NEP reflects aspirations of students, should be implemented in letter & spirit: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the National Education Policy (NEP) reflected the aspirations of millions of students and it should be implemented in letter and spirit.

Inaugurating the ‘Governor’s Conference on the Role of National Education Policy in Transforming Higher Education’, Modi said the new policy laid emphasis on passion, practicality and performance over processes and goes beyond curriculum to promote critical thinking.

Modi said like foreign policy and defence policy, the education policy is of the nation and has no allegiance to any government. The education policy, instead, is “attached to the aspirations of people and millions of students”, he said.

The Prime Minister said questions around education administration, usage of local language, role of library, curriculum design, and faculties’ adaptability to a new system are important, and there should be collective endeavour to address them and implement the policy effectively.

“With vocational exposure right from early age, our youth will get better prepared for life,” he said, adding that their participation in the global job market and employment opportunities in the country will increase with practical learning.

President Ram Nath Kovind said since education is in the concurrent list, the states and the Centre should cooperate with each other for its implementation.

“There are some 400 state universities with about 40,000 colleges affiliated to them, hence, it is imperative to establish coordination and dialogue with these universities which could be done by governors who are also the chancellors,” the President said.

The President said that it has been widely accepted that the mother tongue should be the medium of primary education and, hence, the new policy has adopted the spirit of the three-language formula.

“It has the benefit of encouraging the Indian languages, arts and culture, which is a significant step in preserving the unity and integrity of our country characterised by great linguistic diversity,” he said.

The day-long virtual conference was attended by education ministers of states and vice chancellors of universities.