleges will be discontinued and a separate mechanism is going to be built to grade and maintain the affiliation of Colleges in the country. Also, over a period, a college can convert itself into a University.
Methods will be provided to help foreign universities setup their Campuses in India.
This policy also going to setup Special Education Zones for Disadvantaged regions and groups.
Different new educational institutions like the National Institute for Pali, Persian, and Prakrit, Indian Institute of Translation is going to be set up.
Currently, India spends 4.6% of its total GDP on education but it is said that this policy aims to increase the same GDP to 6%.
Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) is now Ministry of Education
Beside approving the New Education Policy, the Union Cabinet has also changed the name of Ministry of Human Resource and Development to Ministry of Education.
So, this is all about the new National Education Policy 2020, do let us know your thoughts about this policy or any suggestion in the comment box present down below.