NEP

1. NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2020 AND TRANSFORMATIONAL
REFORMS IN THE SPECTRUM OF LEARNING
- Jaynal Ud-din Ahmed
- North Eastern Hill University, Meghalaya
A Lecture to deliver in the Orientation Programme on NEP 2020 and Transformational Reforms in the Spectrum of
Learning, organized by the Goalpara College, Goalpara held on 15th June 2023.

2. BACKGROUND:
 Education is fundamental for achieving the human potential, developing an
equitable and just society, and promoting national development.
 Universal high-quality education is the best way forward for developing and
maximizing our country's rich talents and resources for the good of the
individual, the society, the country, and the world.
 India will have the highest population of young people in the world over the
next decade, and our ability to provide high-quality educational opportunities
to them will determine the future of our country.

3. BACKGROUND (CONTD./)
 The global education development agenda reflected in the Goal 4 (SDG4) of the
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by India in 2015 - seeks to
“ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning
opportunities for all” by 2030.
 The world is undergoing rapid changes in the knowledge landscape. With various
dramatic scientific and technological advances, such as the rise of big data, machine
learning, and artificial intelligence, many unskilled jobs worldwide may be taken over
by machines, while the need for a skilled workforce, particularly involving
mathematics, computer science, and data science, in conjunction with
multidisciplinary abilities across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, will be
increasingly in greater demand.

4. BACKGROUND (CONTD./)
 The growing emergence of epidemics and pandemics will also call for collaborative
research in infectious disease management and development of vaccines and the
resultant social issues heightens the need for multidisciplinary learning.
 There will be a growing demand for humanities and art, as India moves towards
becoming a developed country among the three largest economies in the world.
 Indeed, with the quickly changing employment landscape and global ecosystem, it is
becoming increasingly critical that children not only learn, but also learn how to learn.
Education thus, must move towards less content, and more towards learning about how
to think critically and solve problems, how to be creative and multidisciplinary, and how
to innovate, adapt, and absorb new material in novel and changing fields.

5. BACKGROUND (CONTD./)
 Pedagogy must evolve to make education more experiential, holistic,
integrated, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-
based, flexible, and of course, enjoyable.
 The gap between the current state of learning outcomes and what is required
must be bridged through undertaking major reforms that bring the highest
quality, equity, and integrity into the system, from early childhood care and
education through higher education.

6. Prelude:
The New Education Policy was released by the Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development
(MHRD) on 30 July 2020, with the motto of Educate Encourage Enlighten (EEE). This is the first education policy
released in the last 34 years in India. The aim of the policy is to prepare the children of India with 21st century skills.
The policy is founded on the three pillars of Research, Innovation, and Quality, with the objective of developing India
into a knowledge super power.
The NEP 2020 replaces the National Policy of Education of 1986. In January 2015, a committee under former
Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramaniam started the consultation process for the New Education Policy. Based on the
committee report, in June 2017, the draft NEP was submitted in 2019 by a panel led by former ISRO Chief
Krishnaswamy Kasturiranjan. The Draft New Education Policy 2019, was later released by MHRD, followed by a
number of public consultations. Draft of NEP was 484 pages. The Ministry undertook a rigorous consultation process
in formulating the draft policy: Over two lakh suggestions from 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, 6,600 blocks, 6,000 Urban
Local Bodies, 676 districts were received.

7. VISION
 National Education Policy 2020 envisions an India-centric education system that contributes
directly to transforming our nation sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society
by providing high-quality education to all.
 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.
 The implementation of previous policies on education has focused largely on issues of access
and equity. The unfinished agenda of the National Policy on Education 1986, modified in 1992,
is appropriately dealt with in this Policy. A major development since the last Policy of 1986/92
has been the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 which laid down
legal underpinnings for achieving universal elementary education.

8. ORIENTATION
• Education is the key driver of economic and social progress and hence, a well-defined and futuristic
education policy is a must for every country. Taking into account their respective traditions and culture,
different countries have adopted varied education systems.
• The National Education Policy of 2020 is the third in the series of National Education Policies (1968 and
1986 modified in 1992) in India and is the first education policy of the 21st century. NEP 2020 covers
wider spectrum of learning and education at all levels of education.
• The policy has come at the right time and the objective is very noble. But there lies a world of
difference between laying down a policy on paper and following it in spirit. The success of NEP 2020
and the pace of its implementation depends to a large extent on how successfully the government,
universities and Colleges and schools can tide over the practical challenges facing it.

9. KEY HIGHLIGHTS
• The main tenets of this policy are:
• Flexibility, so that learners can choose their learning trajectories and suitable paths;
• Equal promotion of arts, sciences, physical education and other extra-curricular
activities so that learners can pick whatever tempers their interests;
• Multi-disciplinary approach (across the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities and
sports); emphasis on conceptual learning rather than routine learning; creativity and
critical thinking;
• Cultivating life skills like cooperation, teamwork, empathy, resilience;
• Regular formative assessment for learning rather than the existing summative
assessment.

10. Key Highlights of the NEP 2020
• Public spending on education by states and the Center has been increased to 6% of the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development has been renamed as the Ministry of Education.
• There will be no rigid separation between arts and science, academic and vocational, curricular and
extracurricular streams.
• Education of gifted children/ extra ordinary talented children will be looked into.
• Establishment of a Gender Inclusion fund.

11. HOLISTIC EDUCATION SCHEME
• NEP seeks to facilitate multiple pathways to learning that will involve formal and non-formal
education modes. Formal classroom learning is limited to books and instruction. The new policy
aims to take this learning outside of the four walls of a classroom and encourage students to imbibe
from the real-world. This is where the concept of ‘learning how to learn’ comes in, another
prominent feature of NEP. Abandoning the redundant culture of bookish learning, there will
now be a move to real, holistic learning that equips individuals with 21st century skills.
• The policy seeks to introduce revolutionary structural reforms at the higher educational level. It
promotes a flexible three- or four-year degree programme structure at the undergraduate level,
allowing multiple exit points for the learners.
• There will also be a concerted effort to promote contemporary subjects such as Artificial
Intelligence, Design Thinking, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and Holistic Health which are
pushed as the career choices of tomorrow.

12. • The University Grants Commission is anticipated to be replaced by Higher
Education Commission of India as the regulatory body for college education.
• As opposed to the current teacher-centric model, in which teachers decide the
subjects, curriculum, and evaluation, a student-centric model will be developed
that will give students the right to decide the subjects they want to study.
• The new model under NEP at a bachelor degree level, is focused on
experiential, application-based learning and research-based internship. As part
of a holistic, all-encompassing education, students will be given internship
opportunities with local industry, businesses and local communities as well as
research internships to improve their employability.

13. • There is a clear emphasis on recognizing, identifying, and fostering the unique
capabilities of each student, by sensitizing teachers as well as parents to promote
each student’s holistic development in both academic and non-academic spheres.
• ⦁ NEP 20 seeks to reduce the course content in each subject to its core essentials,
to make space for critical thinking.
• ⦁ NEP aims to shift the assessment to one that formative, and is more
competency-based and tests higher-order skills, such as analysis, critical thinking,
and conceptual clarity.

14. CHALLENGES
• First, the total size and diversity of India’s education sector makes implementation an difficult
task. With more than 15 lakh schools, 25 crore students, and 89 lakh teachers, India remains
the second largest education system in the world. The size of the higher education system is
massive too. As per Report, India’s higher education sector consists of 3.74 crore students in
nearly 1,000 universities, 39,931 colleges, and 10,725 stand-alone institutions. Thus, a
countrywide implementation of this mega and transparent education policy is going to be a
huge exercise involving multiple stakeholders at the state, district, sub-district, and block
levels. Creating a shared responsibility and ownership amongst key stakeholders, including
the private sector, at the state and district levels that have extraordinary diversity is going to
be a major challenge for the education leadership.

15. CHALLENGES
• Second, the NEP’s eventual realisation is critically linked to state capacity. As
rightly pointed out by the NEP Drafting Committee led by K. Kasturirangan,
India’s education system is underfunded, heavily bureaucratised, and lacks
capacity for innovation and scale up. The internal capacities within the
education ministries (centre and states) and other regulatory bodies are
grossly inadequate to steer the magnitude of transformations envisaged in the
NEP. For instance, moving away from a rigid content-driven repetitive
learning system to experiential learning and critical thinking would require
nothing short of a revolutionary change in the attitudes of the people running
the education system

16. CHALLENGES
Third, the role of the private sector, particularly in dealing with the higher
education system, is extremely critical for translating the inclusionary vision of
the NEP. It may be noted that as much as 70 percent of higher education
institutions (colleges and universities) are run by the private sector.
Significantly, roughly 65-70 percent students are currently enrolled in private
higher education institutions. This apart, the private sector brings much needed
financial resources and innovation. Therefore, it is imperative for the
government and regulatory bodies to create workable institutional mechanisms
that would harness the contribution of the private sector and recognise them as
equal partner in the NEP process.

17. CHALLENGES
• Finally, the successful execution of key initiatives requires availability of
adequate financial resources for decades. In this regard, the NEP has stated
that to realise the goals of the new policy, the country has to raise public
spending on education to 6 percent of GDP. This is a daunting task if one
considers the past promises and their actual realisation. For instance, the 1968
National Education policy had recommended 6 percent of GDP be allocated
towards education. However, in all these decades, the public spending on
education has not gone beyond 3 percent. Ironically, the union budget
allocation for education in the NEP launching year has taken a slope. The
education budget was reduced by 6 percent from INR 99,311 crore in 2020-21
to INR 93,224 crore in 2021-22.

18. CHALLENGES
• India today has around 1,000 universities across the country. Doubling the
Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education by 2035 which is one of the stated
goals of the policy will mean that we must open one new university every
week, for the next 15 years. Opening one University every week on an
ongoing basis is an undoubtedly massive challenge.

19. IMPEDIMENTS TO IMPLEMENT
• Learning or certificate/degree
• The Indian psyche closely associates jobs with the degrees acquired. Hence, to implement the new
system, we first have to dismantle the outdated thinking that only with a degree can one successfully
secure a job. This is a dangerous paradigm which undermines and discourages other innate talents of an
individual.
• Orientation towards multi-disciplinary education
• The existing education regime excludes formal training and orientation towards pedagogy for college and
university educators. This urgently calls for an overhaul of the curriculum design to make it flexible and
organic for enabling foundational and higher-order thinking and skill inculcation at different levels of
education. The policy seeks to establish multi-disciplinary institutions for higher education replacing the
single-disciplinary ones. The road to attain this goal has been paved with good intentions.

20. • Funding
• It will be a feat to fully implement the proposals of NEP 2020 for higher education given the limited
resources at hand. It requires private institutions to offer more scholarships to make admissions possible
for students from low-income strata as well, but NEP fails to discuss how this can be achieved. This
indicates a need for greater public funding in higher education, which in reality does not sit well within
the current scenario. The increase in education budget from 3 percent to 6 percent of GDP is simply not
enough to meet the implementation needs.
• Digital connectivity
• Digital infrastructure for this purpose will include digital classrooms, expertise-driven online teaching
models etc to overcome gaps in physical teaching and lab infrastructure, uniform assessment schemes
across schools, career counselling sessions and teacher training to become adept at new-age technologies.
This will continue to be a major challenge in the next decade.

21. Language Policy
The following are the key points of the language policy in school education:
• No language will be imposed on any state
• Up to class 5 and preferably till class 8, the mother tongue will the medium of instruction as far as
possible in both private and public schools.
• There will be a 3-language system with languages chosen by the states, regions, and students.
• Of the 3 languages, 2 should be native languages of India
• Sanskrit will be offered at all levels of school and higher education
• Other classical languages will be made available, mostly as online modules
• Foreign languages will be offered from the secondary level onwards

22. Evaluation methods
The following are the key highlights for class 10 and class 12 evaluations
• Board examinations will be redesigned to test core competencies rather than traditional methods of
memorization of facts
• Evaluation system will be redesigned to be easier for students
• Students will be permitted to take the examinations twice. There may be modular or semester-wise
board examinations
• There may be exams for different levels of difficulty
• Objective and descriptive type questions may have different exams
• A modular model, rather than just one board, may be in place by the year 2023

23. School Education
In school education, the following are the key features:
• By the year 2030, universalization of education will be implemented from age 3 to class 10
• Key assessments will be conducted at classes 3, 5, and 8
• Students can choose subjects, especially in secondary school, which would include arts and
crafts, vocational skills, and physical education
• By the year 2025, the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will ensure that
basic skills are imbibed by the class 3 level
• From class 6, coding and vocational skills training will be integrated into the curriculum
• Indian knowledge, values, and culture, including indigenous and tribal knowledge, will be
integrated into the curriculum
• There will be a new accreditation framework for schools
• There will be an independent authority for the regulation of both private and public schools

24. Undergraduate Education
In undergraduate education, the following are the key changes:
• Undergraduate degrees will have a duration of 4 years
• Undergraduate degrees will be multi-disciplinary, holistic, and flexible
• There will be multiple exit options with appropriate certifications at each exit point such as:
• Certificate after completing 1 year in a vocational or professional field
• Diploma after 2 years
• Bachelor’s degree after 3 years
• Students completing the 4-year degree program can obtain a degree with research if the
research subject is within the area of study

25. Higher Education
The following are the key points in the Higher Education
• Postgraduate programs will have a duration of 1 to 2 years
• There will be no M.Phil. Programmes
• In 15 years, the college affiliation system will be gradually phased out
• Every college will develop into either a constituent college of a university or into an
autonomous degree-granting institution
• An Academic Bank of Credit will be established to facilitate smoother transfer
between institutions
• All standalone technical universities, legal universities, agricultural universities, and
health science universities will become multi-disciplinary institutions.

26. Higher Education (Contd./)
There will be a new umbrella regulatory body ie, HECI for all higher education courses
except for legal and medical courses. The regulatory system of higher education will ensure
that the distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard
setting will be performed by distinct, independent, and empowered bodies under 4 verticals
of HECI.
 NHERC for regulation
 NAC for accreditation
 HEGC for funding
 GEC for academic standard setting except professional education
The professional councils, such as the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR),
Veterinary Council of India (VCI), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Council
of Architecture (CoA), National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) etc.,
will act as Professional Standard Setting Bodies

27. • NEP 2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational
education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035. 3.5 Crore new seats will be added to Higher
education institutions.
• The National Research Foundation will be created as an apex body for fostering a strong
research culture and building research capacity across higher education

28. Open Schools
For the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and Open Schools, the following are the key
points:
• A, B, and C levels can be offered that are equivalent to grades 3, 5, and 8 of the formal
schooling systems
• Secondary school programs can be offered that are equivalent to grades 10 and 12

29. Teacher Education
Teacher education is vigorous in creating a pool of school teachers that will shape
the next generation. Teacher preparation is an activity that requires
multidisciplinary perspectives and knowledge, formation of dispositions and
values, and development of practice under the best mentors. Teachers must be
grounded in Indian values, languages, knowledge, ethos, and traditions, while also
being well-versed in the latest advances in education and pedagogy. As teacher
education requires multidisciplinary inputs, and education in high-quality content
as well as pedagogy, all teacher education programmes must be conducted within
composite multidisciplinary institutions.

30. Teacher Education
The following has been proposed for teacher education:
• The minimum qualification for teaching will be a B.Ed. degree
• The B.Ed. degree will be a 4-year integrated course/ 2-years if completed 4 years Graduation
in specialized subjects/ one years after completing 4 years bachelors and Master degree.
• ODL may also offer high-quality B.Ed. programmes in blended or ODL mode to students in
remote or difficult-to-access locations and also to in-service teachers who are aiming to
enhance their qualification
• The teachers will require training in high-quality content as well as pedagogy, teacher
education will gradually be moved by 2030 into multidisciplinary colleges and universities.

31. Teacher Education (Contd./)
• B.Ed. Programmes will include training in time-tested as well as the most recent techniques in
pedagogy, including pedagogy with respect to foundational literacy and numeracy, multi-level teaching
and evaluation, teaching children with disabilities, collaborative learning etc.
• B.Ed. programmes will include strong practicum training in the form of in-classroom teaching at local
schools.
• B.Ed. programmes will also emphasize the practice of the Fundamental Duties (Article 51A) of the
Indian Constitution along with other Constitutional provisions while teaching any subject or performing
any activity.
• It will also appropriately integrate environmental awareness and sensitivity towards its conservation
and sustainable development, so that environment education becomes an integral part of school
curricula.

32. Teacher Education (Contd./)
• Special shorter local teacher education programmes will also be available at BITEs, DIETs.
• Shorter post-B.Ed. certification courses will also be made widely available, at multidisciplinary colleges
and universities, to teachers who may wish to move into more specialized areas of teaching, such as the
teaching of students with disabilities, or into leadership and management positions in the schooling
system, or to move from one stage to another between foundational, preparatory, middle, and
secondary stages
• NCERT will study several pedagogical approaches internationally for teaching particular subjects and will
make recommendations from time to time so that the appropriate pedagogical approaches to be
practiced in India.

33. Teacher Education (Contd./)
• A new and comprehensive National Curriculum Framework for Teacher
Education, NCFTE 2021, will be formulated by the NCTE in consultation with
NCERT, based on the principles of this National Education Policy 2020.
• The NCFTE 2021 will also factor in the requirements of teacher education
curricula for vocational education. The NCFTE will thereafter be revised once
every 5-10 years by reflecting the changes in revised NCFs as well as emerging
needs in teacher education.
• HEIs offering teacher education programmes will ensure the availability of a
range of experts in education and related disciplines as well as specialized
subjects.

34. Teacher Education (Contd./)
 In-service continuous professional development for college and university teachers will
continue through the existing institutional arrangements and ongoing initiatives; these will be
strengthened and substantially expanded to meet the needs of enriched teaching-learning
processes for quality education. The use of technology platforms such as SWAYAM/DIKSHA
for online training of teachers will be encouraged.
 A National Mission for Mentoring shall be established, with a large pool of outstanding
senior/retired faculty – including those with the ability to teach in Indian languages – who
would be willing to provide short and long-term mentoring/professional support to
university/college teachers

35. Digital Approaches
Some of the features of the NEP that emphasized on the integration of technology include the
following:
• A National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), an autonomous body, will be established for
the exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance the efficiency of the education
sector
• A new unit will be established dedicated to creating digital education resources including digital
infrastructure, capacity building, and digital content
• Integration of technology to improve classroom processes will be initiated across all levels

36. BENEFITS OF NEP 2020
• Some of the important benefits of the New Education Policy 2020 are as follows:
• The New Education Policy will give importance to students' practical knowledge instead of just
pushing them towards rote learning.
• It will help students to develop scientific temper from a young age.
• The NEP aims to make it easier to set up new quality of higher educational institutes which will
be at par with the global standards.
• Since NEP will make it easier for foreign colleges to set up their campuses here many students
who are unable to go abroad due to multiple reasons will be able to experience it and get global
exposure.
• This will promote value-based education.

37. MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
• Commerce and management education play an important role in the country’s
economy as it affects all the sectors like manufacturing, service industry, research and
development, banking, etc. In the entire field, finance is the nerve system, and
knowledge to manage finance is dealt with commerce and management. The present
education policy existing in India is concentrating majorly on theoretical aspects
which lack the practical training among the students i.e., the major drawback for
meeting the global job opportunities. Therefore, the National Education Policy-2020
is aiming to develop creative potential, skills and analytical thinking which is the need
in the global job market is.

38. • Keeping in mind the NEP 2020, Commerce and Management education, may
need continuous revision and revamp of the curriculum which will develop the
creative potential of each individual and create new career growth
opportunities based on changing industrial and societal needs.
• The curriculum needs to be periodically revisited through Curriculum
Conclaves involving various stakeholders to capture their changing
expectations and also to meet the requirements of the education policy.
• Need for paradigm shift in commerce and management education curriculum

39. • There is a need to integrate Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) into the
curriculum to supplement the classroom teaching and to give opportunities to
students to learn from experts from different reputed institutions. Government
is encouraging courses to be offered through various online platforms and also
for developing these courses. MOOCs can be provided in the form of open
electives/ additional (audit) courses which will help students to explore new
skills.
• Offering undergraduate program with opportunities to major in specializations
such as Accounting, Financial markets, Logistics, Marketing, Human
resources, Insurance, Banking, Economic studies, Family Business, and
Business Analytics will provide a grounding in different functional areas of
Business and focus the students towards a career in those domains.

40. • To conclude, it is important that any Commerce or Management curriculum
needs to focus on developing a well-designed academic structure with
continuous revamping at periodic intervals and deployment by a dedicated
faculty team which lays emphasis not only making the students academically
brilliant but also facilitates transforming them into true leaders and team
players by empowering them with the necessary skills to excel in the corporate
world.

41. Final Words
The aim must be for India to have an education system by 2040 that is second
to none, with equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners
regardless of social or economic background. This National Education Policy
2020 is the first education policy of the 21st century and aims to address the
many growing developmental imperatives of our country. This Policy proposes
the revision and revamping of all aspects of the education structure, including its
regulation and governance, to create a new system that is aligned with the
aspirational goals of 21st century education, including SDG4, while building
upon India’s traditions and value systems.

42. Final Words (Contd./)
• The teacher must be at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system. The
new education policy must help re-establish teachers, at all levels, as the most respected and
essential members of our society, because they truly shape our next generation of citizens. It
must do everything to empower teachers and help them to do their job as effectively as
possible. The new education policy must help recruit the very best and brightest to enter the
teaching profession at all levels, by ensuring livelihood, respect, dignity, and autonomy, while
also instilling in the system basic methods of quality control and accountability.

43. THANK YOU
for your patience hearing