National Education Policy 1986 Vs National Education Policy 2020 – A Comparative Study

Abstract

Education is continuing its journey since man is on earth. It may be the nature taught man in the yester years, gurukulas in the golden period of many kings, Government Schools and colleges’ post-independence era and convents, international schools, deemed universities in the 21st century, its common objective of all these institutions is to educate the human race. Education is not just reading the books and getting a degree from a University, it is the holistic development of an individual physically, mentally, financially and economically. The aim of education is to bring overall development of an individual and make him today a productive citizen, for tomorrow’s nation. Every country develops its education system to express and promote its unique socio-cultural identity and to meet the growing demand of job and career opportunities. The country has reached a stage in economic and technological progress and efforts must be made to ensure that the fruits of change reach all the sections of the society. The National Education Policy- 1986 focused on common curriculum framework that contains a common core along with other components that are flexible. Child-centric approach is given prominence in elementary education, followed by secondary education giving prominence to girl child education and SC, ST and BC categories of education. The National Education Policy-2020, which is reformed after 34 years, emphasized more on holistic approach with multi-disciplinary courses and students are facilitated with bucket system of choosing subjects of their interest. This paper focuses on the comparative study on the highlighted aspects of NEP of both 1986 and 2020.