Draft of new national educational policy submitted, 19 changes recommended 

New Delhi: The draft of National Education Policy has been submitted to the Union human resource development minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, and the junior HRD minister, Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre, in New Delhi, on Friday. The committee on the NEP is headed by Dr Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan.

Following are the aims of national educational policy:

•  To equip students with the necessary skills and knowledge
•  To eliminate the shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry
•  The draft National Education Policy, 2019 is built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability

Background work

For this new education policy, the MHRD consulted different types of people, which included scientists, scholars, technocrats and teachers. The NEP has been drafted after extensive consultations across multiple levels and inputs were also taken from the grassroots ranging from village, block, urban local bodies.

Draft New Educational Policy 2019 being submitted to the Hon'ble Minister for HRD by the Drafting Committee. pic.twitter.com/qvYstJMKzT

— Ministry of HRD (@HRDMinistry) May 31, 2019

Here is list of changes in the current education system that have been suggested in the new National Education Policy:

1. The ministry of human resource development should be renamed as ministry of education.

2. In school education, a major reconfiguration of curricular and pedagogical structure with “Early Childhood Care and Education” (ECCE) as an integral part of school education is proposed.

3. The committee also recommends extension of Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18. A 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 curricular and pedagogical structure based on cognitive and socio-emotional developmental stages of children:

• Foundational Stage (age 3-8 yrs): 3 years of pre-primary plus Grades 1-2
• Preparatory Stage (8-11 years): Grades 3-5
• Middle Stage (11-14 years): Grades 6-8
• Secondary Stage (14-18 years): Grades 9-12

The schools will be reorganized into school complexes.

4. It also seeks to reduce content load in school curriculum.

5. There will be no hard separation of learning areas in terms of curricular, co-curricular or extra-curricular areas and all subjects, including arts, music, crafts, sports, yoga, community service, etc, will be curricular.

6. It promotes active pedagogy that will focus on the development of core capacities: and life skills, including 21^st-century skills.

7. The committee proposes for massive transformation in teacher education by shutting down institutions with substandard teachers and moving all teacher preparation/education programmes into large multidisciplinary universities/colleges.

8. The 4-year integrated stage-specific BEd programme will eventually be the minimum degree qualification for teachers.

9. In higher education, a restructuring of higher education institutions with three types of higher education institutions is proposed:

• Type 1: Focused on world-class research and high quality teaching
• Type 2: Focused on high quality teaching across disciplines with significant contribution to research
• Type 3: High quality teaching focused on undergraduate education

This will be driven by two missions: Mission Nalanda & Mission Takshashila.

10. There will be re-structuring of Undergraduate programs (eg, BSc, BA, BCom, BVoc) of 3 or 4 years’ duration and having multiple exit and entry options.

11. A new apex body – “Rashtriya Shiksha Ayog” (National Education Commission) – is proposed to enable a holistic and integrated implementation of all educational initiatives and programmatic interventions, and to coordinate efforts between the Centre and states.

12. The National Research Foundation, an apex body is proposed for creating a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.

13. The four functions – standard setting, funding, accreditation and regulation – to be separated and conducted by independent bodies. National Higher Education Regulatory Authority as the only regulator for all higher education including professional education.

14. Creation of accreditation ecosystem led by revamped NAAC.

15. Professional standard-setting bodies for each area of professional education and UGC to transform to Higher Education Grants Commission (HEGC).

16. The private and public institutions will be treated on par and education will remain a “not for profit” activity.

17. Several new policy initiatives for promoting internationalization of higher education, strengthening quality open and distance learning, technology integration at all levels of education, adult and lifelong learning and initiatives to enhance participation of under-represented groups, and eliminate gender, social category and regional gaps in education outcomes were also recommended.

18. Promotion of Indian and classical languages and setting up three new National Institutes for Pali, Persian and Prakrit.

19. Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) has been recommended.

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