New National Education Policy 2020 announced by Union Government has opened new vistas for education and knowledge for all in India. The NEP 2020 ensures education for all from preschool to secondary level. The policy  has been widely  welcomed by all educationists,  teachers and students alike.  Government is already implementing right to education and SamagraShikshaAbhiyan. Under these schemes , School infrastructure is being  improved with basic facilities to bring back school drop outs. Action is taken to identify the drop outs and involve social workers with schools to resolve the issues faced by drop out students. The New education policy aims to bring back about 2 crore school drop outs back to school education. It aims for 100 per cent gross enrolment ratio in  school education by 2030.

Perhaps the revolutionary change is in the basic 10 plus two school education system. The NEP 2020 proposes to replace the present system with 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.  This will bring the preschool children into the school education system in the age group of 3 to 6 years. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of pre schooling.  Students will have increased flexibility and choice of subjects. There will be no rigid separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams.

Smt Ananthy  a senior science teacher from SBIOA Matriculation and Higher Secondary school in Tiruchirapalli says that the new national education policy announced by Union government is focusing on student psychology. She points out the new school structure of 5+3+3+4 will help students to choose their subjects of interest from 8th standard itself. She says that supposing a student likes science subject more, he or she can choose music as a minor subject. She says that it is an important decision taken by the government to give flexibility in choosing the combination of subjects for students. She welcomes the proposal of conducting two semester exams as it will reduce exam tension. The Board exam and improvement exam will be done in the same academic year. She pointed out that students can learn freely without any mental stress,  She said that she welcomes the new education policy as it gives the freedom to students to become what they like may be a scientist, teacher or any profession which they like.

The NEP emphasises on school examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by school itself. There will be Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 redesigned with holistic development. It recommends setting up of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development),  as a standard-setting body .

NEP 2020 aims to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education to 50% by 2035. For this,  it targets to create 3.5 crore new higher education seats. The revolutionary change proposed is for undergraduate education which can be of 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate certification within this period. Even if the student is unable to complete the four year course, certificate is given after 1 year, Advanced Diploma after 2 years, Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years and Bachelor’s with Research after 4 years. Dr V Kalavathi,  Head of Department of Tamil from a college in  Rajapalayam  says that the new education policy will give youth opportunities to increase their yearning for  research .  The students will get an opportunity from same system of education to study subjects they like which is a welcome move. She added that students will enjoy learning when science, arts and Culture subjects are interconnected. The new education policy will help everybody to learn and ensure education at all ages. She pointed out that when there is quality education offered in India students will not go abroad to study. The nation will progress in education and related research, she said.

Shri N Ravichandran retired professional said that in the national education policy,  skill orientation has been incorporated from 6th class onwards. It is good that every child should learn at least one vocation. It is good that there will not be any separation between vocational, academic and extra-curricular in the curriculum and students can choose their trades along with main subjects. He pointed out that Higher education institutes and Universities will transform from  Research-intensive Universities to Teaching-intensive Universities with  Autonomous powers  .  To meet the growing demand for quality education, this policy will increase public as well as private investments in the educational sector which will rise the GDP for the country. Hence, the New National Education Policy 2020 by the union  Govt. is a welcome move in all aspects and  as a result, our country will witness drastic  changes and development in the coming years,  he added.

The importance of mother tongue and local language is stressed in the new policy. The medium of instruction will be in  regional language till grade 5 and preferably till 8th standard according to the new policy. This has been welcomed by many teachers and academicians especially from rural places. Sundaram,  a student from Trichy says that teaching in local language like Tamil will help in understanding subjects properly. In most of the private schools,  English is the medium of instruction and students especially from rural places find it difficult to understand.

Education lights up the path of knowledge and is indispensable for a nation’s progress. Education policy has to be changed according to times and no wonder online education also finds a place in the new national education policy. Covid 19 pandemic lockdown has stressed the importance of online education and even suggested  online exams in education system. New national education policy thus, shows a definite path of progress towards knowledge by ensuring  education for all.

*****

(Release ID: 1642643)