The National Education Policy India 2020 intends to bring out total change in school, college and higher education system in India

1. WELCOME TO THE SPECIAL
LECTURE ON
NEW EDUCATION POLICY 2020
At Govt. Law College,
Ernakulam, Kerala
By
Prof. (Dr.) H Abdul Azeez
BSc. (Hons.), LL.B. (AMU). LL.M. (KU), LL.M. (Europe), Ph.D.
Dean, Crescent School of law,
Chennai-48
Date: 24.03.2021 1

2. PRESENTATION OVERVIEW
 Backdrops New Education Policy (NEP) 2020
 Major changes
 Implementation of Reforms
 Language in School Education
 Four-year multi-disciplinary bachelor’s
programme
 Master’s Programme & Ph.D. Programmes
 Higher education by Foreign Universities
 Critical Evaluation
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3. BACKDROP OF NEP 2020
 NEP is a comprehensive framework to guide the development of
education in the country.
 The need for a policy was first felt in 1964 and a 17-member
Education Commission, headed by then UGC Chairperson D S Kothari,
was constituted to draft a national and coordinated policy on
education.
 Based on the suggestions of this Commission, Parliament passed the
first education policy in 1968.
 The second in 1986, under Rajiv Gandhi regime.
 The NPE of 1986 was revised in 1992 when P V Narasimha Rao was
Prime Minister.
 The third is the NEP 2020
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4. The NEP 2020 brings in school education:
• Significant shift from the 1986 policy, which follows
10+2 structure of school education
• NEP 2020 introduces 5+3+3+4 design of school
education:
• Foundational Stage (the age groups 3-8 years)
– 3 years of pre-primary school and Grades 1, 2
• Preparatory Stage (the age groups 8-11 years)
– Grades 3,4,5
• Middle Stage (the age groups 11-14 years)
– Grades 6,7,8
• Secondary Stage (the age groups 14-18 years)
– Grades 9,10,11,12
Major Changes
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5. • ECCE system will be introduced for 3-6
years older children.
• Anganwadi Centres will be provided with good
infrastructure, play equipment and well-trained
Anganwadi workers/teachers.
• Anganwadi workers/ teachers will be under the
supervision of the Resource Centres of the School
Education Department.
• Monthly contact classes and Training will be given to the
Anganwadi teachers.
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Establishment of Early Childhood Care
and Education (ECCE)

6. • Emphasis of NEP 2020 for school education in
mother tongue/ regional language
 The medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably till
Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother-tongue/local
language.
 The provision on mother tongue as medium of instruction was not
compulsory for States as “education is a concurrent subject. This is the
reason the policy clearly states that pupils will be taught in their mother
tongue or regional language ‘wherever possible’.
 Sanskrit will be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an
important, enriching option for students.
 The three-language formula will continue to be implemented
 English Medium Schools?
Language of School education
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7. • Curriculum content will be reduced in each subject to
its core essentials:
• This will give space for critical thinking and more holistic,
discovery-based, discussion-based, and analysis-based learning.
• Students will be given increased flexibility and choice
of subjects to study, particularly in secondary school:
• Separate subjects in physical education, the arts, and vocational
crafts.
• There will be no hard separation among ‘curricular’,
‘extra-curricular’, or ‘co-curricular’ areas, among ‘arts’,
‘humanities’, and ‘sciences’, or between ‘vocational’ or
‘academic’ streams.
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Curriculum content

8. BAGLESS LEARNING
• Every student will take a fun course:
• during Grades 6-8
• that gives a survey and hands-on experience of a sampling of
important vocational crafts, such as carpentry, electric work, metal
work, gardening, pottery making, etc.
• Bagless days will be encouraged throughout the year for various
types of enrichment activities involving arts, quizzes, sports, and
vocational crafts.
• Children will be given periodic exposure to activities:
• outside school through visits to places/monuments of historical,
cultural and tourist importance, meeting local artists and craftsmen
and visits higher educational institutions in their
village/Tehsil/District/State.
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9. SCHOOL BAG WEIGHT
• Significantly reduce the weight of school bags
and textbooks that students are asked to
carry to and from school on a daily basis
• Concerted efforts will be made by NCERT,
SCERTs, schools and educators, etc.
HEALTH
• Basic training in health, including preventive
health, mental health, nutrition, personal
and public hygiene, and first-aid will also be
included in the curriculum.
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10. CLUBS & CIRCLES
• Topic-centered and Project-based Clubs and
Circles will be highly encouraged and
supported at the levels of schools, school
complexes, districts, and beyond.
• Science Circles, Maths Circles, Music Circles,
Performance circles, Chess Circles, Poetry Circles,
Language Circles, Drama Circles, Debate Circles, Sports
Circles, and so on.
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11. SCHOOL TEACHERS
• 4-year integrated B.Ed. programmes will be
introduced.
• Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) will be
strengthened.
• For subject teachers, suitable TET or NTA test
scores in the corresponding subjects will also be
taken into account for recruitment.
• Teachers will be given more autonomy in
choosing finer aspects of pedagogy.
• By 2030, the minimum degree qualification for
teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed.
Degree.
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12. • The primary purpose of assessment will be for learning.
• The entire schooling system continuously revise teaching-learning
processes to optimise learning and development for all students.
• The current system of secondary school exams do much harm.
• This includes the Board exams and Entrance exams
• This results in coaching culture of today
• This replaces valuable time for true learning with excessive exam
coaching and preparation.
• These exams also force students to learn a very narrow band of
material in a single stream, rather than allowing the flexibility and
choice that will be so important in the education system of the
future.
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REPLACING CURRENT EXAM SYSTEM

13. • While the Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will
be continued, the existing system of Board and
entrance examinations shall be reformed to
eliminate the coaching classes.
• Board exams will be redesigned to encourage
holistic development, to reverse these harmful
effects of the current assessment system.
• Students will be able to choose many of the
subjects in which they take Board exams,
depending on their individualized interests.
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14. • Board exams will also be made ‘easier’, in the sense that
they will test primarily core capacities/competencies
rather than months of coaching and memorization.
• Any student who has been going to and making a basic
effort in a school class will be able to pass and do well in
the corresponding subject Board Exam without much
additional effort.
• To further eliminate the ‘high stakes’ aspect of Board
Exams, all students will be allowed to take Board Exams
on up to two occasions during any given school year,
one main examination and one for improvement, if
desired.
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15. • The National Assessment Centre for School
Education (NACSE) shall be a standard-setting
Body under the Ministry of Education (MoE).
• The principles for university entrance exams will
be similar; the National Testing Agency (NTA)
will work to offer high-quality common aptitude
test.
• Students will be able to choose the subjects that
they are interested in having tested, and each
university will be able to see each student’s
individual subject portfolio and admit students
into their programmes based on individual
interests and talents.
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16. • All types of institutions will have the option
to run Open Distance Learning (ODL) and
Online Programmes.
• However, such institutions must be
specifically accredited for ODL.
• Phasing out the system of ‘affiliated colleges’
over a period of fifteen years.
• By 2025, the maximum number of colleges
that can be affiliated by a University shall not
exceed 300.
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17. • The undergraduate degree will be of either 3 or 4-
year duration, with multiple exit options within this
period
• after one year with a certificate,
• after two years with a diploma, and
• after three years with a bachelor’s degree.
• Four-year bachelor’s programmes includes
research work too.
• The 4-year multidisciplinary Bachelor's programme,
however, shall be the preferred option since it
allows the opportunity to experience the full range
of holistic and multidisciplinary education.
Four-year multi-disciplinary Bachelor’s
Programme
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18. • After four year bachelor, a student would be
able to enter a research degree programme
directly depending on how well he or she has
performed.
• An Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) shall be
established which would digitally store the
academic credits earned from various
recognized HEIs so that the degrees from an HEI
can be awarded taking into account credits
earned.
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19. • HEIs will have the flexibility to offer different
designs of Master’s programmes:
• Two-year Master’s programme with the second year
devoted entirely to research for those who have
completed the three-year Bachelor’s programme;
• One-year Master’s programme for students completing
a four-year Bachelors programme with Research
• Integrated five-year Bachelor’s/ Master’s programme.
• Undertaking a PhD shall require either a Master’s
degree or a 4-year Bachelor’s degree with Research.
• The M.Phil. programme will be discontinued. 19
MASTER’S AND PhDs

20. • Model public universities for holistic
education, at par with IITs & IIMs called as
MERUs will be set up and will aim to reach
the global status.
• Opportunities for PhD students to assist
faculty as teaching assistants will be created
as part of all PhD programmes.
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Multidisciplinary Education and Research
Universities (MERU)

21. • Universities from among the top 100 in the world will be able
to set up campuses in India.
• High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set
up campuses in other countries
• India will be promoted as a global study destination
providing premium education at affordable costs thereby
helping to restore its role as a Vishwa Guru.
• An International Students Office at each HEI hosting foreign
students will be set up to coordinate all matters relating to
welcoming and supporting students arriving from abroad.
• Research/teaching collaborations and faculty/student
exchanges with high-quality foreign institutions will be
facilitated, and relevant mutually beneficial MOUs with
foreign countries will be signed.
Higher Education by Foreign Universities
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22. • Using technology platforms such as SWAYAM
(Study Webs of Active Learning for Young
Aspiring Minds)/ DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure
for Knowledge Sharing) for online training of the
teachers shall be encouraged so that
standardised training programmes can be
administered to large number of teachers within
a short span of time.
• Vocational education will be integrated into all
educational institutions in a phased manner
over the next decade.
• Focus areas will be chosen based on skills gap
analysis and mapping of local opportunities, and
technical and vocational education will become
part of the larger vision of holistic education.
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23. • An autonomous body, the National Educational Alliance
for Technology (NEAT), will be created to provide a
platform for use of technology to enhance learning,
assessment, planning, administration, and so on, both for
school and higher education.
• The aim of NEAT will be to provide on a single portal
various educational technology solutions that are tested
for their robustness for improving the learning
experience, with a special focus on the needs of the
students with disabilities.
• A rich variety of educational software will be developed
and made available for students and teachers at all levels.
• Teaching-learning e-content will continue to be developed
by all States in all regional languages, as well as by the
NCERT (including CIET), CBSE, NIOS, and other
bodies/institutions, and will be uploaded onto the
National Teacher’s Portal.
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24. Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)
• UGC and AICTE will be abolished.
• Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up.
• The HECI will have four divisions under it, namely,
i. National Higher Education Regulatory Council, for
regulating higher education sectors;
ii.Higher Education Grants Council, for carrying out
funding and financing of higher education;
iii.National Accreditation Council, for the accreditation of
institutions; and
iv.General Education Council, for regulating the
academic standards and learning outcomes in higher
education programmes.
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25. The NEP only provides a broad direction and is not
mandatory to follow.
Since education is a concurrent subject (both the
Centre and the State Governments can make laws on
it), the reforms proposed can only be implemented
collaboratively by the Centre and the States.
The Government has set a target of 2040 to
implement the entire policy.
Implementation of Reform
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26. • Focus of the basic purpose of School education
(i.e. to create good citizens with values) is not
given much emphasize.
• Private institutions will come up enormously
• Opening up of Foreign Universities will create
unfair competition in Education
• Marginalised sections are still marginalised
• Employability and umemployment will be a
major problem
Critical view
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27. • School Teaching is one of the low-paid
professions in India.
• There is no practical solution for reducing the
competition for Demanding Professions.
• Sufficient funding is a crucial factor.
• Schooling in Local/regional Language may
restrict mobility from one state to another.
Critical view
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28. Thank You....
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Prof. (Dr.) H Abdul Azeez
Former:
• Legal Advisor, CRAE, London, UK
• Judicial Magistrate in Kerala, India
• Head of Dept. (Law), Kerala Police Academy, India
• Director, Aligarh Muslim University Malappuram
Centre, India
Mobile: +91 8281 889 889
Email: azeezhma@gmail.com