New Delhi: The Human Resource Development Ministry headed by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank received the new National Education Policy (NEP) submitted by an expert panel headed by former ISRO Chairman K. Kasthurirangan.
With a grand vision to transform the education system of the country and to mould the next generation to face the world with the necessary skills and knowledge, the new NEP has come up with ground breaking suggestions.
The existing NEP was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992. With the new NEP, the BJP is delivering on its promise the party had given in 2014 manifesto.
According to the NEP, a new apex body called Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog will be constituted for developing, articulating, implementing, evaluating, and revising the vision of education in the country on a continuous and sustained basis.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development will be renamed as Ministry of Education to bring back the focus on education and learning.
An important suggestions that will benefit a large number of parents who have school going children is that private schools must not be allowed to increase their fees arbitrarily.
On the issue of fees hike by private school management, the draft says, “A reasonable increase, which can stand public scrutiny, such as inflation-related, can be made. Any substantial increase in the fees that cannot be anticipated or justified shall not be made, including under any ‘fees head’ such as ‘school development’ or an ‘infrastructure fund.”
The committee suggests that the Right to Education must include children between the age of 3 to 18. The draft suggests a 5+3+3+4 structure of education where the children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development stages are taken into account.
The NEP envisages 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.
Even teacher education will witness an overwhelming change and sub-standard teacher education institutions will be shut down. A 4 year integrated stage-specific B.Ed. program will be the minimum qualification for teachers.
The much needed restructuring of higher education is also on the cards of the NEP. The focus will be on world-class research and quality teaching. Quality teaching will be imparted to undergraduate students.
The NEP will focus on the development of core capacities: and life skills, including 21st century skills.
