New Education Policy 2020

Authored By:- Harshit Gupta

The New Education Policy (NEP) was launched on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 by the collective efforts of two of our very own union cabinet ministers Mr. Prakash Javdekar (I&B Minister) and Mr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (HRD Minister). The changes that have been made were reviewed by our Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi on 1st May 2020. The changes made were advised by a panel of experts from Indian space research organisation (ISRO) lead by Mr. K. Kasturirangan. Some major and bold decisions are taken which were due from a longlong time. Activists were working hard from the past 34 years and finally the students will now get rid of the rote learning methods. New Education Policy brings a bunch of major changes including allowing top foreign colleges/universities to set up campuses in India, a greater proportion of students will get knowledge of vocational education.

Key Highlights of NEP (2020):-

· Education sector to get 6% of GDP now (earlier 1.7%):

· New academic session will begin in September/October: The new academic session will be beginning in September or October (TBD)– the delay is due to the unprecedented Covid-19 disease (Corona Virus) outbreak – and the government aimed to introduce the policy before the new session begins.

· Coding to become mandatory : "Coding grows computational and mathematical thinking among the children" ~Anita Karwal(School Education Secretary) Coding to be taught (mandatorily) to students from Class 6 onwards.

 · More Multidisciplinary Institutions to be built (at least near every district) by 2030 : A university will mean a multidisciplinary institution when it will offer an undergraduate and graduate programme, with high quality teaching, research, and community engagement.

· UG courses to have multiple exit options : Exit after 2 years – will be awarded diploma certificate. Exit after 3 years – will be given graduation certificate. ** 4 th year will be research based **

· Credit transfer policy to be implemented : Students can now continue their left over courses which they left due to some unavoidable circumstances from where they left. Earlier it was not the same(one has to start the course from the beginning if he/she left it in between). Academic bank will store the credits. ** students can now even pursue multiple degree courses at a same time. **

 · HRD Ministry will be renamed as education ministry :

· 10+2 System to be converted into 5+3+3+4 : Under this new system, that will comprise of schooling education - the first 5 years will be the foundational phase(three years of preprimary, and grades 1 and 2),the education in these first five years will be in the regional language of the child. After which there will come the preparatory stage i.e- grades 3, 4 and 5 , the middle stage i.e- grades 6, 7 and 8 and then the secondary stage i.e- grades 9, 10 and 11. **Board exams to be given less importance**

· Board exams can be conducted twice a year : In order to reduce the stress as well as importance of board exams , they will be conducted on 2 parts: Objective and Descriptive.

· NEP finally ends Science, Commerce and Arts differences : Now students will not get bullied or pressurized to pursue and continue particular stream. All the streams will be given equal importance and even one can choose his/her combination of subjects and pursue them.

 Dis-advantage :

· NEP states that till class 5th it is said to teach in the regional language as far as possible but it is not at all mandatory. The problem lies for children of people whose parents’ have transferable jobs like police, army, paramilitary, businessman, etc. Then how they will be able to adjust.

· Workshops should also be arranged so that students as well as parents can understand this policy better, as this decision is made in such a hurry that there are still some confusions left in everyone’s mind and its complex also.

Closing Thoughts:

The fundamentals are focussed and accurately designed pathway is created to make studies more engaging as well as fruitful. This will definitely be helpful in designing and shaping country’s future. In the end I conclude that this policy will be a game changer in Indian Education system and will be remembered by all will be preceeded by everyone in coming future.