The National Education Policy - A Start of Building New Educational System in India

The latest National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) revealed by the central government, seeks to introduce and implement an abundance of changes in all levels of education in India. The NEP also seeks to implement changes in the way that facilitators of such education- schools, colleges and teachers are trained and how they approach education.

The NEP 2020 policy aims to reform the complete Indian Education System according to the global standards and also tries to seek a sea of change in the landscape of Indian Learning.

Reforms in Structure & Curriculum of School Education

The NEP 2020 suggests a set of reforms to school education with a focus on integrating flexibility in subjects and eliminating the gaps between streams of learning. Yet, another goal of the NEP 2020 is to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in preschool to secondary level by 2030.

The NEP seeks to change the existing 10+2 structure of school education to a new structure of 5+3+2+4, covering between the ages of 3-18. This essentially brings into the fold children of age around 3 to 6 years into the educational umbrella, who were till now not covered in the existing structure that only begins at grade 1.

Below is the structure that is broken according to the corresponding grades and ages like:

• Three years of preschool + two years in primary school in grades 1-2 covering ages 3 to 8 years.
• The preparatory stage covers the ages between 8 to 11 years or grades 3 to 5
• The middle stage covers ages 11 to 14 years or grades 6 to 8
• The secondary stage covers the ages 14 to 18 years in two phases grades 9 to 10 in the first and grades 11 to 12 in the second phase

Analysis Based learning Approach

The NEP aims to reduce the curriculum content to its core essentials focussing on key concepts and ideas in order that children are able to practice more critical thinking and among others more analysis-based learning approach. 

The policy states that there will be no individual separation between ‘curricular’ and ‘extra-curricular’ or ‘co-curricular’ areas, among ‘arts’, ‘humanities’, and ‘sciences’ or between ‘vocational’ or ‘academic’ streams. During the grades 6 to 8, the students may be required to take any course that ensures to provide hands-on experience of a number of important vocational crafts as well. The children will be given increased flexibility on the choices of subjects they wish to study, especially in the secondary stage.

Changes in Examination Patterns and Encouragement of Multilingualism in Schools

The NEP policy aims to encourage multilingualism and a stress on learning on native languages along with the reforms in the assessment system. According to the policy, the board exams will be made ‘easier’ under the NEP. The testing is limited primarily to the core capacities/competencies rather than role learning. There may be a possibility of board exams twice a year, one is the main exam and one for improvement, if the student wishes so.

The policy will help to implement standardised academics, the exams to be taken in grades 3, 5 and 8 in order to track progress of education throughout school years rather than just at the end. The policy also implements wherever possible, the medium of instruction till grade 5, but preferably till grade 8 and beyond in native language/local language/regional language/home language to be followed in both public and private schools.

Further, the policy will implement a three-language formula with some flexibility and no imposition of any specific language on a state. This means that the students will be learning three languages irrespective of their state.

Reforming of Higher Education System

The NEP policy naturally brings about an array of changes in the system of higher education. The policy is well aimed to improve education with goal oriented or creation of greater opportunities for individual employment. The main aim of the policy is to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education, including vocational education from current 26.3% to 50% by 2035.

The main aim of the policy is to overhaul the fragmented nature of India’s existing higher education system and instead bring together higher education institutes into large multidisciplinary universities, colleges and higher education clusters/knowledge hubs.

The main change that the policy brings about is that the undergraduate degree irrespective of streams will be either three- or four-years duration will have multiple exit points within a specific period and the students are awarded with appropriate certifications for those dropping out at a certain point in the course. The colleges and universities will be able to offer masters courses of different designs, based on the undergraduate degree of the student.

Another change is the policy of adding coding as a core subject from grade 6. In this increasingly technological era coding may become a language of the future so it is very important for a child to have basic knowledge of coding language. So, that the child being well equipped in this will ensure no hindrances to innovation and creativity whilst promoting analytical and logical thinking. This new structure will not only be beneficial to school children but also be in tune with the best global practices for development of the mental faculties of the child.

Further, the M.Phil Programme will be discontinued by the NEP 2020. The policy seeks to implement an Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), which will be able to digitally store academic credits earned from various recognised colleges and universities. This will allow a degree from a college or university to be awarded taking into account credits earned.

Reimagining Vocational Education

The NEP policy seeks to introduce both Vocational and Polytechnic education for school students at a very early stage. This aims to remove the separation between academic and vocational streams and both are given equal importance. Vocational subjects will be introduced as early grade 6 subjects, including internship opportunities from grade 6 to 12. This ensures that there is no demarcation between polytechnic and vocational education.

Reformation in Training for Teachers

The NEP policy not only aims to transform education but also to improve the skills of those facilitating that education for the teachers. The policy ensures to seek an institute for a large number of merit-based scholarships across the country for studying quality four-years integrated B.Ed programme. It also states that teacher eligibility tests will be strengthened to inculcate better test material and the scores of the same will be taken into account for recruitment purposes.

The teachers will be offered local, regional, state, national and international workshops as well as online teacher development modules, so that they are able to improve their skills and knowledge. The policy states that by 2030 the teacher education will be moved to multidisciplinary universities and by the same year, the minimum degree qualification for teaching will be four-years integrated B.Ed.

Conclusion

The National Education Policy (NEP) aims to create an education revolution in the Indian education system that is beneficial for the next generations. With more focus on quality and skill-based learning the new policy has tried to reform the current theoretical based learning to practical and skill-based learning. This ensures that the next generations of students are skilled and trained according to the latest technological needs of the day.