Cabinet approves new education policy, renames MHRD

After over three decades, the government on Wednesday approved a new education policy that seeks to revamp all aspects of education structure and aims to achieve universal access to education to all between age groups of 3-18 years by 2030.

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the New Education Policy that also proposed to change the name of the Ministry of Human Resource Development to the Ministry of Education.

According to the draft policy, there will be no hard separation of learning areas in terms of curricular, co-curricular or extra-curricular areas and all subjects, including arts, music, crafts, sports, yoga, community service, etc. will be curricular.

It also promotes active pedagogy that will focus on the development of core capacities and life skills, including 21st-century skills.

The policy also aims at increasing the exposure of students to classical languages of India in a bid to preserve these languages and their artistic treasures.

"Every student in the country will take a fun course on “The Languages of India" sometime in Grades 6-8 ... with the option to continue through secondary education and university," the draft policy had said.

HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank is scheduled to address a press conference at 4:00 p.m. to formally announce the New Education Policy.

The Prime Minister had reviewed the NEP, 2020 at a meeting with HRD Ministry officials on May 1. The draft of the policy was prepared by a panel of experts led by former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman K Kasturirangan.