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Union Education Minister chaired a high level meeting on implementation of NEP-2020 in New Delhi today. Secretary, Higher Education, Shri Amit Khare; Secretary , School Education, Smt Anita Karwal and senior officials of the Ministry were present in the meeting.

In pursuance of the goals of #NEP2020 & to assist States/UTs in this task, launched #SARTHAQ (Students' And Teachers' Holistic Advancement Through Quality Education) today. pic.twitter.com/8IUyiKZmr2

— Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) April 8, 2021

In pursuance of the goals and objectives of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 issued on 29^th July, 2020 and to assist States and UTs in this task, the Department of School Education and Literacy has developed an indicative and suggestive Implementation Plan for School Education,called ‘Students’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement through Quality Education (SARTHAQ)’. This implementation plan was released today by the Education Minister Shri Ramesh PokhriyalNishank also as a part of the celebrations leading to the AmritMahotsav on 75 years of Indian independence.

In a significant achievement, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the  Government has rolled out the Plan of Action of National Education Policy 2020 well within one year.

The plan keeps in mind the concurrent nature of education and adheres to the spirit of federalism. States and UTs are given the flexibility toadapt this plan with local contextualization and also modify as per their needs and requirements. This implementation plan delineates the roadmap and way forward for implementation of NEP, 2020 for the next 10 years, which is very important for its smooth and effective implementation.

SARTHAQ has been developed through wide and intensive consultative process with States and UTs, Autonomous bodies and suggestions received from all stakeholders; around 7177 suggestions/inputs were received from them. A teacher’s fest, ‘ShikshakParv’ was especially organized from 8th to 25th September 2020 for discussing various recommendations of NEP 2020 and its implementation strategies, which attracted around 15 lakh suggestions. 

Speaking on the occasion,ShriPokhriyal urged all the stakeholders to use this plan as a guiding star to undertake transformational reforms in the school education sector. He said that like the policy itself, the plan is also interactive, flexible and inclusive. The major focus of SARTHAQ is to define activities in such a manner which clearly delineate goals, outcomes and timeframe i.e., it links recommendation of NEP with 297 Tasks along with responsible agencies, timelines and 304 outputs of these Tasks. Attempt has also been made to propose activities in a manner, such that it will be built upon the existing structure rather than creating new structures. Thus, SARTHAQ takes care of the spirit and intent of the Policy and is planned to be implemented in a phased manner.

SARTHAQ has also been prepared as an evolving and working document and is broadly suggestive/indicative in nature and will be updated from time to time based on the inputs/feedback received from the stakeholders.

Following outcomes have been envisaged for entire education system afterimplementation of SARTHAQ:

• New National and State Curriculum Frameworks for School Education , Early Childhood Care and Education, Teacher Education and Adult Education will be developed encompassing the spirit of NEP and will pave way for curriculum reforms
• Increase in Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), Net Enrolment Ratio (NER), transition rate and retention rate at all levels and reduction in drop outs and out of school children.
• Access to quality ECCE and Universal Acquisition of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by Grade 3.
• Improvement in Learning Outcomes at all stages with emphasis on teaching and learning through mother tongue/local/regional languages in the early years.
• Integration of vocational education, sports, arts, knowledge of India, 21st century skills, values of citizenship, awareness of environment conservation, etc. in the curriculum at all stages.
• Introduction of Experiential learning at all stages and adoption of innovative pedagogies by teachers in classroom transaction.
• Reforms in Board exams and various entrance tests.
• Development of high quality and diversified teaching-learning material.
• Availability of text books in Regional/local/home language.
• Improvement in quality of Teacher Education Programmes.
• Improvement in quality of newly recruited teachers and capacity building through Continuous Professional Development.
• Safe, Secure, inclusive and conducive learning environment for students and teachers.
• Improvement in infrastructure facilities including barrier free access and sharing of resources among schools.
• Uniform standards in learning outcomes and governance across public and private schools through setting-up of an online, transparent public disclosure system through establishment of SSSA in states.
• Integration of technology in educational planning and governance and availability of ICT and quality e-content in classrooms.

SARTHAQ will pave the way for our children and youth to meet the diverse national and global challenges of the present and the future and help them to imbibe 21st century skills along with India’s tradition, culture and value system as envisioned in National Education Policy 2020. ShriPokhriyal stated that it is envisaged that the implementation of SARTHAQ would benefit all stakeholders including 25 crore students, 15 lakh schools, 94 lakh teachers, Educational Administrators, Parents, and community as education is the backbone of an equitable and just society.

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MC/KP/AK