Government of India has
given its approval for new education policy of the year 2020. This will bring
massive changes in education sector and pave its way for key reforms in school
and in higher education also. The Ministry of Human Resource and Development
has been renamed as Education Ministry. First National Policy on Education came
in1968 on the recommendations of Kothari Commission. Then comes National Policy
on Education 1986 and now after 34 years we have National Education Policy
2020. This policy is drafted by the panel headed by former ISRO chief K.
Kasturirangan.
Key Features:
Its
prominent feature is the replacement of 10+2 structure of school curricula with
5+3+3+4 structure.
Existing Academic
Structure- in this we have 10years of schooling from class
1-10, after that student has to go for pre university schooling.
New Academic
Structure- now the 1986 structure is been replace by 5+3+3+4
structure for transforming educational sector. In this new structure, it has
four stages-
- Foundational stage (5)- this stage is divided into two compartments. The first 3 years is of pre school belonging to age group of 3-6years. They are made to taught language skills, cognitive skills and is activity and play based learning. Next two years of class 1 and 2.
- Preparatory stage (3)- belongs to age group
of 8-11years and classes 3 to 5. Most of the student will be taught in local
language or in mother tongue. This stage is more about discovery, activity and
interactive classroom learning.
- Middle stage (3)-
belongs to age group 11-14years and classes 6 to 8. Students will start
learning about coding and occasional activities. This will be first time that
all the students after 6th will be taught computer coding.
- Secondary stage(4)- this stage is multidisciplinary in nature. Greater critical thinking and more flexibility will be given to students. Students would able to select choice of subjects.
Apart
from it, teachers are a important factor of educational sector. Now, the govt
is emphasising to control pupil-teacher ratio and to hire local and trained
teachers.
Multi-disciplinary approach:
Standalone
higher education institutes and professional education institutes will be
evolved into multidisciplinary approach. The policy drafted multidisciplinary
Bachelor’s programme with exit options. Lets consider B.Sc. programme, when
student complete his first year and if he want to exit then he will be awarded with
the certificate. After finishing 2 years he will be awarded with diploma and
after 3 years he will handed over Bachelor’s degree. In case, it is four year
degree, then student will enter into research and at end of four year, he will
get research certificate as well. In Master’s, student will have to show all
these four documents or certificates and we will able to finish his Master’s in
one year only. M.Phil. degree would be abolished.
UGC
and AICTE will now be replaced by Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)
which will carry out all the functions of regulation, funding and learning
outcomes in higher education.
Phasing out of all institutions
offering single streams: we have IIT’s, they focus on
science and technology but now by 2040 IIT’s and other higher education institutes
will also focus on arts and commerce related subjects also.
National Educational Technology
Forum (NETF): This forum is made to provide the
platform for free exchange of ideas and strengthen learning with the use of
technology.
Paving the way for foreign
universities: but this comes up with criticism also. One
is related to higher fees and second is these universities will starts poaching
the educators and intellectual minds of country.
SIGNIFICANCE
·As recommended in Kothari Commission,
govt. will spend 6% of GDP on education
·Govt will also put a cap on the fees of
private institutions to make education affordable for maximum people.
·Learning will become less stressful.
·No rigid separation of subject.
·Govt brings Gender Inclusion Fund as
equity measure.
