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Revolution in the Indian Education Policy during 2020
The year 2020 has changed our lives in many ways. While the unavoidable circumstances raised due to Covid 19 outbreak confined people in their homes, the learning activities became solely dependent on internet.
The education system started digitalising by switching over to online or e-Learning activities. This gave rise to the need of adopting modern technology in education and consequently reforming the old education policies.
The Indian Education Policy was first published by Indira Gandhi in the year 1968 who was the Prime Minister then. It was modified and new policies were published in the year 1986 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The Indian Education Policy which was formulated 34 years ago was still being followed.
The current curriculum is more focussed on theory and marks obtained in academics. It has very less emphasis on practical and provides hardly any insights and knowledge about the world and its needs. The competition for gaining more marks or percentage has given rise to malpractices and cheating.
There are many diverse options to build the career for any student in the country. But the current theory and classroom based curriculum narrows down the career options to getting a 9 to 5 permanent or government job. The curriculum does not provide enough exposure to children as also to the parents. This restricts them from making discrete career choices such as farming and agriculture or sports.
A teacher holds immense importance in the life of a student. The current education system also lacked qualified and knowledgeable teachers or faculty members. Thus it is crucial to implement changes in education system so that only qualified teachers will be recruited and they will also be trained properly to teach the students.
Clearly, a fresh and functional set of education policies was required to harmonize with the changing technological trends and educational requirements. A revolutionary change in the Indian Education Policy was inevitable to improve it in a way which would be able to satisfy the educational needs of the Indian society and its future citizens.
Bearing all the above mentioned facts in mind, a newest set of Indian Education Policy was published recently by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, July 29, 2020. The name ‘Ministry of Human Resource Department (MHRD)’ was changed to Ministry of Education marking the beginning of educational revolution. Let us know understand the key changes drafted in the new education policies.
Key Highlights of Indian Education Policy 2020
Here are the key highlights about the changes made in the Indian Education Policy 2020.
- The importance of the board exams will be reduced. Also, the board exam pattern will be made flexible and they will be conducted twice a year. This will reduce the pressure on students.
- Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will become a common regulatory body for all higher studies excluding Medical and Legal studies.
- At school – level, more focus will be given on vocational and practical oriented studies. The students between 6th to 8th grades will have to attend the vocational courses mandatorily.
- The Education Ministry decided to setup a dedicated unit for Digital and Online Learning so as to create digital content for students in the wake of online education.
- The students will be taught to write codes in computer programming since the 6th
- The content included in the curriculum would focus on understanding the concepts and ideas as also applying them to solve problems.
- The school complexes should be used adult education courses after the schools hours.
- The teachers and faculty members must have a minimum qualification of 4 year integrated with B.Ed degree.
Indian Education Policy - The shift from Offline to Online
The online learning platforms were used to conduct training courses and examinations for corporate companies. But because of the pandemic situation, the online education finally saw the daylight. Other educational entities such as schools, colleges and universities were pushed to make use of these platforms on a large scale.
The schools have completely switched over to online mode of conducting classes and examinations. The students have also become used to it gradually. Thus, even if the schools reopen, the classroom based learning activities will be combined with digital learning.
A large number of people pay for coaching classes conducted after school. Around 28% of these people will opt for digital learning solutions in the coming years.
In the coming years, technology will be put to optimum use for education purposes. This will result in adopting platforms which can help in carrying out many different activities online. Such online platforms will help the educational institutes to carry out activities such as online admissions, online examinations and online answer sheet evaluation.
The educational entities will be able to carry out all the processes related to giving admissions online with the help of Online Admission System.
They will also be able to conduct online examinations which will be completely devoid of any cheating or malpractices with the help of Online Examination system.
The answer sheets of these examinations can be evaluated accurately with the help of OnScreen Evaluation.
All these platforms will help the educational institutions to eliminate human contact, minimize manual work and increase accuracy and efficiency required for carrying these tasks as also save huge administrative costs.
Indian Education Policy - Vision 2021
As the risk of getting infected by Covid 19 virus will not be completely averted in the year 2021, the demand for online learning will continue to increase. Considering this demand, the education technology will be infused with many new, trending and innovative technologies to enhance the user experience. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence or Virtual Reality will be implemented to upgrade the process of learning by making it more fun and creative.
A hybrid sort of education policy will be incorporated by the educational institutions. This sort of education will combine the perks of technology for digital learning along with a touch of human interaction during classroom learning.
The new Indian Education Policy will put more focus on practical knowledge and hands-on experience. The medium of instruction will be English and not any regional language but everyone will get the freedom to choose the language of their choice for education. It will a lot of stress on digitization of higher education.
Summary
The new Indian Education Policy will certainly affect the education system at all levels. It will provide 6% of total GDP on the education sector to seek adult literacy and increase the accessibility for higher education.
As tweeted by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he newly formulated education policy is based on the pillars of access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability. It aims at making India a global knowledge superpower.
It might take some time to implement these changes but it will bring about some excellent transformations in the Indian education system. Undoubtedly, the new Indian Education Policy will help our country to transform into a vibrant knowledge hub.
