Five
years, two committees and 115,000 consultations later, India’s proposed
new education policy (NEP) is still a work in progress.
Back in the 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto promised a new education policy that would “meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement...".
The NEP assumes significance as it comes after a gap of nearly 30 years and will be a key document for a burgeoning sector that has a direct impact on 290 million students or almost 25% of India’s population.
Once in place, the new policy will have to deal with a country that has changed significantly post-liberalisation, lack of jobs and the industry 4.0 phenomenon that makes routine work redundant, putting humans in competition with machines.
However, procrastination has held up a policy that has already been discussed for five years and drafted by two committees following wide consultation from village panchayat upwards. With only months to go for general elections, there is hardly any time left for the policy to get parliamentary approval.
The NEP will likely not see the light of day during the present government.
Note
India’s first education policy was framed in 1968 based on the famed Kothari Commission report, the second in 1986 and the third—a revision of the 1986 policy—in 1992.
The Annual Status of Education Report shows that half the students (50.3%) in schools lack basic reading ability. The situation with regard to arithmetic is equally abysmal—just 44.1% of class VIII students can do simple divisions.
Back in the 2014 general elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s manifesto promised a new education policy that would “meet the changing dynamics of the population’s requirement...".
The NEP assumes significance as it comes after a gap of nearly 30 years and will be a key document for a burgeoning sector that has a direct impact on 290 million students or almost 25% of India’s population.
Once in place, the new policy will have to deal with a country that has changed significantly post-liberalisation, lack of jobs and the industry 4.0 phenomenon that makes routine work redundant, putting humans in competition with machines.
However, procrastination has held up a policy that has already been discussed for five years and drafted by two committees following wide consultation from village panchayat upwards. With only months to go for general elections, there is hardly any time left for the policy to get parliamentary approval.
The NEP will likely not see the light of day during the present government.
India’s first education policy was framed in 1968 based on the famed Kothari Commission report, the second in 1986 and the third—a revision of the 1986 policy—in 1992.
The Annual Status of Education Report shows that half the students (50.3%) in schools lack basic reading ability. The situation with regard to arithmetic is equally abysmal—just 44.1% of class VIII students can do simple divisions.
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