Round table discussion on Draft National Education Policy 2019
A round table discussion on newly proposed National #Education #Policy was held on 18th June, 2019 at New Delhi. Organized by #EPSI, an education related #NGO from India with 6000 educational institutions as its members, the round table discussion attracted most important dignitaries including Dr. Pritam Singh, presently associated with the Institutions of eminence project of GOI, Prof. (Dr.) Anil D. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman of #AICTE, Founders, VCs, Directors, Deans of distinguished higher education colleges and important functionaries of school chains of India.
India's education sector caters to 200 million pupils in the school system and around 40 million in higher education sector. Another 10 million #teachers and faculty members are part of this system. Therefore, soon to be introduced new national education policy 2019 assumes great significance as it affects the future and lives of 250 million people of India along with the lives and fortunes of their families. The Draft National Education Policy 2019 according to the participants from across the country, seems to be a promising document and looks good on paper. However questions were raised about how could it be implemented to achieve it's too ambitious wish list. Participants also raised several critical issues which either emerged from the draft proposal of almost 400 pages long, or issues which are missed to be addressed by the draft policy. In all there is lot of buzz around the new draft policy and there are high hopes from the govt. Initiative.
Many speakers observed that the contents of the draft policy is out of the box thinking with potential to increase the #GER (Gross Enrollment Ratio, presently around 25% in Higher Education, required to be raised to at least 50% in next 10 years) of #India which is lacking drastically from its peers like #China and other developed countries. Draft policy also proposes drastic changes in the structure of both school system and higher education institutional framework in India. Many speakers observed that role and functions of private sector, which is making huge investment in education infrastructure in India has not be addressed adequately in the proposed draft. It was pointed out that one of the important feature of the draft policy is to do away with the university affiliation system in higher education. Moreover the categories of the educational institutions are proposed to be changed radically. The policy also proposes to eventually do away with the #accreditation and #ranking system and move towards 'yes' or 'no' regime for an educational system. Some speakers observed that the objectives of the draft policy are not very clear. The draft policy also envisages radical changes in the fees, #scholarships and #evaluation system in both school and higher education level.
Overall the draft policy has created lot of expectations among the stakeholders.