PM SHRI Schools

National Education Policy 2020:

• The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was announced to transform the education system in the country and to replace the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. 
• NEP 2020 is founded on the five guiding pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability. 

Highlights of the Policy:

1. Early Childhood Care & Education:

• The policy places early learning at the heart of school reform, recognising that over 85% of brain development happens before age six.  
• It replaces the current 10+2 structure in school education with a new 5+3+3+4 structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.

• The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling.

2. School Education:

• The policy aims to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in preschool to secondary level by 2030. 
• There will be no rigid separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extra-curricular activities, between vocational and academic streams. 
• Vocational education will start in schools from the 6^th grade, and will include internships. 
• A National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy will be set-up to focus on early language and mathematical skills from Grades 1 to 3 by 2025. 
• The medium of instruction until at least class 5 (and preferably till class 8) should be home language or mother tongue or local/regional language.  
• The policy gives the freedom to the state, region, and child to choose three languages to be learned. 

3. Higher Education:

• The policy aims to increase GER in higher education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035.  
• By 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall aim to become multidisciplinary institutions, each of which will aim to have 3,000 or more students.  
• There shall, by 2030, be at least one large multidisciplinary institution in or near every district.  
• Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges.  
• Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single umbrella body for the entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education.  
• Internationalization of education will be facilitated through both institutional collaborations, and student and faculty mobility and allowing entry of top world ranked Universities to open campuses in our country. 
• A new entity – National Research Foundation (NRF) – will be set up to catalyze and expand research and innovation across the country.  
• A National Mission for Mentoring will be established, with a large pool of outstanding senior/retired faculty, to provide mentoring/professional support to university/college teachers.

4. Others Focus Areas:

• An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology for school and higher education. 
• NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups. 
• A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), will be set up as a standard-setting body for all recognized school boards of India. 
• National Institute for Pali, Persian and Prakrit and Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) to be set up. 
• By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education. 
• The policy also aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy. 
• The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in the Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.