National Education Policy 2020: Approved by Cabinet! Know how it will pave way for transformational reforms in school and higher education

In a big development making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors, the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime minister Narendra Modi approved the National Education Policy 2020 on Wednesday.

This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.  

"Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is  aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student," a statement by Cabinet said.

NEP 2020: Key details - How it will pave way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country

-NEP 2020 will bring 2 crore out-of-school children back into the mainstream

- New 5+3+3+4 school curriculum with 12 years of schooling and 3 years of Anganwadi/ Pre-schooling

- Emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in schools ; Vocational Education to start  from Class 6 with Internships

-Teaching upto at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/ regional language

- Assessment reforms with 360 degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes

- GER in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035 ;  3.5 crore seats to be added in higher education

- Higher Education curriculum to have Flexibility of Subjects

- Multiple Entry / Exit to be allowed with appropriate certification

- Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate  Transfer of Credits

- National Research Foundation to be established to foster a strong research culture

- Light but Tight Regulation of Higher Education, single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions

-Affiliation System to be phased out in 15 years with graded autonomy to colleges

- NEP 2020 advocates increased use of technology with equity; National Educational Technology Forum to be created

- NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups

- New Policy promotes Multilingualism in both schools and HEs; National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit , Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up