The New Education Policy or NEP 2020 is a framework for revamping Indian education system, focusing on uniformity, foundational literacy, and new educational structures. It replaces the previous policies and introduces many changes to education system stressing on holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary and multilingual learning, mostly Hindi.
Education Policy claims to encourage quality education to students with all the facilities. Aims to support schools in providing digital learning, vocational training, skills, sports infrastructure, innovation labs, library, technology integrated campus, transportation etc to bring best out of every child. To nurture each student, provide them with a strong academic foundation and sufficient exposure to choose their areas of interest and discover their passion.
Key changes are:
- Aims to enable an individual to deep study one or more specialized areas of interest, and develop character, scientific temper, creativity, spirit of service, and capabilities across a range of disciplines including sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, etc.
- Identified problems facing higher education system and suggested changes like moving towards multidisciplinary universities and colleges, with more institutions that offer medium of instruction in local languages, a more multidisciplinary undergraduate education, among others. The governance of such institutions by independent boards having academic and administrative autonomy has also been suggested.
- Under suggestions for institutional restructuring and consolidation, it has suggested that by 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall aim to become multidisciplinary institutions, each of which will aim to have 3,000 or more students, and by 2030 each or near every district in the country there will be at least one HEI.
- Aim will be to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in HEIs including vocational education from 26% (2018) to 50% by 2035.
- Single-stream HEIs will be phased out over time, and all will move towards becoming multidisciplinary institutions or parts of multidisciplinary HEI clusters.
- Pushes for more holistic and multidisciplinary education for students.
Seems like aim is to monetize as much from existing education systems, focusing on critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Internet is changing life of students: LLM tools, AI and ChatGPT for assignments equals more inflated cost for students. Professors and trainers are also using mobile apps to evaluate, raising many questions about learning and academic integrity already.
Issue remains: gross ignorance, reserving funds for loot, fear of managing a resulting “knowledge society” and so complete lack of will for real reforms. Instead “bhakt clones” sticking to fancy assembled gadgets, supremacist media cult, nationalism syllabus, social hypes and branded AI apps is more CREAM for ruling surveillance states. Nobody can afford to be really serious about focusing on technology-led innovation, as leaders and policy makers are themselves ineligible to lead research-driven wise societies immune to its dirty tricks.
Detailed NEP analysis coming soon..