Two years of NEP: The achievement so far

National Education Policy was announced in 2020 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development as an attempt to transform the education system to meet the needs of 21st Century India. As we follow a federal system of governance, any reform that the government launches can only be implemented once the central government joins hands with the state legislatures.

This is usually a tedious process but for NEP 2020 coming to a consensus for an ambitious reform was relatively easy. NEP 2020 is an up-gradation of education policy that was implemented in 1986. Previous education policy only focused on solving the problem of accessibility of education for all.

The government has marked the timeline of 2040 to implement the entire policy which gives the government, ed-tech startups, educators, schools, colleges/universities, and all stakeholders involved 18 more years to implement the policy completely and get on with building the nation. Intending to build a more inclusive, cohesive, and productive nation, the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) has come with some ground-breaking reforms.

NEP 2020 intends to discontinue the traditional 10+2 structure and replace it with a 5+3+3+4 structure. The new structure will be focused on students’ formative years of learning. The 5+3+3+4 structure will correspond to ages from 3 to 8, 8 to 11, 11 to 14, and 14 to 18. With the new structure, the focus will be laid on core concepts and these will be imbibed in the school curriculum itself.

The education system in India for ages has focused only on syllabus and aptitude tests. With the new reform, NEP has asked for a reduction in the existing syllabus and focus more on outcome-based vocational education along with an emphasis on environmental education. This reform will empower the students and will offer them the opportunity to choose the courses they wish to learn simultaneously from different institutions. This has been taken as a welcome move by the industry.

The reform emphasizes a holistic, learner-centred, flexible system that will transform India into a vibrant knowledge society. As per it, NEP has asked colleges and universities to set up an Academic Bank of Credits. Students will get an opportunity to earn credits with each internal and external exam and practicals based on their performance. The credits earned in the process will be stored and the final degree will be evaluated on the basis of the credits stored in the Academic Bank of credits.

Another great aspect of NEP 2020 is to improve higher education regulation by bringing in a single regulator to look after all institutions except medical and law colleges. Under NEP, the same norms will be formulated for both the public and private higher education institutes. Along with this, a common entrance exam will be conducted for enrollment in higher education institutes and universities.

The Indian education system has always felt the hindrance of learning in vernacular language, as there is always a gap between the haves and have-nots. To solve this problem, NEP 2020 has laid stress on delivering classes/lectures in regional languages. The new policy clearly states that there would be no imposition or opposition of any language by any educational institute or university.

NEP has also opened doors for ed-tech startups, where they can help in providing a seamless experience. As per the reform, NEP has asked ed-tech startups to cultivate 21st-century skills among students across India by creating autonomous institutions. These institutions will encourage industry-academic collaborations with regional universities and will focus on curriculum development, industry-oriented training, funding research, and creating centres of excellence across the industries.

This move will make students resourceful and future-ready as the emphasis will be laid on cultivating skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, digital literacy and others. The policy also aims to develop multidisciplinary education and research universities at par with the IITs and IIMs all over the country.

To conclude, NEP is the right step towards bringing the much-needed revolutionary changes in the Indian Education System which will be rightly reflected by the planned investments. Two years is a short span to evaluate any policy, and with NEP the road ahead is a long one. The policy is here to change the face of education and we are still in the primary years of implementation.

(The author is a co-founder of a career accelerator platform)