New Education Policy, 2019

The Committee for Draft National Education Policy (Chair: Dr K. Kasturirangan) submitted its report on May 31, 2019. The Committee constituted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development proposes an education policy, which seeks to address the challenges of (i) access, (ii) equity, (iii) quality, (iv) affordability, and (v) accountability faced by the current education system.

The draft Policy provides for reforms at all levels of education from school to higher education. It seeks to increase the focus on early childhood care, reform the current exam system, strengthen teacher training, and restructure the education regulatory framework.

It also seeks to set up a National Education Commission, increase public investment in education, strengthen the use of technology and increase focus on vocational and adult education, among others.

School Education

• Early Childhood Care and Education: In addition to problems of access, the Committee observed several quality-related deficiencies in the existing early childhood learning programmes.

These include:

(i) the curriculum that doesn’t meet the developmental needs of children

(ii) lack of qualified and trained teachers

(iii) substandard pedagogy.

(iv) four years of secondary stage (classes nine to 12).

Teacher management: For teacher training, the existing B.Ed. programme will be replaced by a four-year integrated B.Ed. programme that combines high-quality content, pedagogy, and practical training. An integrated continuous professional development will also be developed for all subjects.  Teachers will be required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of continuous professional development training every year.

Regulation of schools: It suggests creating an independent State School Regulatory Authority for each state that will prescribe basic uniform standards for public and private schools.

Also, Read  Lokpal and Lokayukta

Higher Education

The Committee noted that the current higher education system has multiple regulators with overlapping mandates.  it proposes setting up the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA).

The draft Policy recommends separating NAAC from the UGC into an independent and autonomous body. 

Establishment of new higher educational institutions: Currently, higher educational institutions can only be set up by Parliament or state legislatures.  The draft Policy proposes that these institutions could be allowed to be set up through a Higher Education Institution Charter from NHERA.

Restructuring of higher education institutions: Higher education institutions will be restructured into three types:

• research universities focusing equally on research and teaching
• Universities focusing primarily on teaching.
• colleges focusing only on teaching at undergraduate levels. 

 All such institutions will gradually move towards full autonomy – academic, administrative, and financial.
Establishing a National Research Foundation: autonomous body, for funding, mentoring and building the capacity for quality research in India. The Foundation will consist of four major divisions: sciences, technology, social sciences, and arts and humanities.

Moving towards a liberal approach:  making undergraduate programmes interdisciplinary by redesigning their curriculum to include: (a) a common core curriculum and (b) one/two area(s) of specialisation.  Students will be required to choose an area of specialisation as ‘major’, and an optional area as ‘minor’.

Professional development of faculty: The draft Policy recommends the development of a Continuous Professional Development programme and introduction of permanent employment (tenure) track system for faculty in all higher education institutions by 2030. 

Education Governance

Creation of a National Education Commission or Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog, as an apex body for education, to be headed by the Prime Minister. This body will be responsible for developing, implementing, evaluating, and revising the vision of education in the country on a continuous and sustained basis.

Financing Education

• 6% of GDP as public investment in education.
• double the public investment in education from the current 10% of total public expenditure to 20% in the next 10 years

Technology in Education

• National Mission on Education through information and communication technology
• A national education technology forum will also be set up under the mission as an autonomous body, to facilitate decision making on the induction, deployment and technology.
• National Repository on Educational Data: to maintain all the records related to teachers, students and the institutions in digital format.

Vocational Education

• All school students must receive vocational education in at least one vocation in grades nine to 12
• National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education
• A separate fund will be set up for the integration of vocational education into educational institutions.

Adult Education

• Establishing an autonomous Central Institute of Adult Education, as a constituent unit of NCERT, which will develop a National Curriculum Framework for adult education. The Framework will cover five broad areas: foundational literacy and numeracy, critical life skills vocational skills development, basic education, and continuing education.
• Adult Education Centres will be included within the proposed school complexes.

Education and Indian Languages

• The committee recommended that the medium of instruction must either be the home language/mother-tongue/local language till grade five and preferable until grade eight, wherever possible.
• The draft Policy recommended that this three-language formula be continued and flexibility in the implementation of the formula should be provided.

Concerns of the draft policy

• Increased governmental interference: the draft says that the appointments to all the statutory bodies in the higher education sector will have to be made by the Rashtriya Shiksha Ayog headed by the Prime minister.
• Concerns about the language formula.
• Poor level of consultations and deliberations in the preparatory stage
• The act does not suggest any remedy to the contentious section 12(1) (c) of the Right to Education Act.
• The policy draft is silent about the caste, class, gender and religious discrimination within the higher education institutions.
• Setting minimum standards: professional standard-setting bodies, stripped of their regulatory powers and punitive powers, will be reduced to toothless advisory bodies with little relevance to the academy quality maintenance of HEIs.
• Neglected foundational learning: the policy gives less importance to foundational learning with schooling.
• In the case of Early childhood education-MHRD given importance ahead of MWCD.

Way Ahead

• Critics have taken note mainly of the proposal to form Rashtriya Shiksha Ayog (RSA)

Headed by the PM –best to recast the RSA into a body similar to GST council comprising educational minister from each state.

• In the case of three language formula, there should be a larger political consensus such that the concerns of the imposition of Hindi should be addressed.
• for any idea to come true in this country it has to be politically acceptable, socially desirable, technologically feasible, financially viable, administratively doable and judicially tenable.