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The latest update about NEP 2020
The new set of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) which was published by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 29, 2020 is finally ready to see the light of the day. The process of implementing NEP is going to start from the next month, i.e. June 2021.
The implementation will begin for those policies which are designed for the colleges and universities. The Ministry of Education will set up live dashboards to monitor the progress of implementation. These dashboards will be checked on a monthly or quarterly basis.
A committee will be set up to monitor and review the task forces set up in 2020. This committee will administer the policy for schools and higher education institutions at the central and state level.
A total of 181 tasks have been identified under NEP by the Education Ministry to be completed during this implementation. Tasks such as ready-to-choose subject options for all undergraduate and postgraduate streams, education based on regional language, flexibility in entry and exit for the university degrees and credit bank system, etc. will be included.
Task forces were organized across state governments like Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa to study the implementation and challenges related NEP 2020. This task force released a report which suggested that the policy will be implemented in 2021. But the state as well as the central governments haven’t yet given their opinions on these suggestions.
As stated by an official, the Ministry of Education will monitor the dashboard on a monthly or quarterly basis. A deadline will be fixed for each task which will be communicated to individual state agencies.
Task monitoring by the Ministry
The Education Ministry will also set up a review committee during the implementation phase which will be headed by higher education department officials. This committee will be responsible for closely monitoring the execution and progress of the tasks.
Few other additional task forces will also be set up which would be responsible for deciding on the credit-bank system and transform IITs into multidisciplinary institutes. Under the credit bank, an academic credit will be added to the student/scholar’s digital locker whenever a course module is completed.
These academic credits will remain intact even if the student drops out of college after two years and decides to join back an year later.
Responsibility of the officials
The officials at the state and district level will be accountable if in case there is any delay in the implementation.
The Cabinet which was headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi provided its approval for implementing a new set of National Education Policies. Along with that the Human Resource Development Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Education which would be responsible to take care of the e-education needs of the schools and colleges.
India has 425 state universities, 125 deemed-to-be universities, 54 central universities and 375 private universities as of March 31.
The dashboards would help to review the progress at the level of each state, with special focus on the central universities.
Changes in the school education
The new NEP would bring out many changes in the ways in which education was delivered at school level. One of the important changes would be not assessing students only on the marks acquired in the written examinations.
The incorporation of technology in the education system would be another big change.
The Education Ministry might as well make some modifications in the structure of board examinations conducted for Class 10 and Class 12.
