National Education Policy For UGC NET Exam

• First National education policy was formulated in 1968 under the government of Indira Gandhi.
• Second National education policy was formulated in 1986 under the government of Rajiv Gandhi.
• Third National education Policy formulated in 2017 under the government of Narendra Modi.
• Cabinet approved the National Education Policy on 30 July 2020.
• Committee to draft New Policy on Education was head by K.Kasturirangan.
• Committee was constituted by Ministry of Human Resource and Development in 2017.
• Ministry of Human Resource and development renamed as Ministry of Education.

New National Education Policy to be implemented by 2022

• Speaking at a virtual conclave on ‘School Education in the 21st century, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all the students, teachers, parents, NGOs, and government authorities to come together to ensure the National Education Policy is implemented by 2022.
• Himachal Pradesh is the first and only state in the country to implement the new National Education Policy (NEP).

Establishing an Apex Advisory Body for Indian Education and an Indian Education Services

• The policy recommends the creation of a Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA), an apex advisory body for elementary to university education in India duly replacing the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).
• The RSA will be chaired by the Minister of Education and shall consist of 30 members, 2/3rd of whom shall be eminent educationists, researchers, and leading professionals from various fields such as the arts, science, business, health, agriculture, and social work, from India or eminent people of Indian origin.
• Membership of the RSA shall also include some of the Union Ministers, in rotation, whose ministries impact education directly (e.g. Health, Woman and Child Development, Finance), as well as a representative of each State Governments/UT administration, NITI Aayog, the Secretaries in the Ministry of Education, and other such senior bureaucrats/administrators as deemed appropriate.
• Similar to the RSA, a Rajya Shiksha Aayog (RjSA) may be constituted in each State, chaired by the Education Minister.
• To bring the focus back on education and learning, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) shall be re-designated as the Ministry of Education (MoE).
• A permanent Indian Education Service (IES) cadre comprising a specialist cadre of the bureaucracy will be created to ensure the effective implementation of many of the recommendations. 
• Public spending on education has not yet even come close to the recommended level of 6% of GDP, as envisaged by the 1968 Policy, reiterated in the Policy of 1986, and which was further reaffirmed in the 1992 review of the Policy.
• The current public (Government – Centre and States) expenditure on education in India has hovered around 43% of GDP (Analysis of Budgeted Expenditure 2017-18); and only around 10% of the total Government spending goes towards education (Economic Survey 2017-18). These numbers are far smaller than most developed and developing countries.
• This Policy unequivocally endorses and envisions an increase in public investment in education – by both the Central government and all State Governments – to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest, and reach 20% of all public expenditure over a 10-year period.
• Of the total budget in higher education, at least 2% will be earmarked for research and innovation.

 Institutional Restructuring and Consolidation

• Transforming higher education institutions into large multidisciplinary universities, colleges, and HEI (Higher Educational Institution)clusters, each of which will aim to have 3,000 or more students.
• All HEIs will move towards becoming large multidisciplinary institutions, with programmes across disciplines and fields – offered either in their institutions or through HEI clusters.,
• It is envisioned that over a period of time all existing HEIs and new HEIs will evolve into research-intensive universities (RUs), teaching universities (TUs), and autonomous degree-granting colleges (ACs).
• By 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall become multidisciplinary institutions.
• The Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education (including vocational education) shall increase from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035.
• All types of institutions will have the option to run Open Distance Learning (ODL) and online programmes.
• By 2025, the maximum number of colleges that can be affiliated by a University shall not exceed 300; this can be achieved by creating new universities.
• By 2035, all colleges currently affiliated to a university shall secure accreditation and become autonomous degree-granting colleges, through a concerted national effort.
• The present complex nomenclature of HEIs in the country as ‘deemed to be university’, ‘affiliating university’, ‘affiliating technical university’, ‘unitary university’ shall be replaced by ‘university’.

 Towards a More Holistic Education

• Large multidisciplinary universities and colleges will facilitate the move towards high- quality arts education.
• Departments in Languages, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Indology, Art, Dance, Theatre, Education, Mathematics, Statistics, Pure and Applied Sciences, Sociology, Economics, Sports, and other such subjects needed for a multidisciplinary, stimulating Indian education and environment will be established and strengthened at HEIs across the country.
• The undergraduate degree will be of either 3-or 4-year duration, with multiple exit options within this period, with appropriate certifications.
• The 4-year programme may also lead to a degree ‘with research’.
• A student can obtain a diploma after completing 1 year, or an advanced diploma in a discipline or field (including vocational and professional areas) after completing 2 years of study or obtain a Bachelors degree after a 3-year programme.
• There shall be an Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) which could digitally store the academic credits earned from various recognised HEIs so that the degrees from an HEI can be awarded taking into account credits earned.
• Phil. programme shall be discontinued.
• HEIs will have the flexibility to offer different designs of Masters programmes, (a) there may be a two-year programme with the second year devoted entirely to research for those who have completed the three-year Bachelors programme; (b) for students completing a four- year Bachelors programme with Research there could be a one-year Masters programme and (c) there may be an integrated five-year Bachelor’s/Masters programme. Undertaking a PhD shall require either a Master’s degree or a 4-year Bachelor’s degree with Research.
• Model public universities for holistic education, at par with IITs, IIMs, etc., called MERUs (Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities) will be set up and will aim to reach the global status of, e.g., the Ivy League Universities in the U.S.
• Consolidating and restructuring existing institutions and building new ones – including establishing new world-class model institutions of this type (Model Multidisciplinary Colleges) across the country, and also establishing at least one large high quality multidisciplinary HEI in (or close to) every district.
• High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries, and similarly, select universities (e.g., those from among the top 100 universities in the world) will be permitted to operate in India.
• Students will receive financial support to attend a public HEI(Higher Education Institute), covering stipends, boarding, and lodging, and not just waivers of tuition fees. Private HEIs will offer scholarships ranging from 100% to 25% for at least half of their students.
• The teacher-student ratio shall range from 1:10 to 1:20 depending on the programme.

Teacher Education

• All stand-alone TEIs (Teacher Education Institution) will be required to convert to multidisciplinary institutions by 2025 and offer the 4-year integrated teacher preparation programme.
• All large multidisciplinary universities will also run B.Ed. programmes to educate future teachers.
• All fresh PhD entrants, irrespective of discipline, will be required to take credit-based courses in teaching/education/pedagogy related to their chosen PhD subject during their doctoral training period.
• A National Mission for Mentoring shall be funded and established, with a large pool of outstanding senior/retired faculty – particularly those with the ability to teach in Indian languages – who would be willing to provide short and long-term mentoring/professional support to university/college teachers.

Reimagining Vocational Education

• The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–2017) estimated that only a very small percentage of the Indian workforce in the age group of 19–24 (less than 5%) received formal vocational education.
• By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education. This is in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goal 4.4.
• Lok Vidya, knowledge developed in India, will be made accessible to students through integration into vocational education courses.
• The MoE (Ministry of Education) will constitute a National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education (NCIVE), along with industry participation, to oversee this effort and should also earmark budget for promoting this integration

Professional Education

• All existing stand-alone professional educational institutions will have to become multi-disciplinary institutions by 2030, either by opening new departments or by operating in clusters.
• Agricultural education with allied disciplines will be revived. Although Agricultural Universities comprise approximately 9% of all universities in the country, enrolment in agriculture and allied sciences is less than 1% of all enrolment in higher education.
• State institutions offering law education must consider offering bilingual education for future lawyers and judges – in English and in the language of the State in which the law programme is situated. This is to alleviate delay in legal outcomes consequent to need for translation.
• Healthcare education shall be re-envisioned such that the duration, structure, and design of the educational programmes are as required for the roles that graduates will play. For example, every healthcare process/intervention (e.g., taking/reading an ECG) does not necessarily need a fully qualified doctor.
• All students of allopathic medical education must have a basic understanding of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH), and vice versa.
• India must take the lead in preparing professionals in cutting-edge areas that are fast gaining prominence, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3-D machining, big data analysis and machine learning among others in technical education, genomic studies, biotechnology, nanotechnology, neuroscience and so on in the sciences. These topics, and many others like them, must be woven into undergraduate education at the earliest.

Promoting high-quality research: National Research Foundation

• Research and Innovation (R&I) investment in India has been only 0.69% of GDP. For the sake of comparison, the levels of R&I investment as a proportion of GDP in some other countries are: United States (2.8%), China (2.1%), Israel (4.3%), and South Korea (4.2%); i.e., all invest at least three times as much as a proportion of GDP.
• In order to focus on research and promote research culture in all HEIs in an interrelated and coordinated fashion, there shall be a National Research Foundation (NRF) which would bring a quantum jump in funding and support for research.
• The NRF will competitively fund research in all disciplines across the academic landscape: Science, Technology, Social Sciences, and Arts and Humanities. Successful research will be recognised, and where relevant, implemented through close linkages with governmental agencies as well as with industry and private/philanthropic organisations.

Effective Governance and Leadership for Higher Education Institutions

• All higher education institutions in India must aim to become independent self- governing institutions pursuing innovation and excellence, through suitable measures that ensure the leadership of the highest quality and promotes a culture of excellence.
• For this purpose, for each HEI there shall be a Board of Governors (BoG) consisting of a group of highly qualified, competent, and dedicated individuals having proven capabilities and a strong sense of commitment to the institution.
• The BoG shall be responsible and accountable for the outcomes of the HEI to the stakeholders through transparent disclosures of relevant records. It will be responsible for meeting all regulatory guidelines mandated by the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA).
• The BoG of each HEI will anchor preparation and implementation of a strategic plan of action namely: Institutional Development Plan (IDP).
• The IDP shall be the basis on which institutions will develop initiatives, assess their own progress, and reach the goals set therein, which could become basis for further public funding. The IDP shall be prepared with the joint participation of Board members, institutional leaders, faculty, students, and staff.

Transforming the regulatory system of Higher Education

• A single regulator, the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA), will be set up to regulate in a ‘light but tight’ and facilitative manner, meaning that a few important matters – particularly financial probity, good governance, and full online and offline public disclosure of all finances, procedures, faculty/staff, courses, and educational outcomes – will be very effectively regulated, while leaving the rest to the judgment of the HEIs, which is essential to institutional autonomy, innovation, and pursuit of excellence.
• The primary mechanism to enable such regulation will be accreditation, focused primarily on basic norms, disclosure, good governance, and outcomes, and it will be carried out by an independent ecosystem of accrediting institutions supervised and overseen by a ‘meta-accrediting’ body, named National Accreditation Authority (NAA).
• A new General Education Council (GEC) shall be set up to frame expected learning outcomes for higher education programmes, also referred to as ‘graduate attributes.’ A National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) will be formulated by the GEC and it shall be in sync with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF).
• Higher education qualifications leading to a degree/diploma/certificate shall be described by the NHEQF in terms of such learning outcomes.
• Higher Education Grants Commission (HEGC) will be created which will take care of funding and financing of higher education based on transparent criteria including the IDPs prepared by the institutions and the progress made in the implementation of the IDPs.
• HEGC will be entrusted with disbursement of scholarships and on developmental funds for starting new focus areas and expanding quality programme offerings in HEIs across disciplines and fields.
• Public Private Partnership (PPP) models will be promoted in higher education.

Adult Education

• An outstanding adult education curriculum framework will be developed by a new and well-supported constituent body of the NCERT.
• A suitable infrastructure will be ensured so that all interested adults will have access to adult education.
• A key initiative in this direction will be to use schools (after school hours and on weekends) and public library spaces for adult education courses, which will be ICT-equipped when possible.
• Any national literacy mission must mobilise community organisations and volunteers in order to achieve large-scale adult literacy and education outcomes.

Promotion of Indian Languages, Arts, and Culture

• UNESCO has declared 197 Indian languages as ‘endangered’.
• Moreover, even those languages of India that are not officially on such endangered lists -such as the 22 Schedule 8 languages – are facing serious difficulties on many fronts.
• For languages to remain relevant and vibrant, there must be a steady stream of high- quality learning and print materials in these languages – including textbooks, workbooks, videos, plays, poems, novels, magazines etc.
• Initiatives must begin at the pre-primary and continue through higher education for exposing the students to Indian music, arts, crafts and languages.
• To enable the above, HEIs shall have strong departments with adequate expertise and design programmes in Indian languages, comparative literature, creative writing, arts, philosophy, archaeology etc.
• India will also urgently expand its translation and interpretation efforts in order to make high-quality learning materials and other important written and spoken material available to the public in various Indian and foreign languages. For this, a proposed Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) will be established.
• India will similarly expand its institutes and universities studying all classical languages and literature, with strong efforts to collect, preserve, translate, and study the tens of thousands of manuscripts that have not yet received their due attention.

Technology Use and Integration

• An autonomous body, the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT), will be created to provide a platform for use of technology to enhance learning, assessment, planning, administration, and so on, both for school and higher education.
• A rich variety of educational software will be developed and made available for students and teachers at all levels.
• All such software will be available in all major Indian languages and will be accessible to a wide range of users including students in remote areas and with disabilities.
• Teaching-learning e-content will continue to be developed by all States in all regional languages, as well as by the NCERT (including CIET), CBSE, NIOS, and other bodies/institutions, and will be uploaded onto the National Teacher’s Portal.
• To remain relevant in the fast-changing field of educational technology, NEAT, through its expert body, will maintain a regular inflow of authentic data from multiple sources including educational technology innovators and practitioners, particularly at the grass-root level, and will engage with a diverse set of researchers to analyse this data.
• All universities will offer PhD and Masters programmes in core areas (such as Machine Learning) as well as multidisciplinary fields (“AI + X”) and professional areas (healthcare, agriculture and law).
• They may also develop and disseminate courses in these areas via platforms, such as SWAYAM.

NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2020

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