New Education Policy

“All the wealth of the world can not help one little Indian village if people are not taught to help themselves. Our work should be mainly educational, both moral and intellectual.” – Swami Vivekananda.

Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay introduced English education in India in 19th Century. Driven by the need and structure of colonial economy, the purpose of that educational system was to produce Babus who could think with the Englishman’s mind and act as a bridge between the colonial masters and the Indian subjects. Though after Independence, the country embarked on a major exercise of sharing up its educational infrastructure with the establishment of universities and research centers, the framework of colonial educational system was not tinkered with. This put in a place an educational system which was not in tune with the consciousness of a resurgent nation trying to create a place for itself in the community of nations

India has made educational policies in the year 1968, 1986 (educational policy of 1986 was later modified in 1992) and now the National Educational Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), approved by the Union Cabinet on 29th July 2020, is truly the first public policy document in the post- independent India. The NEP 2020 is the first attempt in modern India to re-look at the educational system that we inherited from our colonial masters.

Main Features of the National Education Policy:

• The Policy expands the scope of foundational education, increasing the school-going years from 3 to 18 instead of the prevalent 6 to 14. This will enable more holistic development of children in the formative age group of 3-6 years.
• NEP 2020 will bring two crore out of school children back into the main stream.
• A much discussed stipulation in the NEP stresses that the medium of instruction until at least fifth grade (preferably eight grade) will be in a regional language that is recognised as being native to India.
• The 10+2 structure of school children curricula is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8,8-11,11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
• Internationalisation of education will be facilitated through both institutional collaborations, and student and faculty mobility and allowing entry of top world ranked universities to open campuses in India.