THE National Education Policy (NEP) was promulgated in 2020 by the Government of India with the avowed aim to universalise education by focusing on its accessibility and affordability, as well as on its quality and accountability, whilst ensuring its equitable distribution. Thereby, the intention was not only to bridge the gap between existing learning outcomes, but even more so to provide a high quality of education from early childhood to the tertiary level for all learners, regardless of their social or economic backgrounds. In this way, the NEP proposes to revise and revamp the education sector in India by warranting foundational literacy and numeracy for all students. In particular, at the primary level, an inclusive pedagogic approach (emphasising the importance of multilingualism) has been recommended, whereby the focus is on reducing the burden of rote learning, and instead, promoting critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

 

This new pedagogy is to be realised by introducing appropriate teachers’ training programmes, and equipping classrooms with digital learning devices so that the existing digital divide can be mitigated. In higher education, too, it is proposed that the existing hard separation between the humanities and natural sciences be softened. – Thus, as we celebrate the third anniversary of the NEP 2020, we consider it opportune to provide following brief evaluation of its impact in educational institutions throughout the country. In the context of school education, the introduction of a multidisciplinary and holistic approach right from nursery school up to university level is a welcome innovation. The initiated modus operandi, namely to ‘educate, encourage and enlighten’ young receptive minds will, on the one hand, provide students with life-skills, opening up more career prospects, and on the other hand, it will give individual students greater freedom – either in selecting a syncretic course of studies or in majoring in a discipline of their choice, with the ultimate aim of entering the academic profession.

 

Further, the much needed emphasis on teachers’ training courses, combined with a more rigorous selection system, mediated through Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs), as well as digital teacher enrollment procedures, will streamline recruitment and simultaneously improve the quality of teachers, at all levels. Most importantly, the preference given to instruction in the mother tongue, at primary and secondary levels, is pedagogically the best method for inculcating a child with the foundational skills of speaking, reading, writing and counting. Similarly, the emphasis on ‘hands-on’ education and the inclusion of community-intensive and environment-based activities, alongside classroom teaching, is in line with Gandhian principles of Nai Talim, where the head, hand and heart unite for a holistic educational experience.

 

However, more aspects of such a holistic pedagogy could be integrated further to ensure that children become self-reliant through their education and, as adults, are able to use their acquired knowledge and skills for managing their livelihood. It should also be mentioned that the NEP 2020 has endeavoured to attenuate the detrimental stress and tension due to the influx of examinations for school-going children: by restructuring the existing rigid method of assessment from a summative report, that depends on rote learning, to an innovative one, defined by parameters such as competency and engaged performance., Teachers will be able to better track a child’s growth, as well as its receptivity and adaptability to the specifically-designed course of studies. In the context of tertiary education, making it mandatory for doctoral students to function as teaching assistants is a much needed intervention that will professionally prepare doctoral candidates to transition into holding faculty positions in colleges and universities. Needless to say, the establishment of the National Research Foundation (NRF) for funding research in all disciplines will ensure a steady flow of financial investment and proper budgetary allocation for different research topics. Consequently, an institutionalised check will arrest the extensive wastage of resources that often remained unaccounted for in unsupervised departments and research centres. Also welcome is the NRF’s drive for promoting vernacular languages, an initiative that should also include the diverse groups of the subcontinent’s tribal languages and cultures. In this connection, too, the ongoing endeavour to reproduce scientific study material in vernacular languages is praiseworthy, but the already existing large body of literature in the vernacular also needs to be acknowledged, with steps taken to popularise it in the mainstream.

 

However, there are certain aspects of the NEP 2020 that may require reconsideration. One crucial issue is the incorporation of volunteer teachers in place of a regularly paid, permanent faculty. Albeit relying on voluntary pedagogical support involves people from the local community, nonetheless, this ad hoc practice (of unsystematically enlisting unqualified volunteers) is likely to have a detrimental impact on students whose course of studies will consequently lack consistency in structure and content. The introduction of multiple entry and exit points at the college and university level is a commendable innovation that aims to provide opportunities for students who may be less academically inclined. It enables them to embark on a professional apprenticeship with a recognised educational certificate. However, there is a flip side to this innovation, namely, for students aspiring to pursue a career in research, the elimination of the M. Phil programme deprives them of the chance to receive essential training in research methods and academic writing. As a result, the quality of research at the doctoral level may be negatively impacted, potentially hampering the advancement of research in the long run. A well-defined road map and implementation strategy needs to be put in place for the benefit of educational institutions poses obstacles. (The writers are Research Dean at the Gandhi Research Foundation (GRF), Jalgaon, Maharashtra and a Research Assistant at the GRF)