National Education Policy 2020: What is in it for a student, a parent, a teacher, or us, as a Higher Education Institution/University?

Abstract

Ministry of Human Resource Development of Government of India has projected an elaborate and all-encompassing National Education Policy 2020 (NEP2020). Before independence, the education in India was under the complete control of the “Masters, the British Empire.” The education policies, like the one drawn by Macaulay, as would be obvious, were not for providing any quality education to the Indians, but to churn out the “Babus;” clerks and bureaucrats, to serve the masters, pure and simple. After independence, the society went through series of changes, policies were charted and certain reforms were brought in, but the impact was still not achieved. In 2015, the GOI adapted, “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SD)” and since then the impetus has been initiated. The final culmination of a long drawn and all-inclusive process is NEP2020. NEP2020 has been a very elaborate planning document. The salient features of the issues, principles, aims, vision, challenges and solutions have been dealt with in this article. The main focus has been on the higher education and its implementation. Due importance also has been accorded to other issues such as vocational education, research and online and digital education to mention a few. Overall, it is a commendable and a very positive step forward on the part of the government. Only the time will judge, how much net effective output is actually garnered.