The much awaited Education policy which was being debated for past about five years is announced. It’s highlights are:
1. Present school structure of 10+2 is dropped and will be replaced by new school structure will be 5+3+3+4 which means that upto 5 pre school, 6 to 8 Mid School, 8 to 11 High School, 12 onwards Graduation.
2. University Graduation Degree will be 4 years.
3. From 6th std onwards vocational courses available and ten days internship in local trade will be mandatory.
4. From 8th to 11 students can choose optional subjects. Present system of science or arts stream will be abolished. All graduation course will have major and minor
Example – science student can have Physics as Major and Music as minor also. A student of cookery can have chemistry as minor subject.
5. New Teacher Training board will be setup for all kinds of teachers in country, no state can change,
6. New Basic learning program will be created by government for parents to teach children upto 3 years in home and for pre school 3 to 6.
7. All schools exams will be semester wise twice a year,
8. The syllabus will be reduced to core knowledge of any subject only to discourage cramming syllabus with more focus on practical training and application knowledge,
9. There shall be one regulator and higher education will be governed by only one authority. UGC AICTE will be merged.
10. All Universities government, private, Open, Deemed, Vocational etc will have same grading and other rules. Same level of Accreditation be given to every collage, based on its rating irrespective of ownership structure of college. Each collage will get autonomous rights and funds. Present system of affiliation of Colleges with Universities will be gradually phased out.
11. For any graduation course if student completes only one year he will get a basic certificate, if he complete two years then he will get Diploma certificate and if he complete full course then he will get degree certificate. Credit system for graduation for each year student will get some credits which he can utilize if he takes break in course and come back again to complete course. So no year of any student will be wasted if he breaks the course in between. It will be permissible to have multiple entry and exit from any course.
12. All the graduation course fees of all Universities will be governed by single authority with capping on each course.
History of Education Policy in India
When India was released from the yoke of British in 1947 and it had it’s first Education Minister, his name was Abul Kalam Azad. Actually it was one of several aliases he used in his life. He never went to any School or University to study. He is stated to be self schooled. He laid down the foundation of formal schooling and education in India. His hip-hop (for want of a better word) policy continued till 1986. (Read more about Abul Kalam here)
The first National Education Policy was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992. More than three decades have passed since previous Policy. The above policy is not only first but it completely throws the earlier policy straight into dustbin. This policy has huge financial implications for those in education industry and were enjoying monopolies created by earlier system. Very soon there shall be sponsored protests and agitations. However the lock-down would be a great help for the Government.
The detailed highlights of National Education Policy 2020 can be accessed here:
Sandeep Bhalla's Blog 