8 Key points to help you know NEP 2020 (New Education Policy) better!

“The Destiny of India is shaped in her classrooms.” has been rightly quoted by the Education Commission. Education is the backbone of any strong nation. It is only with proper knowledge and education that a country can progress and shine at the forefront of today’s world arena. That is why this blog is to help you know about the facts of the NEP 2020. The NEP or the New Education Policy has been proposed by the Ministry of Education earlier known as the Ministry Of Human Resource and Development (MoRD), on 29th July 2020. It has been a revolutionary step by the Ministry to pave way for the entire education system in the country to be changed, and probably change for good. After a span of 34 years, that is from the induction of the old education policy that has been prevailing in the country right from 1986 this is the first time that a change or amendment has been made keeping in mind the need for the Education sector to adorn itself well with the demands of the 21st century. Read this blog, to understand and know some key points about NEP or the New Education Policy listed below-

1) Timeline for NEP — the committee for brainstorming and preparation of the draft for the New Education Policy handed over its first report to the concerned Ministry on 31st May 2019. This draft was based on the foundational pillars of the policy, which are access, affordability, equity, quality, and accountability. After submission of the draft, it was uploaded on the MoRDs website, inviting suggestions and views from various stakeholders as well as the common public. Post this the draft was circulated to the different Ministries of the Government as well as all the States and Union Territories for their views on the DNEP or the Draft National Education Policy. Gradually there were several meetings with different Education Ministers, heads of autonomous organizations, concerned officials of the union and state government, VCs of different Universities, etc. Finally, after all the deliberation and several meetings the New Education Policy or NEP was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Mr. Narendra Modi on 29th July 2020.

2) Structure of School Curriculum as per NEP- Let’s now try to get some idea about the structure of the new policy. The old structure of 10 + 2 was dropped with the introduction of the new structure which would be 5 + 3 + 3 + 4. Now the classes would be divided into two four categories namely-

a) Foundation Stage (includes 3 years of Anganwadi or pre-school followed by classes 1 and 2).

b) Preparatory Stage (includes classes from 3 to 5).

c) Middle Stage (includes classes from 6 to 8) and lastly

d) Secondary Stage (includes classes from 9 to 12).

3) Stream/Subject Selection- Earlier as soon as a student passes his class X examinations, the parents, as well as the student, rush to get admitted to any of the streams available amidst the 3 streams. Imagine you like Physics but you also like Sociology or have an interest in political affairs of the world. What would you do now? Well, One of the biggest merits of this newly introduced Policy is that there is no hard and fast rule for selecting subjects from a rigid set of subjects provided to the students. The process of subject selection is quite flexible. Students are free to choose the combination of subjects they would prefer for their studies. There won’t be any compartmentalization like Science or Arts.

4) Multiple entry and exit points- With the introduction of this New Education Policy (NEP) now, one of the ground-breaking changes that have been made is that now the students will be provided certificates at various levels during their undergraduate course. Earlier if a student due to some reason could not sit for the final exams during the last semester or the last year, he/she was considered a dropout, and all his/her previous years are wasted without a degree. But now with NEP or the New Education Policy, a certificate will be provided after the first year, Advanced Diploma after two years, Bachelor’s Degree after 3 years, and Bachelor’s with research after four years.

5) Focus on Multilingualism- Imagine coming to school, in a new environment, among new people, and the medium of instruction is only restricted to one language which is not the same as your mother tongue. It would be hard to communicate your feelings to the teachers and friends as well. Earlier the medium of instruction was restricted to English but now NEP focuses on the compulsory use of mother tongue/regional language/local language till grade 5 and preferably till grade 8. No language will be imposed on any student. Sanskrit will be taught and offered at all levels of school and higher education as a part of the school curriculum, including in the three-language formula. With the introduction of using the mother tongue in the lower levels of classes, it will be beneficial for the students as they will feel more at ease and in comfort, enabling them to learn more proactively.

6) Emphasis to be given to faculty/teacher training- Children carry their education and knowledge they have gained during their studies for life. And the teacher is the one who imparts this knowledge to the students The NEP focuses on the teachers to be well trained, energized, have good institutional leadership quality, etc. the process of teacher recruitment will be very transparent. Also, the minimum criteria for teaching would be four years of integrated B.Ed degree.

7) Importance in online education and digital teaching-. With the world witnessing pandemics and epidemics, the online mode of education was practiced worldwide. This New Education Policy has emphasized on the need for alternative ways of the teaching-learning process in case the offline mode of teaching is not available. How more and more online methods of teaching can be introduced that will be efficient in the teaching-learning process.

8) Focus on Vocational Training- In today’s world being just a bookworm by merely focussing on marks is not sufficient and good for the holistic development of the child. And thus, the New Education Policy lays more stress on the need for the introduction of vocational training as a part of their curriculum. This will enable the students to acquire some set of life skills that would help them during any point in their life. Thus from 6th standard onwards, options would be available to select the choice of vocation training the students would like to go for.

Hope this blog helped you in knowing a lot about the New Education Policy and clear your clouds of confusion regarding the NEP 2020.

About SFS School, Guwahati

SFS Guwahati is one of the best Private CBSE School in Guwahati with Integrated Coaching, awarded with the “Certificate of Excellence” by Bharat Shiksha Puraskar and Ranked №24 across India for “Mental Health” Ranking 2021.