Exactly after a month, when he spoke on the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in great detail, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today (Sep 7) again shared his views on the policy in the inaugural session of Governors’ Conference on National Education Policy.’ While welcoming the wide-ranging debate and discussion over the policy, he called on the governors to hold similar conferences on state level before September 25 so that a proper understanding is developed over it. The conference was also graced by the President of India and was attended by Governors & Lt. Governors of various states, UTs & Vice Chancellors of all the State Universities.
PM said that sweeping reforms are bound to create doubts in the minds of stakeholders and therefore it is necessary to take everybody along. Questions like how about curriculum design, content in local languages, means and resources all are questions are but natural. Emphasizing need of maximum flexibility in the implementation process, PM said every aspect of academic, technical and vocational education has to be brought out of silos and simultaneously the administrative layers will have to be reduced.
Saying that NEP 2020 is not a policy of the Government but of the country just like foreign and defence, Modi said there is an all round acceptance of the policy and that there is a feeling that the reforms should have been introduced in the previous education policy itself. He appreciated that there is a healthy debate on the policy and that it is necessary as the NEP is not only directed at reforming the education system but also at giving a new direction to the social and economic fabric of 21st century India. He said the policy aims at making India Self- Reliant or AatmaNirbhar.
He said that NEP is important because it will give a direction to the economic and social life of 21st century. “The focus is on learning than study, beyond curriculum to critical thinking and more than process its emphasis is on passion, practicality and performance,” he added. He said the new education policy focuses on learning outcomes and teacher training and empowering every student.
He also talked about focus of policy on foundational learning, languages, access and assessments. Prime Minister said that culture, language, traditions at foundation levels makes education easy and simple.
PM said that the policy has made a bold attempt to change the one size fits all notion in the education system. He also spoke about choices and interests of youth being honored in this policy. He said that burden of bag , exams, expectations of family and society have been putting pressure on students and now the attempt is to liberate the society so that he or she pursues stream of his/her interest and aptitude.
He also talked about grade autonomy for institutions, healthy competition and rewards while batting for opening the higher sector for foreign universities. He said that the new education policy aims at making India a Knowledge Economy in the 21st century. He added the new education policy also allows for offshore campuses of the top international universities in India which will address the issue of Brain Drain.
Speaking about technology use and solutions, PM citing videoblogs said that a number of youth have taken to streaming sites and offer coaching and other lessons, which poor students could never afford and therefore technological solutions need to be promoted as it is reducing the imbalance of access to knowledge.
Prime Minister called for implementing the NEP-2020 in Letter and Spirit.
