Union Education Minister questions rationale of Karnataka Government over scrapping of NEP in the state

 Union Education & Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan while addressing media today raised serious concerns over the Karnataka Government’s decision to scrap NEP in the state. The Minister asked about the repercussions, which such a decision will have for the younger generation.

He asked whether the Karnataka Government was opposed to early childhood care and education as a part of formal education, wondering if the State Government did not want children to achieve Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by the time they complete grade 2. He questioned if the State Government opposed Indian toys, games, play-based learning and ‘Chennemane’ in Karnataka.

He further asked if the State Government opposed education in Kannada and other Bharatiya Bhasha, along with the conducting of examinations, like NEET, CUET, JEE in Kannada, in a transparent manner.

He questioned if the State Government opposed multidisciplinary education, integration of vocational education, physical education, arts and sports as critical areas of study in school education. Does the State Government not want youth of Karnataka to avail world-class research facilities through the National Research Foundation, he further asked.

He questioned the decision of the State Government as to why it did not want students to learn about new and emerging technologies and consequent life skills in the 21st century, while utilising new textbooks relevant for 21st century education. He expressed concerns over the missed opportunities for earning while learning for Karnataka students.  Does the State Government not want teachers’ capacity building to be strengthened through reimagining DIETs and SCERTs as centers-of-excellence, Shri Pradhan further questioned. It’s a decision which would impact the collective future of the state,known for its IT prowess, in the future.

He asked the State Government not to weaponize Education, as such statements on NEP compromise the interests of students of Karnataka.

One need to spend 4 years instead of 3, to graduate in honours degree.

Students looking to earn an honours degree in undergraduate courses will have to pursue four-year programmes under new regulations likely to be announced by the University Grants Commission this week,  PTI reported.

“Students will be able to get a UG [undergraduate] degree in three years on completion of 120 credits (measured through the number of academic hours) and a UG honours degree in four years on completion of 160 credits,” the news agency quoted from the draft Curriculum and Credit Framework of the University Grants Commission.

At present, students get an honours degree after completing three years of undergraduate programmes. Under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, universities and colleges will offer four-year undergraduate degrees with multiple exit and entry options. Several universities, including DU, and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), have already adopted the programme.

A senior UGC official, requesting anonymity, said, “There will be only one honours degree, that is four-year UG with honours or honours with research. The regulations will be applicable for students who will be enrolled under the new norms from this year onwards.”

Salient Features of NEP, 2020

Salient Features of NEP, 2020

The National Education Policy 2020 was unveiled on July 29, 2020. The National Education Policy 2020 makes a number of changes to both higher education and secondary education, including technical education. The National Education Policy 2020 lists a number of action items/activities that should be implemented in both higher education and schooling.

The following are specifics of NEP 2020’s key features:

• Ensuring universal access at all educational levels, from preschool to grade 12;

• Ensuring that all children between the ages of 0 and 3 receive high-quality early care and education;

• New Pedagogical and Curricular Framework (5+3+3+4);

• There are no clear distinctions between the humanities and sciences, academic and extracurricular pursuits, or career paths;

• Launching a national initiative on basic literacy and numeracy;

• Promoting multilingualism and Indian languages as a priority; The home language, mother tongue, local language, or regional language will be used as the primary medium of teaching until at least Grade 5, but ideally until Grade 8 and beyond.

• Assessment reforms, including up to two Board Exams per school year, one for the main exam and one for improvement, if requested;

• The establishment of the PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) National Assessment Center;

• Educational equity and inclusion, with a focus on Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs);

• Special Education Zones and a specific gender inclusion fund for underprivileged areas and groups;

• Effective and open procedures for hiring teachers and performance evaluations based on merit;

• Ensuring that all resources are accessible via school complexes and clusters;

•State School Standards Authority (SSSA) establishment 

• Promotion of vocational education throughout the K–12 and tertiary systems of instruction;

• raising GER to 50% in higher education;

• Multidisciplinary, all-encompassing education with numerous points of access and departure;

• NTA will conduct a Common Entrance Exam for HEI Admission;

• The founding of an academic bank of credit

•Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs) establishment ;

•The National Research Foundation (NRF) was established.

•”Light yet Tight” regulation 

• The Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), a single overarching umbrella organisation, with independent bodies for standard setting (the General Education Council), funding (the Higher Education Grants Council), accreditation (the National Accreditation Council [NAC]), and regulation (the National Higher Education Regulatory Council [NHERC]), is responsible for promoting the higher education sector, including teacher education but excluding medical and legal education;

• Growing open and distant education to boost the gross enrollment ratio (GER).

• Globalization in Education

• The higher education system will include professional education as a core component. The goal of institutions in these and other sectors, including independent technical universities, law schools, medical schools, and agricultural colleges, is to become multidisciplinary institutions.

• 4-year integrated stage- and subject-specific teacher education degree in education

• Creating a National Mentoring Mission.

•The establishment of the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), an independent organisation that would serve as a forum for the unrestricted discussion of ways to use technology to improve instruction, evaluation, planning, and administration.

•The appropriate use of technology in all educational levels.

•Objectives Reaching 100% adult and juvenile literacy.

• The commercialization of higher education will be fought and stopped by a number of methods with checks and balances.

• As a “not for profit” company, all educational institutions will be held to the same standards of audit and disclosure.

• The Center and the States will collaborate to boost public spending on education so that it reaches 6% of GDP as soon as possible.

• The Central Advisory Board of Education should be strengthened to maintain coordination and to put more of an emphasis on quality education overall.

By 2030, the NEP, 2020 aims to raise the GER in preschool through secondary education to 100%, while it will rise from 26.3% in 2018 to 50% in higher education, including vocational education.

What is new National Education Policy and the changes in the education system of India

 What is new National Education Policy ( NEP) 2022?

The National Education Policy ( NEP ) 2022 is a policy document released by the government of India on 29th July 2020.
As education is important sector for the country’s  development, Government must be focus on education sector of the country. Due to the importance of education, government make many changes to improve this sector and for providing better education to the people of India.
It generally focuses on the students individual needs. It aims to provide them with access to world class education. It also make sure that the students don’t have must stress regarding to their studies as we all know that day by day students get depressed because of not clearing their exams so government also put their efforts to make the education system more flexible and adaptive.
The new national policy lays down objectives for improving the quality of the education system. The policy aims at creating a ” Global Knowledge Superpower” in the field of education. The policy also makes it mandatory for schools and colleges to make their curriculum flexible and holistic.

It changes many things in the education system of India as this initiative is taken by looking the perspective of students, teachers , parents , education experts , and civil society organizations.

New Education Policy ( NEP ) important points .

The New Education Policy aims to give quality education to all the people of India whether they belong to the lower caste or upper caste. Government make education affordable to all the students.
Some are the important points of New Education Policy – 
1. The policy aims to provide quality and adaptive education to all the children in the age between 3- 18 years .
2. Students can choose different subjects while studying in college and inhance their skills .
3. Students will now be checked on their ability to apply concept to solving real problems and giving better decisions rather than on how well they remember things from books. 
4. Now student will focus on studying 3 language in the school premises 1. Regional 2. Hindi 3. English.
5. To make it easier for students to learn regional languages, instruction in the first five grades will be taught in those languages instead of English.
6. Policy focuses on using different technologies to make study more accessible as now everything you will get online without a doubt.
7. Now education is given in same quality whether the students belong to urban area or rural area they will get the same quality of  education.
8. The policy propose several measures to improve the quality of teaching, such as mandatory teacher eligibility tests, teacher professional development programmes , and teacher education programmes at the elementary, secondary and tertiary levels.
9. This policy introduce a new 5+3+3+4 education structure, which moves away from the current 10+2 system.
10. It aims to increase the Gross Enrollment Ratio in higher education to 50 percentage by 2035.
11. The Government has announced that all higher education institutes will be governed by a single regulator, except the Medical and Law colleges .
12. The policy proposes to set up a National Higher Education Regulatory Council to oversee the regulation of higher education institutions.

New Education Policy : Key Highlights.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister have approved the new National Education Policy 2020, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors. This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.

The New Education Policy 2020 has come up as a in the education sector as it aims at creating an equitable and vibrant knowledge for the society by providing high-quality education to all. Also it encourages to develop a deep sense of respect towards the fundamental rights, duties and Constitutional values, bonding with one’s country, and a conscious awareness of one’s role and responsibilities in a changing world. The New Education Policy believes in instilling skills, values, and dispositions that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development and living, and global well-being, thereby reflecting a truly global citizen.

The key highlights of NEP are.

Early Childhood Care Education

The policy focuses on the importance of providing education to children between the age group of 3-6 years at an early age. The kids in the age group 3-5 years will be provided education through the current set-up of pre-schools and anganwadis, and those between the ages of 5-6 years will be included in the schooling system by 2025.

School Education for All

Aiming to make education from pre-primary level till the 12th grade universally accessible, NEP 2020 is looking to achieve 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio in providing the school education by 2030.
New Curriculum & Pedagogical Structure.

The new policy has eliminated the 10+2 education system and replaced it with a more organized 5+3+3+4 structure, that is, 5 years of primary education (for the age group 3-8 years), 3 years of preparatory stage (for the age group 8-11 years), 3 years of middle stage (for the age group 11-14 years), and 4 years of secondary stage (for the age group 14-18 years).

The Flexibility of Choosing Courses

There will be no rigid demarcations between vocational and non-vocational, science and arts, curricular and extra-curricular activities, thus providing equal emphasis on all the subjects and courses. Also, the students will have more choices and flexibility while picking up the subjects they want to study so that their educational path is more focused on their skills and interests.

Emphasis on Mother Tongue & Multilingualism

The policy emphasizes on the inclusion of local language in the curriculum with the medium of instructions in all the schools till at least class 5 (but preferably till 8th standard and beyond) to be either in mother tongue or regional language. Subsequently, foreign languages will be offered as options for students in secondary schools. It also states that Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardized across the country.

Assessment System

As per the new policy, though the board examination for 10th and 12th grades will continue to be in place, the structure of the exams will be reformed to make them easier by focusing on core competencies of the students, thus eliminating the need of coaching classes at these stages. Also, the school examinations will be conducted by proper authorities only in grades 3, 5, and 8.

Multidisciplinary Education

The students will be provided with multi-disciplinary holistic education at the undergraduate level to ensure an integrated exposure with multiple entry and exit options. The 3 or 4-year duration undergraduate degree will have exit options (with certifications) during the entire course – a certificate after 1 year, diploma after 2 years and/or a bachelor’s degree after 3 years.

Curtailment of Academic Freedom.

Academic freedom can be defined as a right to educate and learn any diverse course without intervention or any objection. Academic freedom is a very broad spectrum topic that has different meanings when used at different strata. Institutional academic freedom is referred to the right of an institution to teach any diverse course without interference from the government. Whereas the right of an individual professor to teach his/her curriculum without undue interference from university is known as individual academic freedom.

According to the All India Survey in 2018-19, India has 993 universities, 39,931 colleges and 10,725 standalone institutions. Of these, 385 universities and 78% of the colleges are privately managed while 394 universities and 60.53% of the colleges are located in rural areas. The enrolment in higher education in India is 37.4 million persons (19.2 million males and 18.2 million females). The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education in India is 26.3%. Certain categories of citizens have less access to higher education – for instance, Scheduled Castes have a GER of 23% and Scheduled Tribes have a GER of 17.2% as compared to the national GER of 26.3%. Muslims constitute only 5.2% of the student population, compared to their overall percentage of about 14.2% in the population.

A new education policy (NEP) has been introduced in the year 2020 that promises, certain reforms in the field of education in India. Under this policy 5+3+3+4 structure will be followed and rigid separation between science, arts and commerce stream will not be there in the education system. Furthermore, internships and vocational courses, as well as workshops, will be included in the study module after 5th grade. And coding would be a must for 6th grader. No doubt, NEP could help up to very extent to reform the education in India if it would be implemented as stated.

Academic freedom becomes challenging when authorities put limitations on the right to express ideology. To protect favoured position, officials or authorities deny the rightfulness of academic enquiry which makes it even more complex. Scholars, researchers and institutions should be free to conduct research and publish papers in whatsoever field that is suitable and convenient for the study. Academic freedom is necessary and it must be protected.

References

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom

https://www.britannica.com/topic/academic-freedom

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Education_Policy_2020

The new syllabus will be taught from 2022 : PM

“Marksheet has become ‘Prestige Sheet’, New Education Policy will get children out of the race of marks.”

Amid preparations for implementation of the National Education Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, 11th September, 2020 made it clear that from the year 2022, the students will be studying from the curriculum being prepared under the new education policy. Referring to the current problems of the education system, the PM said that a big problem is that instead of learning based education in our country, the education system with marks and marksheets dominates. The truth is that the marksheet has now become the mental pressure sheet and the family’s prestige sheet, that is, it has become a question of prestige. In a virtual address to the two-day conference of teachers associated with school education in the 21st century, the Prime Minister said that removing children from the stress of education is one of the main objectives of the National Education Policy. He said that the exam should be done in such a way that students do not have to be unnecessarily pressurized. At the same time, efforts should also be made not to evaluate the students from one examination only, but to have different aspects of their development. This is the reason why the National Education Policy has proposed a report card covering all aspects of students in place of marksheet, which will include the student’s specific ability, capability, attitude, talent, skill, overall efficiency etc. “When we celebrate the completion of 75 years of independence, students will move towards a new future with a new curriculum.” This course will be visionary, futuristic and scientific. At the same time, the PM also replied to those who questioned the language and said that here we need to understand that language is the medium of education. Finally, the Government has taken a great step for taking forward the country’s education system.

Also, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told- Why we had to bring a new education policy

During this time, the PM also explained the reason behind the National Education Policy. He said that every region of the world has changed in the last three decades, every system has changed. There is hardly any aspect of life in these three decades that is the same as before. But what had not changed was our education system. It was running on the old pattern. Changing the old education system was as important as changing a spoiled black board.

India’s New Education Policy of 2020

India’s union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Education Policy 2020, engraving a way for transforming reforms in school and higher education sector in the country. Union cabinet also renamed the HRD Ministry as Education Ministry. Making the announcement, Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said there would be a single regulator for all higher education institutions and MPhil would be discontinued.

“I congratulate Government of India for giving the country an education policy that will nurture a child’s creative and unique abilities rather than only judging them on their exam scores”, said famous film actor Anil Kapoor in reaction to new education policy.

The National Education Policy was framed in 1986 and modified in 1992. More than three decades have passed since previous Policy. During this period significant changes have taken place in our country, society economy, and the world at large. It is in this context that the education sector needs to gear itself towards the demands of the 21st Century and the needs of the people and the country. Quality, innovation and research will be the pillars on which India will become a knowledge super power. Clearly, a new Education Policy is needed.

The Government had initiated the process of formulating a New Education Policy through the consultation process for an inclusive, participatory and holistic approach, which takes into consideration expert opinions, field experiences, empirical research, stakeholder feedback, as well as lessons learned from best practices.

The Committee for preparation of the draft National Education Policy submitted its report to the Ministry on 31.05.2019. The Draft National Education Policy 2019 (DNEP 2019) was uploaded on MHRD’s website and also at MyGov Innovate portal eliciting views/suggestions/comments of stakeholders, including public. The draft NEP is based on the foundational pillars access, affordability, equity, quality and accountability.

Post submission of Draft Report States/UTs Governments and Government of India Ministries were invited to give their views and comments on Draft National Education Policy 2019. A brief summary of the Draft National Education Policy 2019 was circulated among various stakeholders, which was also translated in 22 languages and uploaded on the Ministry’s website. Meetings with State Education Secretaries of School Education and with State Secretaries of Higher & Technical Education were held.An Education Dialogue with Hon’ble MPs of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Odisha.

A special meeting of CABE on National Education Policy was held. In the meeting, 26 Education Ministers of various States and UTs, representatives of States and Union Territories, Members of CABE, Heads of Autonomous Organisations, Vice Chancellors of Universities, attended the meeting along with senior officials of the Central and State Governments. Around 2 lakh suggestions on the Draft National Education Policy received from various stakeholders. A meeting on Draft NEP 2019 of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development was held on 07.11.2019.

Indian Government also said that “Efforts will be made to incentivize the merit of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and other SEDGs. The National Scholarship Portal will be expanded to support, foster, and track the progress of students receiving scholarships. Private HEIs (Higher Education Institutes) will be encouraged to offer larger numbers of free ships and scholarships to their students.”

A development in the Indian education system and policies were need of the time, demand of the 21st century. It took almost 34 years for India to make changes into its schooling, Higher Education processes.