Significance of National Education Policy 2020          GS Paper 2      Education; Issues related to development

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• Recognising Importance of Formative years: In adopting a 5+3+3+4 model for school education starting at age 3, the policy recognises the primacy of the formative years from ages 3 to 8 in shaping the child’s future.
• Departure from Silos Mentality: Another key aspect of school education in the new policy is the breaking of the strict division of arts, commerce and science streams in high school.
  
  • This can lay the foundation for a multi-disciplinary approach in high education.
• The Confluence of Education and Skills: Another laudable aspect of the scheme is the introduction of vocational courses with an internship. This may nudge the vulnerable sections of society to send their children to school.
  
  • Also, it would help in realisation of the goal of Skill India Mission.
• Making Education More Inclusive: The NEP proposes the extension of the Right to Education (RTE) to all children up to the age of 18.
  
  • Further, the policy seeks to leverage the huge potential of online pedagogy and learning methodologies for increasing gross enrolment in higher education.
• Light But Tight Oversight: According to the policy, in spite of periodic inspection, transparency, maintaining quality standards and a favourable public perception will become a 24X7 pursuit for the institutions, leading to all-round improvement in their standard.
  
  • The policy also seeks to establish a super-regulator for education which will be responsible for standards-setting, funding, accreditation and regulation of higher education India.
• Allowing Foreign Universities: The document states universities from among the top 100 in the world will be able to set up campuses in India.
  
  • This will lead to an infusion of international perspective and innovation, which will make the Indian education system more efficient and competitive.
• Ending Hindi vs English Debate: Most crucially, NEP, once and for all, buries the strident Hindi versus English language debate; instead, it emphasises on making mother tongue, local language or the regional language the medium of instruction at least till Grade 5, which is considered the best medium of teaching.
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Issues Related to NEP 2020

• Knowledge-Jobs Mismatch: There is a persistent mismatch between the knowledge & skills imparted and the jobs available. This has been one of the main challenges that have affected the Indian education system since Independence.
  
  • NEP 2020 failed to check this, as it is silent on education related to emerging technological fields like artificial intelligence, cyberspace, nanotech, etc.
• The Requirement of Enormous Resources. An ambitious target of public spending at 6% of GDP has been set. Mobilising financial resources will be a big challenge, given the low tax-to-GDP ratio and competing claims on the national exchequer of healthcare, national security and other key sectors.
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Way Forward

• Need For Cooperative Federalism: Since education is a concurrent subject (both the Centre and the state governments can make laws on it), the reforms proposed can only be implemented collaboratively by the Centre and the states.
  
  • Thus, the Centre has the giant task of building a consensus on the many ambitious plans.
• Strive Towards Universalisation of Education: There is a need for the creation of ‘inclusion funds’ to help socially and educationally disadvantaged children pursue education.
  
  • Also, there is a need to set up a regulatory process that can check profiteering from education in the form of unaccounted donations.
• Bridging Digital Divide: If technology is a force-multiplier, with unequal access it can also expand the gap between the haves and have nots.
  
  • Thus, the state needs to address the striking disparities in access to digital tools for universalization of education.
• Interministerial Coordination: There is an emphasis on vocational training, but to make it effective, there has to be close coordination between the education, skills and labour ministry.
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Conclusion

The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, is a good policy as it aims at making the education system holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, aligned to the needs of the 21^st century and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals The intent of policy seems to be ideal in many ways but it is the implementation where lies the key to success.