New National Education Policy

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains II – Education; Govt schemes and policies

In news:

The New National Education Policy – (Major highlights)

It will introduce four-year undergraduate degrees with multiple entry and exit options
It will abolish the M.Phil. degree
It will establish a common higher education regulator with fee fixation for both private and public institutions
It also envisions universalisation of early childhood education from ages 3 to 6 by 2030
It provides for a new school curriculum with coding and vocational studies from Class 6, and a child’s mother tongue being used as the medium of instruction till Class 5
Class 10 and 12 board examinations will be made easier, to test core competencies rather than memorised facts, with all students allowed to take the exam twice
New Education Policy 2020 vs 1986 policy – A major departure is shifting from 10+2 format to a 5+3+3+4

Do you know?

MHRD will now be called Education Ministry
This is the first new education policy in 34 years
A panel headed by former ISRO chief K. Kasturirangan submitted a draft Education Policy in December 2018
Education is a concurrent subject

Language formula:

The new Education Policy provides for greater flexibility in the three-language formula, and no language will be imposed on any State
The three languages learned by children will be the choices of States, regions, and of course the students themselves, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India
Sanskrit will be offered as an option at all levels of school and higher education
Other classical languages will also be available, possibly as online modules, while foreign languages will be offered at the secondary level

New curricular framework

A new curricular framework is to be introduced, including the preschool and anganwadi years
A National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will ensure basic skills at the Class 3 level by 2025
Students will begin classes on coding as well as vocational activities from Class 6 onwards
Indian knowledge systems, including tribal and indigenous knowledge, will be incorporated into the curriculum in an accurate and scientific manner

Governance reforms

School governance is set to change, with a new accreditation framework and an independent authority to regulate both public and private schools
An Academic Bank of Credit will be set up to make it easier to transfer between institutions
The college affiliation system is being phased out over the next 15 years, so that every college develops into either an autonomous degree-granting institution, or a constituent college of a university.

Push to digital education

The new NEP has a new section on digital education to ensure “equitable use of technology”.
A dedicated unit to coordinate digital infrastructure, content and capacity building will be created within the Education Ministry to look after the online learning needs of both school and higher education.

Enrolment ratio

The NEP emphasises universal access to schools
It aims to bring two crore out-of-school children back into the educational mainstream
It also aims to double the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education, including vocational education, from 26.3% in 2018 to 50% by 2035, with an additional 3.5 crore new seats
To achieve this, GDP expenditure to increase from current 4.43% of GDP to 6%

Gender Inclusion Fund

Centre to set up a ‘Gender Inclusion Fund’ to build the country’s capacity to provide equitable quality education to all girls and transgender students.
The fund will be available to States to implement priorities determined by the Central government critical for assisting female and transgender children in gaining access to education (such as the provisions of sanitation and toilets, bicycles, conditional cash transfers, etc)

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