NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY: BRINGING THE BEST OF BHARAT FOR A NEW INDIA

Education in India has always been given paramount importance since times immemorial. That India was the center of knowledge and learning in the world, is beyond doubt. People from across continents would come to the land of Bharat to study and gain knowledge, which was in the past and till date, considered divine.

न चौरहार्यं न च राजहार्यं न च भ्रातृभाज्यं न च भारकारि।

व्यये कृते वर्धत एव नित्यं विद्याधनं सर्वधनप्रधानम्।।

The above Sanskrit saying says that “Knowledge can neither be plundered by a thief nor be squeezed by any King. It cannot be divided between brothers and will also not fall on consumption. The more knowledge is spent, the more it grows.” This shows how the civilizational values of India have always espoused the importance of education and kept them at the center of the growth of the society at large.

Until colonial rule, education in India was widely accessible and available to people from all walks of life. In his book “The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century” author Dharampal narrates how not just elementary, but access to higher education was also significant in India. Nobody was denied education on the basis of their caste, creed or financial status. It was a system that produced some of the finest inventions and philosophies of the time. However, the colonial British replaced the existing Indian education system with their version, which created a structure where only the privileged and elite got access to education. The research of Dharampal was based on a survey of indigenous education as ordered by Thomas Munro, the Governor of Madras in 1822.

This new system of education as imparted by the British wreaked havoc in the traditional system of learning in India. As a result of this new system, illiteracy rose and so did the divide between the privileged and the poor.

After 1947, it was expected that the Government of independent India would take adequate measures to reverse this system and put in place a mechanism that suits the needs and aspirations of Indians. However, there was little done to Indianise the education system. To add to this, the imperfect system as established by the British was continued, further adding to the woes of common India. The result of this system was that it created an elite class of Indians, completely disillusioned with the reality of India and its civilizational values.

Efforts were made to bring forth an Education Policy in 1966 and in 1986. The plan of action for the 1986 Policy came after 6 years in 1992. Hence, we can say that the Governments of the day were hardly serious about bringing any change in the education set up of the country.

Ever since 2014, when the PM Narendra Modi led Government took charge, special emphasis has been given to education. The Government also realized that it had to move swiftly for a new policy on education. After careful deliberations, it was in 2019 that the National Education Policy Committee submitted its report. Just over a year after its submission, the New Education Policy 2020 was launched by the Government of India.

This policy replaced the 34-year-old policy launched in 1986 with an aim to universalise the education from pre-school to secondary level and provides an inclusive framework focusing on elementary to higher education in India.

One of the major changes spoken of in the NEP 2020 is a new school structure, from the existing 10+2 system. The 2020 policy envisions the school education to be a 5+3+3+4 structure, corresponding to the age group of 3-8 years, 8 -11 years, 11-14 years and 14-18 years. The cognitive growth of children in the age group has been kept in mind while bringing this new structure that involves 12 years of school and 3 years of preschool.

In furtherance of the structural change in school education, the Government has also emphasized on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages as the medium of instruction. The Policy says that “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/regional language.

It is a widely expected fact that with changing times, the teaching techniques also need an obvious change. Hence, the skills of school teachers need to be relooked and worked upon as per the needs of the current times. To address this issue, the Government in its 2020 Policy has proposed creating higher performance standards of teachers at different levels of teaching. Also, the Policy indicates that teachers will necessarily have to be trained to use digital means of teaching, which will most certainly take precedence in the years to come.

In respect of Higher Education, the Policy proposes changes such as multiple entry and exit points during the course of graduation. Under this proposed change, students can come out with a Diploma or a Certificate in the first three years of graduation. The Policy also proposes abolition of MPhil and a direct entry to a PhD after a 4-year graduation degree. These are some remarkable changes in the 2020 Policy which will truly change the face of Higher Education in India.

A growing demand over the past few years has been the setting up of multidisciplinary universities. To address this, the Policy has envisioned not only setting up more such universities but also directing standalone institutions to transform into a multidisciplinary one.

Other salient features of the Policy include the mandate for Schools to connect education to the environment, a necessity in the times we live in. Life skills, a module that is often ignored in the current education set up, has been given prominence in the Policy with the intention to develop better responsible citizens for the country as we enter the Amrit Kaal.

However, what differentiates this Policy from the others that came before it, was the emphasis it lays on assessment of the implementation. This is a hardly looked after aspect of education and something which requires utmost attention. To fill this gap in the policy and its implementation, the Government is to set up a new National Assessment Centre named PARAKH, standing for Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development. This is indeed a revolutionary step, which will not only identify any loophole, but also address it in an efficient manner.

With all these proposed changes in NEP 2020, we can rest assured that it will indeed achieve the target of 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio by 2030. More importantly, it is certain to ensure access to quality education to all sections of the society and bridge this gap between the elite and the less privileged which the earlier system promoted.

We can conclude that the NEP is a step in the right direction, especially considering how India is growing at an extraordinary speed, faster than any other country in the world. The NEP will act as the most efficient catalyst in the India growth story which will usher in a New India, an India of the 21st century but that which is firmly rooted in Bharatiya culture and values.