New Delhi (The Hawk): Central Government, State and UT Government have taken several initiatives for implementation of National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) details of which are as under:-
In School Education, a number of initiatives have been taken such as PM SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) for upgradation of schools (A total of 6448 schools were selected and Rs. 630.11 crore has been released to 6207 PM SHRI schools in 27 States/UTs along with KVS/NVS as first installment); National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy (NIPUN Bharat);Vidya-Pravesh–School Preparation Module; PM e-VIDYA for digital/online/on-air education; DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) as One Nation One Digital Platform; National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF FS); Jadui Pitara for children between the age group of 3 to 8 years; National Curriculum Framework for School Education; NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads' and Teachers' Holistic Advancement) 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 an Integrated Teacher Training Programme for different stages of school education; National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) for creating a unifying national digital infrastructure with 1500+ Micro courses, 5 billion+ Learning sessions, 12 billion+ QR codes, 20K+ ecosystem participants, 15K+ Micro improvements ongoing across various linked building blocks; “New India Literacy Programme or ULLAS” targeting all non-literates age 15 years and above, etc.
Samagra Shiksha Scheme has been fully aligned with the recommendation of NEP 2020, with a total financial outlay of Rs. 2,94,283.04 crore which includes a Central share of Rs. 1,85,398.32 crore. PM Poshan Shakti Nirman Yojna has also been aligned with the recommendation of NEP 2020.
National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) has been set up to fulfil the objectives of setting norms, standards, guidelines and implement activities related to student assessment.
New policy on weight of School bags with focus on reducing the weight of school bags has been circulated to States/UTs.
4-year Integrated Teacher Education Program has been introduced. Recognition has been granted to 42 institutions including IITs, NITs, RIEs, IGNOU and Government Colleges for the Academic Session 2023-24.
National Mission for Mentoring (NMM) has also been introduced to create a large pool of outstanding professionals who are willing to provide mentoring to school teachers. NMM is being piloted in 30 Central schools. Also, a school volunteer management program namely Vidyanjali has been started to strengthen Government and Government aided schools through community and private sector involvement across the country. So far 671512 Govt. and Govt aided schools have onboarded and 443539 volunteers have registered on the Vidyanjali Portal.
In Higher Education, various initiatives / reforms have been carried out for implementation of NEP 2020. For learner centric education, National Credit Framework (NCrF), National Higher Education Qualification Framework, Academic Bank of Credit (ABC), multiple entry/exit etc. have been introduced. So far 1667 Universities/INIs/HEIs are on boarded on ABC portal & 2.75 Crore students are registered. To ensure access to high quality education with equity and inclusion, courses are being offered in Indian Languages; entrance exams such as JEE, NEET, CUET are conducted in 13 Indian languages; 100 books for UG students on various subjects launched in 12 Indian Languages; and 20 Technical books of first year have been translated in Indian Languages.
To promote digital learning by leveraging technology, at present 95 Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) are offering 1149 ODL programmes and 66 HEIs are offering 371 online programmes. More than 19 lakh students are availing these facilities. To promote multi-disciplinary education and provide flexibility, around 295 Universities have adopted SWAYAM regulation permitting learners to avail upto 40% credit Courses from SWAYAM platform. Over 9 lakhs students earn SWAYAM certificate through a proctored exam every year. These certificates can be utilised for credit transfer by the university in which student is enrolled. Technology enabled Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) based Solutions for Governance of HEIs starting from admission to grant of Degree – Smarter Automation Engine for Universities (SAMARTH) is being extensively used by around 2700 Universities & HEIs covering 32 States / UTs. 7 State Higher Education Departments are also on boarded.
In order to enable HEIs to work with industry experts in developing courses and curriculum to meet the industry and societal needs, initiatives have been taken such as Guidelines on Professor of Practice; MoUs with Cisco/IBM/Meta/Adobe/Microsoft/Sales force etc. to create industry-aligned courses; offering Apprenticeship / Internship embedded Degree Programme by HEIs; Single Unified online portal for internship with total registration of around 10560 HEIs and 73383 industries so far. For promotion of research and innovation, around 7568 Institutions’ Innovation Councils and around 104 Idea Development, Evaluation and Application Labs (IDEA) have been set up.
To promote internationalization, regulation on setting up and operation of campuses of foreign Higher Education Institutions in India have been issued. Also, MOUs have been signed for setting up of campus of IIT Madras in Zanzibar- Tanzania and IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi. Classes have commenced at IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar-Tanzania.
Guidelines for Training/Orientation of Faculty on Indian Knowledge System (IKS), Empanelment of Artists/Artisans–in–Residence in Higher Educational Institutions, Introduction of courses based on Indian heritage and culture, Incorporating Indian Knowledge in Higher Education Curricula and Translation of books into Indian languages have been issued. More than 8000 HEIs have started adopting IKS into their curriculum.
National Credit Framework jointly developed by University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), National Council for Vocational Education & Training (NCVET), National Institute of Open Schooling( NIOS), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), National Council of Education, Research & Training (NCERT), Directorate General of Training (DGT), Ministry of Education (MoE) and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) is a comprehensive credit framework encompassing elementary, school, higher and vocational education and training incorporating creditization of various dimensions of learning i.e. academics, vocational skills and Experiential learning including relevant experience and proficiency/professional levels acquired. It encompasses qualifications frameworks as prescribed in National Higher Education Qualifications Framework (NHEQF), National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) and National Curriculum Framework (NCF), thereby providing broad-based multi-disciplinary / inter-disciplinary, holistic education with flexible curricula, creative combination of subjects, multiple pathways, establishing equivalence, facilitate national and international mobility. The information was given by the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Subhas Sarkar in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
