National Education Policy 2020

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“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education”.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Education is one of the basic rights of an individual. It helps an individual gain information, which they can use to critically think about, form their opinions and apply what they are taught. But the Indian education system has been relentlessly criticized for failing to do so. 

In the present professional world where skills sell, the Indian education system had failed to equip its students with the skills required in a professional field. So when students pass out from their college with degrees in their hands, they still find themselves unemployable. This has led to individuals trying to gain as many skills as possible from additional courses and workshops provided by various credible sources, both in real life and online.

All this led to the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP) by the Government of India in the year 2020. It was started by the Union Cabinet of India on 29 July 2020, outlining the vision of a new education system in India. NEP replaces the previous National Policy of Education, 1986. The policy is a comprehensive framework for elementary education to higher education as well as vocational training in both rural and urban India. The policy aims to transform India’s education system by 2030. 

National Education Policy has come up with various provisions. Starting with the replacement of the ‘10 + 2’ structure in school education with the ‘5 + 3 + 3 + 4’ structure, i.e. 5 years of foundational education (Playgroup to 2nd standard), preparatory stage (class 3 to 5), middle stage (class 6 to 8) and secondary stage (class 9 to 12). With the change in the pattern of exams and frequency, it can reduce a lot of burden on the minds of the students. More than grades, assessments done by PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) would be appreciated. 

In the real world, no subject can be a stand-alone subject. Nor a stream can afford to be a stand-alone nowadays. Any humanities student would need to have basic knowledge of science, computers and finances, while science students need to have basic knowledge of arts and commerce. All subjects and streams are interconnected. It is observed that many doctors and engineers lack communication skills and empathy, which can be a hindrance to connecting with patients and clients. While earlier subjects were restricted within a related stream, NEP would allow students to opt for subjects from different streams together. Let’s take the example of English with biology or chemistry with accounting. Or vocational subjects paired with subjects from another stream. This would give students a wide range of knowledge and opportunities, to be able to analyze on different levels. As in the real world and the current job market, an individual needs to be a master of one and a jack of all trades. 

A lot of students now struggle with mental health issues. From overthinking and depression to anxiety, number of mental health issues have spiked among the students. The focus of the National Education policy is on the mental health (along with the physical health) of its students, with the deployment of counsellors and social workers, seems to yield a positive result in coming years. It’s good to see that what we watch in western teenage fiction would be implemented in Indian schools as well. 

NEP has proposed a 4-year multi-disciplinary bachelor's degree in an undergraduate programme with multiple exit options, which would include professional and vocational areas. This has given students more options to explore if one is confused about what they want to do or are open to experimenting. Or if one is forced to drop out for financial, health or other reasons, they will at least have a certificate or diploma with them, rather than being left with nothing. And with an academic bank of credit, where we can digitally store our credits from various courses and institutes, we can continue our education from different institutes. So yes, one may get to live life like Bunny from Ye Jawani Hai Deewani, where we can travel at least within India and resume the course from probably different institutes and earn credits along the way. 

The NEP will promote practical learning through experiments, learning skills from professionals etc., and reduce rote learning (and forgetting what we learnt after answering in exams). So this gives us hope that what we study, retains with hands-on experience wherever possible and we do not forget what we learnt after every exam, which we all have been guilty of.

English is surely an important language for Indians as it gives us global outreach and opens various avenues for a person to choose from. But there also exists a snob attitude in our society which looks down on people who do not speak the language or cannot communicate in it fluently. This often leads to people trying to fit in, starting to leave behind their mother tongue or regional language. This has led to the extinction of hundreds of Indian languages and many are endangered. To solve this problem, and to connect students to their roots, NEP came up with a recommendation of one’s mother tongue or regional language as a medium of instruction or additional language till the 5th standard. 85% of brain development happens before the age of 6, which helps children to pick up new languages at a faster rate. So this policy appreciates India’s multilingual background and encourages learning multiple languages at an early age, either Indian or foreign. This can help children open up their doors to more opportunities in their later life. 

For over a century, Indians have been moving abroad for education, to get quality education from the world’s most reputed colleges and universities. This has led to a brain drain in India, as the greatest of our minds are shifting abroad for education and probably continuing their work life there. Indian government accepted this flaw of the education system and is now open to having the world’s best universities establish their campuses here in India and letting Indian institutes establish their campuses in foreign countries. As studying in foreign universities should not get costly for the students, it is working on having a fee limit and making fees structure and process transparent. With the setting up of foreign universities in India, it will give healthy competition to Indian colleges and universities, thus beneficial to students as well as the institutes to upgrade themselves where needed.

After watching Taare Zameen Par, we all wished for teachers like Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), who made learning easy, practical and fun. Or Ms. Naina Mathur (Rani Mukherjee) from the movie Hichki. Teachers can build or break the interests of students in a subject, or at least help students survive through the subject (like maths) with fun and practical learning. National Education Policy aims to change the policies for the qualifications of a teacher, which can hopefully improve the quality of teaching in India.

Even in today’s world, girls are still restricted from education for various reasons like finance and misogyny (a mindset that a girl will get out of hands if she gets educated, won’t make for a good wife & a daughter-in-law etc). While transgender kids were never given access to education, forcing them to be stuck in the same vicious cycle of illiteracy, unemployment, poverty, and begging. NEP plans to have gender inclusion in the education system with Gender Inclusion Fund. This fund will help assist the nation in the education of female and transgender kids.

Under NEP, various institutes, bodies and concepts are given legislative permission to be formed. National Research Foundation for research and innovations in the educational field and National Education Commission. It also gives permission to the setup of Special Education Zones which would focus on the education of underrepresented groups from disadvantaged regions. This can mean setting up schools and colleges in disadvantaged regions like Himalayan mountainsides, North East, Indian islands, or remote villages, which can provide education to the children residing in these areas.

The policy proposes new language institutions such as the Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation and the National Institute/ Institutes for Pali, Persian and Prakrit. Other bodies proposed include the National Mission for Mentoring, National Book Promotion Policy, National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

With Madhya Pradesh being the first state to implement the NEP 2020 in August 2021, it will be followed by various states implementing and planning to do it in the coming few years. Some states plan to implement the national education policy in phases. In April 2022, University Grants Commission (UGC) approved simultaneous dual degrees in both physical and digital realms.

While National Education Policy seems to be promising to bring better and quality changes in the education system, it has still missed out on some things. In my opinion, basic finances and money management education should be taught in high schools, like saving money, investing, managing money, basic bookkeeping and accounting, filing Income Tax Returns etc. We are so confused about all this basic financial knowledge that even holding a conversation with a CA is not possible without appearing confused and embarrassing ourselves in front of them, once we start our professional life. 

Another thing which NEP left was teaching age-appropriate sex education in schools and colleges. Teens and even adults are so confused about their bodies and sexual health, and many do not know the concepts of boundaries and consent. This is a topic that a lot of sex educators, gynaecologists, embryologists and people on social media are rooting for. A factual, non-judgemental education about anatomy, consent, boundaries, sexual health, LGBTQIA+ community, contraception, abortions etc. to be mandatorily taught in schools and colleges by credible faculty. And with ever-increasing cases of assaults, rapes and acid attacks, the teaching of consent and boundaries are a must for students now. 

National Education Policy has laid various guidelines and recommendations for improvement in the education system - to make education more practical, holistic, well-rounded and fun, and to avoid rote learning. It hopes for students to get hands-on experience via internships, experimental learning etc. What positive changes it leaves on the education system would take a decade or so to be visible, once it’s implemented to its full potential in the whole of India.

To conclude the essay with a joke, NEP hopes to produce more Ranchos than Chaturs.