Dr. Koj Sambyo. 2020 is the year of new normal, almost all sectors are going through changes but one of the major reforms will be in Bharat’s education system starting with changing the name of the ministry from Ministry of Human Resource Development to Ministry of Education through new education policy 2020.
All Northeastern states have welcomed this new policy with an open hand that focuses on practice based education. It has touched the basic necessity of Bharatiya education giving emphasis on multi-disciplinary choices as per interest of the students that will recognize, identify and foster the unique capabilities of each student through holistic development in both academic and non-academic spheres.
The vision of policy is rooted in the Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming India, that is Bharat, sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high quality education to all and thereby making India a global knowledge superpower.
The curriculum and pedagogy must develop a deep sense of respect towards fundamental duties and constitutional values, bonding with one’s country and a conscious awareness of one’s roles and responsibilities in a changing world.
It instills a deep-rooted pride in being Indian, not only in thought but also in spirit, intellect and deed as well as to develop knowledge, skill, values and disposition that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development and living, and global well-being, thereby reflecting a truly global citizen.
The policy is divided into two parts first part is for school education and second one for higher education. In school education the structural changes that have been made is 5+3+3+4 instead of the previous 10+2 system. The policy moves towards a more holistic approach and emphasizes in skill development, critical thinking and creativity than rote learning.
First 5 years focus on foundation where multilevel play/activities will be conducted, now the government schools will have Nursery, LKG and UKG previously it was mostly undertaken by the private institute.
The policy also encourages the use of mother/ home language for the teaching learning process till middle stage this will increase the understanding of the concept.
National curriculum framework for school education (NCFSE) will be undertaken by NCERT and will be made available in all the regional languages. All textbooks shall aim to contain the essential core material deemed important for national level and at the same time can contain the supplementary material as per local context and need. Such a curriculum will impart the importance of both national level and local level.
In a state like Arunachal Pradesh where most of the community don’t have written scripts thus very few content/ books are available this curriculum framework will boost the confidence of local writers/ academicians thus more and more books/ contains will come up in the regional languages.
Another aspect is giving equal importance or weightage to curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular activities in the school level and inclusion of contemporary subjects in the school education.
In secondary level the students can choose subjects as per their interest. Now students can take physics along with political science or music. More emphasis is also given to vocational training and internship that will add the new skill of carpentry, electric work etc. as per state and local community.
One of the things that are welcome by the parents is the formation of National Professional Standards for teachers by 2022. Through this quality of the teachers will be accessed. That will further improve the quality of the education in locality.
Four years multi-disciplinary higher education courses have been introduced in which multiple exit system would be implemented that means if a student leave the college in 1st year, certificate would be issued, if leave in 2nd year diploma certificate would be issued, leave in 3rd year then degree certificate will be given and completes 4th year then honorary certificate would be given.
All the colleges and universities would be multi disciplinary that emphasize teaching and research so there would be research intensive universities, teaching intensive universities and autonomous degree granting colleges.
Universities would do away with affiliation of colleges. Autonomy would be given to the colleges. Now colleges can make rules as per requirement of the locality. The faulty will be recruited only for the particular designated colleges so no tension of transfer/posting of the faculties.
There is flexibility in design of master programmes, two years for degree certificate, one year for honorary certificate and integrated five years for bachelor/master programme. The MPhil programme has been discontinued.
This policy envisions the establishment of a National Research Foundation (NRF). The overall goal of the NRF will be to enable a culture of research to permeate through our universities and colleges. This will look after the distribution of the research projects in universities.
Regulatory system will be having multiple checks and balance that will combat and stop the commercialization of the higher education and it implies for both government and private universities.
Present policy emphasizes on Adult education and lifelong learning and importance is given to India language, arts and culture. The National Education Policy 2020 recognizes the importance of leveraging the advantages of technology while acknowledging its potential risks and dangers.
NEP 2020 aims to make the education system more holistic and skill-oriented and address long cited complaints of rote learning. Curriculum will be designed according to the specific need of different categories. Students can take exams upto 2 occasions one for regular exam and other for improvement if desired. Total duration of the school would be the same as the present existing system but how the years are spent will change.
The structures of the higher educational institute also get major changes and will be moving towards holistic and multidisciplinary. Major regulatory bodies like UGC and AICTE will be merged and will form a single body. Emphasis is given to Indian languages, arts and culture and vocational even in higher education. We have reached 50% of the path and another 50% of the task has to be done for proper and timely implementation of the policy in the ground level where the government and the entire stack holder should play a crucial role.
(Dr. Koj Sambyo)
Co-coordinator, BSM, Arunachal Prant
Assistant Professor
Computer Science and Engineering Department
NIT, Arunachal Pradesh