National Education Policy 2020: Objectives & Performance

December 21, 2023

GS Paper II Indian Polity and Governance

Context: After 3 years of India’s innovative education policy “National Education Policy 2020”, an assessment is desired.

About National Education Policy 2020

National Education Policy 2020 is the education policy of the 21st century that envisions a massive transformation in education through the 5 foundational pillars: Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability, and Accountability.
The National Education Policy 2020 was proposed by a committee headed under Dr. K Kasturirangan.
The National Education Policy 2020 proposes various reforms including reforms in school and higher education, technical education, vocational education and global standards that are suited to 21st-century needs.
It is aimed at making India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower.

National Education Policy 2020: Objectives

Fostering a holistic education: A holistic and multidisciplinary education would develop intellectual, social, physical, emotional, and moral capacities of human beings
Providing quality education to all: Enable an individual to study one or more specialized areas of interest at a deep level, and also develop character, ethics and moral values.
Higher Education: Increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education to 50% by 2035.
Internationalization: Improve the numbers of international students studying in India, and provide greater mobility to students in India to study or carry out research at institutions.
Funding: Increase the public funding for education to 6% of GDP by 2030.
Vocational Learning: Provide at least 50% of learners exposure to vocational education by 2025 through school and higher education system.

National Education Policy 2020: Performance

Holistic Education:
1. Various initiatives like DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) as and National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) provide a integrated platform for holistic education.
2. National Assessment Centre and PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) aims to improve the standards of education through quality student assessment.
Quality Education:
1. Literacy: National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat)
2. QUality Schools: Initiatives like PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) for upgradation of schools have been implemented in about 6,500 schools.
3. Teacher Training: NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 is an Integrated Teacher Training Programme for different stages of school education.
Higher Education:
1. Learner Centric Education: National Credit Framework (NCrF), National Higher Education Qualification Framework and Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) with multiple entry/exit have been introduced.
2. Status: So far 1667 Universities/INIs/HEIs are onboarded on ABC portal & 2.75 Crore students are registered.
3. Equity: Many professional courses are being offered in Indian Languages and entrance exams such as JEE, NEET, CUET are conducted in 13 Indian languages
Internationalization:
1. Policy Action: Framed regulation on setting up and operation of campuses of foreign Higher Education Institutions in India.
2. MOUs have been signed for setting up of the campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania and IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi.
Vocational Learning:
1. Scheme: ‘Samagra Shiksha’ scheme aims at integrating Vocational Education with general academic education.
2. Framed National Council for Vocational Education & Training (NCVET), a framework to enable vocational education in the education.
3. For Class XI and XII, vocational courses are being offered as compulsory (elective) subjects.
Funding:
1. According to Economic Survey 2022-23, total education outlay, (Centre & State), added up to 2.9 per cent of the country’s 2022 GDP.
2. The funding has remained constant at 2.9 percent of the GDP for the last four years.