National Education Policy 2020: Foundation Stone for Naya Bharat

Coronavirus may be pretty novel but it has proven the concept of 'survival of the fittest'. Only the industries which were able to adapt could survive and many others took a toll this season. 

When we talk about the education ecosystem, we saw a flood of users for online education as traditional schooling was on pause and quite recently, the 34-year-old education policy finally gets changed; envisioned to alter the dimension of education in India. The timing could not have been better as the virus has nudged changes in the teaching-learning models, so the policy can go several steps ahead towards long-awaited systemic reforms in education. 

At the same time, the gap of 34 years is proof enough to realize the need for this change. On the face of it, NEP 2020 is promising and brings together the best for every age group. One of the major reforms in the policy includes an increment of public spending on education from around 4 percent to nearly 6 percent. The NEP has been developed by consultations of nearly five years with stakeholders and the general public, led by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief Dr. K Kasturirangan. 

Remarkably, the government has approached education from the perspective of curricular and co-curricular studies, vocational studies, and inclusive studies. NEP 2020 emphasizes on the foundation of learning and foundational learning and ensures that it reaches to everyone. It also introduces project-based clubs like science, maths, music performance, and so on. The policymakers have addressed new-age skills like coding and are progressing to extend universal access to education from age 14 to 18.

Consequently, the education system has been divided into sections of school education and higher education. School education will begin from early childhood instead of the age of 6.  Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) will be responsible for the overall development of preschool students so they are fit to join class 1 and ready to learn, a practice which was prevalent only in private schools.

Additionally, with introduction to the 5+3+3+4 layer of classes, the education system aims to move its infamous rote learning methods to 'learning how to learn' methods by ensuring critical basics for all the students in India. Under this section, students at the secondary level (classes 9-12) can choose any set of subjects out of the currently available subjects, irrespective of stream, making secondary schooling multi-disciplinary. The system also proposes formal school assessments at the end of class 3, 5, and 8 that will track learner progress at regular intervals so schools can help the students plan improvement through remediation, if needed. Similarly, class 10 and 12 are recommended to have ongoing formative assessments over one-time summative assessments to measure learning outcomes in order to rationalize the current system of board examination.

The assessment framework is a key factor. The system of covering the syllabus and increasing pass percentage paved the way for rote learning in the latter policy. Although the new policy tries to break the shackles of memorization in education, and moving towards basic competencies and foundational learning, the end result will be determined by the assessment framework. The assessments should help understand the level of learning in children, that enables better classroom learning experiences for the students. 

Keeping the same spirit for higher education, the National Testing Agency will develop a common aptitude test for all the universities and colleges for undergraduate degrees, similar to SATs in the US. However, it will not be compulsory. Higher education will aim towards multidisciplinary education, for research, teaching and degree-granting colleges. Introduction of Academic Bank of Credit allows students to digitally store their credits so students can take study gaps without the fear of wasting years.

In addition to that, some other major reforms will include internationalization of higher education by allowing select international universities to set up in India, mainstreaming vocational education as schools and colleges will teach vocational courses as a part of the regular curriculum, recommendation of native languages in early learning, adult schools being operated in after-school hours and digitization of education system wherever possible.

Through these changes, we can safely say that the government is planning to set a brand new foundation for Naya Bharat. However, there are certain unanswered questions such as how will the government fund free education till the age of 18, and what will be the role of the private sector in the policy as 45 percent of school students attend private schools. There is a major concern for students who have already crossed foundational learning age but are still in need of remedial education, and how will the policy accommodate them.

The awaited National Curriculum Framework by NCERT as per the new policy, which is expected to be released in the next seven months, will be a major step towards implementation of NEP 2020, quality of which will set a benchmark for further courses of action. Not to mention, bringing all the stakeholders together to work towards the vision and moulding them according to the new policy, especially in the first few years, will be an uphill task.

That being said, the policy has set some high bars through its encouraging vision. It is still to be deeply articulated in the manner of its implementation and we are all eager to see that. But in a populous and highly diverse country like India, implementation is not a piece of cake. Being able to practically apply the policy with available resources and current governance, is something we all are looking forward to. If the education sector and the government pull off 50% of these reforms in the next 10 years, the future of education in India will be promising and we could see India getting closer to its goal of becoming a global superpower.