Question : Merging School Boards

(a) whether it is a fact that the National Education Policy 2020 intends to bring back 2 crore children into the school system, who are currently not in schools;
(b) if so, the realistic overview and the detail thereof;
(c) whether it also a fact that in order to deliver the NEP 2020 curriculum effectively, there is a requirement of well trained teachers and also to understand the pedagogical needs therefor; and
(d) if so, the possibilities to merge all school boards into single entity therein to achieve the goals of the policy and suggestions from the State Governments and other institutionals thereof?

MINISTER OF EDUCATION

(SHRI RAMESH POKHRIYAL ''NISHANK'')

(a) & (b): National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, emphasizes to bring back Out of School Children to schools. It envisages to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio from pre-school to secondary level by 2030 and aims to ensure universal access and afford opportunity to all children of the country to obtain quality holistic education including vocational education.
(c): NEP 2020 stresses upon holistic development of learners and it recommends in all stages to adopt experiential learning, including hands-on learning, arts-integrated and sports-integrated education, story-telling-based pedagogy, among others, as standard pedagogy within each subject, and with explorations of relations among different subjects. The Policy lays focus on enhancement of quality of teacher education, recruitment and deployment of well-qualified teachers and their continuous professional development. It further recommends development of National Professional Standard for Teachers (NPST) which will include the role that a teacher is expected to play at different levels of expertise/stage and the competencies required for that stage as also standards of performance appraisal.
(d): NEP does not recommend merging of School Boards, as Education is a subject in the Concurrent List of the Constitution.
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