(a) the status of implementation of New Education Policy(NEP);
(b) whether the new curriculum has been prepared for the University level courses under the said policy;
(c) the manner in which the new curriculum is different from the old curriculum; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION
(DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)
(a): As per National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), implementation of the Policy requires multiple initiatives and actions, which will have to be taken by different bodies including Ministry of Education, Union and State Governments, education-related Ministries, State Departments of Education, the regulatory bodies of school and higher education, in a synchronized and systematic manner. Accordingly, Ministry has written to all its implementing agencies, regulatory bodies, State/UT Governments, other stakeholder Ministries/Departments, etc for taking steps for implementation of NEP 2020.
Ministry has inter-alia launched several initiatives under NEP, 2020 like Vidya-Pravesh – School Preparation Module; Indian Sign Language as a Subject at secondary level; NISHTHA 2:0 (National Initiative for School Heads'' and Teachers'' Holistic Advancement) for Secondary Teachers; SAFAL (Structured Assessment for Analysing Learning Levels); Online Module on AI (Artificial Intelligence) for Public Awareness; Setting up of Academic Bank of Credit; Guidelines on Multiple Entry/Exit in Academic Programmes offered in Higher Education Institutions; 1st Year Engineering Programmes in Regional Languages; Guidelines for Internationalisation of Higher Education; etc.
In this direction, a number of initiatives have also been taken by the Ministry of Education, University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), other relevant Ministries/Departments, State/UT Governments and other stakeholders towards implementation of NEP 2020 for enhancing the quality of education at all levels.
To address the issue of limited access due to language barrier, JEE (Mains) and NEET (UG) conducted in 13 languages, first year degree programme to be made available in 13 languages on MOOCs. To promote flexibility of courses and multiple Entry/Exit, Academic Bank of Credit has been set up and Guidelines on Multiple Entry/Exit have been issued. To address the issue of access, regulations have been amended enabling more HEIs to offer online / ODL programmes and also offering of online course component has been increased from 20% to 40% in a degree programme. For internationalisation of Higher Education, Guidelines on Internationalisation have been issued. Initiative of NEAT to provide the best-developed ed-tech solutions to enhance youth employability has been started.
(b) to (d): The NEP 2020 envisages the revision of the Choice Based Credit system (CBCS) for instilling innovation and flexibility. It also envisages setting up of facilitative norms for issues such as credit transfer, equivalence etc., and moving towards a criterion based grading system that assesses student achievement based on the learning goals for each programme and moving away from the high stakes examinations towards more continuous and comprehensive evaluation. Accordingly, UGC revised guidelines on adoption of Choice Based Credit System and instructional template for facilitating implementation of CBCS as per NEP, 2020. The Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUGP) seeks to equip students with the capacities in fields across the arts, humanities, languages natural sciences, social sciences, critical thinking, soft skills along with rigorous specialization in a chosen disciplinary or interdisciplinary major and minor. The framework specifies curriculum components of FYUGP along with the credit apportionment. A suggestive credit structure for FYUGP with 160 credits is also given in the framework.
The draft Curricular Framework and Credit System for the Four Year Undergraduate Programme is available on the UGC website for comments / suggestions / feedbacks from stakeholders.
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