New Education Policy: The Final Showdown

As the formulation draws to a close and the announcement is imminent, we bring you a short report on what some important forums in the last month discussed about NEP

The making of the New National Policy on Education (NPE) has moved into its final phase with finalization of a 55-page draft and all indications are that the new NPE could be announced soon.

A high ranking officer in the ministry of MHRD, Dr. Shakila T Shamsu, OSD (NEP), Department of Higher Education, said that as now the government position is that the policy is still at drafting stage. While delivering a keynote address at the Globalised Education Forum (GEF) of Indian Chamber of Commerce on 'New Education Policy and the Road Ahead' in New Delhi on Dec 5, Dr. Shamsu, however, indicated that all affiliations to universities by colleges will cease by 2035 as the high education will consolidate and the three categories will become a reality by then.

She also said that extension of Right to Education either ways may come about, but will it be 36 years first or 14-18 years is still a matter of examination as such a decision has financial implications. “When we are talking about a $5 trillion economy, provision of 6perent of GDP of education may become a reality as moving from current 4.8 to 6 is a possibility,” she added, while talking about provisioning of 20% of public expenditure over 10 year period on education. “Some states spend more than this, some less, so are providing a benchmark.”

Dr. Shamsu felt confident that the new draft NEP has done well to address key issues pertaining to both school and higher education. While saying that foundational learning has been put into mission mode and preschool education has been given the required attention, she said that a new approach to pedagogy has been conceptualized while restructuring curriculum into 5+3+3+4 keeping in view the scientific aspect of child growth and cognitive behavior.