BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party) in its election manifesto 2019 ‘Sankalp Patra’ mentioned the New Education Policy a part of developmental criteria for education system. Now, after coming into rule it seems that the party has come up with double strength and has started working towards the promises made.
The new HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal has already submitted the draft of New Education Policy in MHRD. This draft includes various inclusions at the school level and higher education level.
List of additions in New Education Policy- At Higher Education Level
– New 4-year flexible degree called Bachelor of Liberal Arts in, which students will be given the option to elect the minors across disciplines, but also exist the course in a more conventional 3-year timeline to earn a BA degree.
– Setting up a National Higher Education Regulatory Authority for a higher education and similar body for schools.
– 4-year integrated stage-specific BED programme will eventually be the minimum degree qualification for teachers.
– Restructuring of Higher Education Institutes into 3 categories
- Focus on world-class research and high quality teaching
- Focus on high quality teaching across disciplines with significant contribution to research
- High quality teaching focused on undergraduate education
– The higher education system will be headed by two missions- Mission Nalanda and Mission Takshashila.
Mission Nalanda
- At least 100 research-focused universities and 500 high-quality universities by 2030.
- Strong emphasis on Indian knowledge systems, Indian languages and ‘Traditional Indian Values of Seva, Ahimsa, Swacchta, Satya, Nishkam Harma’ etc.
Mission Takshashila
- At least 1 high-quality residential institute in or close to each district
- National Research Foundation with an annual grant of Rs. 20,000 crore to fund quality research
- All institutions whether public or private will be allowed to award degrees irrespective of if the ‘University’ name is in their or not
– Panel suggests that undergraduate courses move to a 3 or 4 year duration with multiple exit options allowing for say an advanced diploma in a discipline after completing 2 years of study or a diploma after completing 1 year
– Promotion of Indian and classical languages and setting up 3 new national institutes for Pali, Persian and Prakrit and an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) have also been recommended in NEP.