MINISTER OF EDUCATION
(SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN)
(a) : National Education Policy,2020 paves way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country. The salient features of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 are :-
I. Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % GER in school education by 2030.
II. New 5+3+3+4 school curriculum with 12 years of schooling and 3 years of Anganwadi/pre-schooling.
III. Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no hard separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in school, exposure to vocational education to start from Class 6 with Internships.
IV. Assessment reforms with 360 degree Holistic Progress Card and tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes. A National Assessment Centre, PARAKH(Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), to be set-up as a standard-setting body for transforming Assessment.
V. Setting-up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA) to establish a minimal set of standards based on basic parameters (namely, safety, security, basic infrastructure, number of teachers across subjects and grades, financial probity, and sound processes of governance), which shall be followed by all schools.
VI. Teacher education to move into a multi-disciplinary environment and four year B.ED integrated to become a minimum degree qualification for school teachers by 2030.
VII. Achieving 100% youth and Adult literacy.
VIII. The Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and HEs; Wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language; National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit , Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be setup.
IX. GER in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035.
X. Higher Education curriculum to have Flexibility of Subjects.
XI. Multiple Entry / Exit, and transfer of credit through an Academic Bank of Credits.
XII. National Research Foundation to be established to foster a strong research culture.
XIII. Light but Tight Regulation of Higher education, single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions- the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI).
XIV. A stage-wise mechanism for granting graded autonomy to colleges, through a transparent system of graded accreditation, will be established.
XV. Increased use of technology with equity; National Educational Technology Forum to be created.
XVI. Setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups.
(b) to (d) : The purpose of the New Education Policy is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values. It aims at producing engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by our Constitution.
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, represents the consequential legislation to Article 21-A inserted in the Constitution of India through the Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002. The RTE Act, 2009 provides every child of the age of 6-14 years, the right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school till the completion of his or her elementary education. The definition of children belonging to disadvantaged and weaker section group as mandated in section 2
(d) and 2(e) of the RTE Act has not been changed by the NEP, 2020.
The NEP, 2020 envisages bridging the social category gaps in access, participation, and learning outcomes of children belonging to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/OBCs/CWSN (Children with special needs) to be one of the major goals of all education sector development programmes.
*******
Download PDF Files
