The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is going to be an economic and societal gamechanger for India. If implemented well, it has all the wherewithal and resources to help the country meet local, national and global challenges in the 21st century.
One of the most prominent features of NEP is that it is a democratic policy adopted after wider consultations with academics, teachers, public representatives, parents and even students from every nook and corner of the country. Perhaps for the first time in world history, 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, 6600 blocks and 676 districts were consulted to formulate education policy.
Another revolutionary feature of the NEP in school education is to have mother tongue/local language/regional language as the medium of instruction until at least grade 5 and preferably till grade 8 and beyond. English will now be taught only as a subject until grade 5. Research on educational psychology suggests that children (particularly from poorer socioeconomic background) can cognise and communicate better, faster and easier in the mother tongue. This feature will also be a boon to strengthen Indian languages and culture.
Renaming the Ministry of Human Resource Development, as the Ministry of Education, is symbolic, yet has a far-reaching psychological impact. While the term ‘Human resource’ conceives human beings as a physical resource devoid of human sentiments and ‘Sanskar’, the nomenclature of ‘education’ encompasses physical, cultural and psychological association between the teachers and students.
A much-wanted reform in education policy is mainstreaming of vocational and extracurricular activities as part of academics. From class 6, children can have the latest vocational training like ‘coding’. Vocational education will be an integral part of college education too, preparing youth for self-employment and entrepreneurship.
No hard separation of the stream will be there at the higher secondary level. A student of science or commerce in the secondary and undergraduate level will have the opportunity to study humanities as well. The US or European universities already have this system in place which enables students to develop an interdisciplinary vision and all-round personality.
Another major feature of the NEP is the special incentives and provision for meritorious SC, ST, OBC, girls, Divyangs and EWS students. Efforts will also be made to provide larger numbers of freeships and scholarships to these sections in private sector Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) too besides the public one.
At the higher education front, NEP opens doors to new possibilities. A salient feature of the bachelor program is the multi-entry and multi-exit scheme. Currently, we have a 3-year Bachelor degree. In case a student leaves his studies in the middle, due to some reason, money and hard work go in vain. Now even after completing one year or two years, if required, a certificate or diploma will be given. S/he can complete the remaining studies by coming back within a time limit. After three years of study, one will get a bachelor’s degree. However, NEP also talks of a 4-year bachelor, a ‘bachelor with research’ degree, a necessity for those interested in pursuing masters or PhD. Such a 4-year system has had positive effects in developed countries such as America, Japan, Korea and others.
This new policy also provides the freedom to students to leave a course in between and take admission in another course. The NEP talks of establishing an Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), a very innovative provision. ABC will be a digital credit bank, storing the credits received by students in one program or HEI which can be transferred to other programs or HEIs to earn a degree.
NEP also emphasises on holistic and multidisciplinary education. All singledisciplinary institutions such as law or agricultural universities will be converted into multi-disciplinary institutions. Even engineering institutes like IITs will move towards a holistic and multidisciplinary direction with greater coordination of arts and humanities, an essential step towards interdisciplinary research. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) of the USA, one of the best global HEIs, is a good example in this context.
Besides, NEP has an ambitious target of 50% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education by 2035, an essential vision to constructively utilise a large number of the youth population. Currently, it is only about 27%. To attain this, it aims to add 3.5 crore new seats to HEIs.
Curbing commercialisation of education is another major point of NEP. Private HEIs can’t charge arbitrarily and there will be a capping on the fee. All charges set by private HEIs will be transparent and fully disclosed. All education institutions will be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a no for ‘profit’ entity. Surpluses, if any, will be reinvested in the educational sector.
A single regulatory body Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be constituted, merging all existing bodies including UGC and AICTE. This will make it easier to have a coordinated and comprehensive policy and setting goals. To help establish the country as a global power of higher education, NEP proposes catalysing quality academic research in all fields through the National Research Foundation (NRF). The NRF will be established to work as an apex body. To meet the goals of NEP, more funds will be required. NEP targets to invest 6% of GDP in education, a long-cherished goal since the Kothari Commission.
Overall, NEP 2020 has lofty vision and goals and will prove to be capable of meeting the needs and challenges of India in the 21st century. The only challenge at hand would be its implementation.
The writer is a professor in the department of Hindi at Delhi University and has earlier taught in various US universities.
