The Union Cabinet today approved the proposed new Education Policy 2020. The key changes proposed are as below:
* HRD Ministry to be renamed Education Ministry
* Education sector to get 6% of GDP from 1.7% earlier
* MPhil courses to be discontinued. All courses at UG, PG and PhD levels to be inter-disciplinary
* Even engineering institutions, such as IITs, will move towards more holistic and multidisciplinary education with more arts and humanities. Students of arts and humanities will aim to learn more science
* The undergraduate degree courses will be of either 3 or 4- year duration, with multiple exit options. A certificate course after completing 1 year in a discipline or field, including vocational and professional areas, or a diploma after 2 years of study, or a Bachelor’s degree after a 3-year programme. The 4-year multidisciplinary Bachelor’s programme, however, shall be the preferred option
* All higher education institutions, except legal and medical colleges, to be governed by a single body
* All districts to have at least one large multi-disciplinary institution by 2030
* Board exams in schools will be low stakes, and test actual knowledge instead of “rote learning”
* Home language, mother tongue or regional language to be medium of instruction till class 5
* Three languages learned by children will be the choices of States, regions, and of the students, so long as at least two of the three languages are native to India
* Report cards will be a comprehensive report on skills and capabilities instead of just marks and statements
* Common norms will be in place for public and private higher education institutions
* Fees charged by institutes to be capped
* Common entrance examination to be held for admission to universities and higher education institutions
* The ministry also announced that there will be holistic and multidisciplinary education in terms of flexibility of subjects
* Other features include graded academic, administrative and financial autonomy of institutions
* E-courses to be developed in regional languages; virtual labs to be developed and a National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) is being created
* National mission will focus on basic literacy and basic numeracy
* National Assessment Center, PARAKH has been created for assessment of students
* Major changes to be introduced in pedagogical structure of curriculum with no rigid separation between streams; all separations between vocational and academic and curricular and extra-curricular will also be removed
* School curriculum to be reduced to be reduced to core concepts and there will be integration of vocational education from class 6
* Every child to learn at least one vocational course in school and be exposed to several more. Sampling of important vocational crafts, such as carpentry, electric work, metal work, gardening, pottery making, etc., as decided by States and local communities during Grades 6-8
* By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education
* A 10-day bagless period sometime during Grades 6-8 to intern with local vocational experts such as carpenters, gardeners, potters, artists, etc.
* Similar internship opportunities to learn vocational subjects to students throughout Grades 6-12, including holiday periods. Vocational courses through online mode will also be made available
* The Policy targets to increase Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035
* At least 3.5 crore new seats to be added to higher education institutes
* School complexes to be used for adult education courses in after-school hours
* Under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence, State Governments may encourage opening NCC wings in their secondary and higher secondary schools, including those located in tribal dominated areas
* Free boarding facilities will be built – matching the standard of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas particularly for students who from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds
* National Scholarship portal for SC, ST, OBC, SEDGs students to be expanded
* A dedicated unit for the purpose of orchestrating the building of digital infrastructure, digital content and capacity building will be created in the MHRD to look after the e-education needs of both school and higher education
* By 2030, minimum educational qualification for teaching will be a 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree
* The nutrition and health (including mental health) of children will be addressed, through healthy meals and regular health check-ups, and health cards will be issued to monitor the same
* Students of class 6 and onwards will be taught coding in schools as a part of 21st century skills, school education secretary said
* High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries. Selected universities like those from among the top 100 universities in the world will be facilitated to operate in India
Indian Political Debate 