New Education Policy 2020: Modi Government Set To Create An Educational Revolution After 34 Years With A New Draft | Array Of Changes

The most important sector for any country is its educational system. For any country, if the education system is not proper and robust then no matter how strong that country is, it will stay backward. The Modi government has unveiled a new policy. For many long years, our education system has stayed quite; there are many things that are to be changed. As the generation is changing so does the adaptation of the learning system should change and hopefully, this new policy brings that. This is a revolutionary step that particular education policy has come after over 3 decades. The change is not just in the name of HRD ministry to Education ministry, but the entire education system essentially has been reshaped. Students up till 5th standard will be taught in their mother tongue or regional language, the sabbatical option has also been given to undergrad students.

India has got a new education policy after 34 years and it promises sweeping reform in the entire system of learning. To begin with, the Human Resource Development ministry has been renamed as a ministry of education. Both UGC and the Technical education council have merged. The new policy has overhauled the school and higher education system. Among the big changes in school education, the education medium till five will be in mother tongue its regional language. The new policy is set to focus on Vocational studies. In fact, vocation education will be taught in class 6 with an internship. In a mist to wrap up digital learning- A national educational technology forum will be established. E-courses will be developed in each regional language initially and the virtual lab will also be developed. In higher education, there will be a single regulator for all institutions except for the law and medical stream and M.Phil will be discontinued. The undergraduate degree will be of either three or four years during with multiple exit and options. Giving students the liberty to take a break and continue where they left. Just like how in a bank we can have multiple accounts, like that, in college we can save credits for the students like 1 year- Certificate; 2 years- diploma; 3 year- degree wise. The four-year program may also be reached to a degree if the student completes a rigorous research project. The new education policy comes after liberation for over 6 years. With the coronavirus outbreak destructing learning, changes have also been made to reduce the content of learning in the curriculum.  With these schemes, it hoped to reduce the number dropouts, and as well as bringing innovative learning can enhance the students of India to have education in the level of a developed country. This new education policy is aimed at providing equal opportunities for all students.

Let’s break down the highlights of the new education policy introduced by the Modi government.

Implications in schools:
Essentially, what the education policy has said is that Schooling will be 3 to 18 years old. They have broken it down to different levels as well. It is now set to follow the 5+3+3+4 rule. Five years will be the foundation course; this will be from 3 to 8 years of age. The next 3 years (I.e.) for 9 to 11 year are preparatory courses. And then you have middle education which will be from 11 to 14 years age limit and finally, we have 4 years of secondary learning. The interesting point of this is, that the education policy has also highlighted the regards of 3 language policy- that’s always been there- that will be continued but the local language will be the medium of instruction till class V. This has been somewhat controversial and there has been a lot of shock reactions for this and after that also, what the education policy states are that the local language or the regional language will be the preferred medium of lessons till class VIII as well. So, till class VIII, it could be preferred, but till class V, it’s compulsory. There is flexibility now to choose the subjects. So students who are more interested in choosing arts or sciences will be able to choose these subjects.  There is going to be less stress on board exams, this is a welcome move because the students won’t t have to stress on this examination. Now the most interesting part is that there is going to be a lot more focus on vocational education and on an internship as well. As per the education policy, the internship will start off from class VI to ensure that the students get training in this sector or in the course that they are interested in.

Implication on college students:
There is going to be a common college entrance test. This will happen twice a year; it’s very similar to what we see as the SATs. There will also be a new national testing agency that will be set up for selecting the criteria for the test. A fours year of a bachelor’s program irrespective of the course you choose. Where it’s a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science, it’s going to be a four-year program. Students can also take a break. Therefore, this means that they will have the option of taking a sabbatical and complete the degree later. This wasn’t available in India before which was available in many countries. There is also going to be autonomy for colleges to go ahead and give degrees. This means, that this is not more affiliation with universities. Colleges will have a lot more freedom to hand over the degrees. There is also a proposed fee cap for private institutions with regard to higher learning. This is another welcome step the fee cap is decided upon by authorities of a private institution and this is for higher learning. Another boost with regards to ensuring that there is a lot more correspondence between Indian universities and foreign universities is that Top Indian colleges will be setting up a foreign campus and besides that global varsity will be given a lot more space to enter India and this will ensure that there will be a lot more exchange of education, a lot more exchange of student programs that happen, and these two points will give a boost to them.

This is an amazing decision. This entire framework and the changes that are to be implemented in the education system is a long-awaited one. Our country is filled with diverse people. When any decision is taken there are two sides, those who oppose and those who support. If the government plans to change something, then the people would say why you did such a thing and find fault. If the government doesn’t do anything, then again people would taunt for it’s the ineffectiveness. But the thing is we need to take steps towards progress. In these steps, there will be something that is good as well as things that would contradict our views but taking that step is the most integral part of moving forward. As in that case, this is a step that will bring revolution in education a system and a welcoming one.