Good Education

THE NATIONAL EDUCATION Policy (NEP) 2020 from the Union Government is an investment in the future of education. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision is to make our students future-ready and to make India an international hub of knowledge. For this purpose, the Government is committed to using technology and innovation to enhance greater inclusion in the education sector. In the process, we will combine education with skill development, with the aim of making our future generations job-ready as soon as they finish their studies.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, our Government is devoted to offering a seamless link between education, knowledge and, eventually, job creation. In fact, NEP has two mantras: first, to teach children not only to learn but also how to learn; second, it is based on the principle that one size does not fit all. Therefore, the goal is to get the best out of each student for nation-building. This is an ideal that is in tandem with the requirements of various job functions in the decades to come.

The prime minister wants to tap into the full potential of our demographic dividend as we head towards a tomorrow fuelled by Industrial Revolution 4.0 where cutting-edge skill development initiatives along with holistic education will ensure that our youth are fully equipped to benefit from the opportunities arising in a technology-led world and be at the forefront when it comes to innovation and entrepreneurship.

Indications of this trend are there for all to see. We have myriad work opportunities in India now owing to various programmes of the Government, and in collaboration with industry. Unsurprisingly, the greatest beneficiaries of this governmental push are Indian startups across sectors. I can aver that the prime minister’s vision has come to fruition earlier than expected with India making huge improvements in ease of doing business and in the large number of job opportunities being created across industrial segments and in the startup space. Triggering growth in manufacturing to education technology, to food tech and travel tech, to mobility and anything entrepreneurial, is the medley of education and skilling, which has emerged as a key gamechanger.

It’s been only one year since the launch of NEP, but we have already rolled out many initiatives in sync with it. The Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), envisaged as a digital bank that holds the credits earned by a student in any course, is one of the major innovations in the education space. It is a major instrument for facilitating multidisciplinary and holistic education as well as multiple entry and exit in higher education. Promotion of technical courses in regional languages is also expected to boost inclusivity. Special training programmes for teachers on subjects such as problem solving and critical thinking are expected in turn to create a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. NEP also looks to target differently abled students by focusing on sign language. The idea, therefore, is to leave nobody out. The Government is also creating a national digital education infrastructure (N-DEAR) to enable remote learning and to make education more accessible.

NEP is based on accessibility, affordability, equity and quality. It does not make rigid distinctions between arts and sciences. This multi-disciplinary approach is expected to prepare the next generation of leaders and innovators

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In line with the prime minister’s emphasis on the need for skilling, re-skilling and up-skilling, we have set an ambitious target even at the school level: By 2025, at least 50 per cent of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education. We are working to make our schools and higher education institutions (HEIs), centres of skilling too. In the hub and spoke model, schools and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) will work together to create an integrated ecosystem of skilling and education.

I would like to emphasise here that India has already made remarkable progress over the past six years in the field of research and patents. While the number of research publications released from India in 2014-15 was 1,33,335, it rose to 1,87,014 in 2018. Similarly, the number of patents from India rose from 6,153 in 2014 to 23,578 in 2019.

However, we aren’t going to rest on past laurels. Our goal is to become a global leader in education and skilling. We have set up the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) to provide financial assistance for creation of educational infrastructure and R&D in India’s premier educational institutions. To promote the culture of research, we are setting up the National Research Foundation (NRF) and have set aside ₹ 50,000 crore for the next five years. We have announced 1,000 fellowships for students from ASEAN countries. As a nation that believes in the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, we will offer incentives to foreign students to choose India as their education destination. We are equally determined to encourage and support women to pursue their higher education. To raise the participation of women in technical education, the Modi Government has made a provision of 20 per cent additional seats for women in the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). In the 2018 fiscal year, the enrolment of women at IITs was only 8 per cent compared with more than 19 per cent in 2020. The number of women PhDs has also increased from 3,283 in 2015-16 to 4,597 in 2019-20.

The emphasis that the prime minister has given to NEP 2020, an education policy that has come in more than three decades, is to make learning meet the requirements of the 21st century. This policy is based on the principles of accessibility, affordability, equity and quality. It also lays much thrust on flexibility by not making any rigid distinctions between the arts and sciences streams, the idea being elimination of deleterious hierarchies in learning. This multi-disciplinary approach that values both academic and extracurricular achievements of students is expected to prepare the next generation of leaders and innovators who will excel in diverse fields.
As Prime Minister Modi has said, NEP 2020 is not the Government’s education policy but the country’s education policy and will lay the foundation of the New India, the 21st century India. As we forge ahead, we need to work together to make NEP an instrument to create a generation of future-ready youth who will work in diverse fields to take our country to greater heights.

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Dharmendra Pradhan

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