Govt initiates bold reforms in Education Sector after 34 years; find details here

Guwahati: On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet approved the new National Education Policy announced a slew of education reforms both in the school education and higher education.

The NEP that comes after a gap of 34 years lays down several new rules that will benefit students, education providers, and the labour market. It will merge multiple higher education regulators like the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

However, the new policy is vague on whether it will allow foreign universities to come to India and operate in the future. The HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal informed the planned renaming of the HRD Minister as Education Ministry. Talking about the reforms, Higher Education Secretary Amity Khare said, "We have gone for systemic reform than incremental reform."

The new policy plans at phasing out the affiliation system at the university level and instead makes way for three categories of university system: research-focused universities, teaching-focused universities, and autonomous colleges.

In consistence with the draft report, the finalized education policy has done away with the MPhil degree and underlined that graduation degrees will be for a duration of three and four years. From now on, the duration of the masters programs can be for one or two years. Currently, one-year degrees are not recognized in India.

One of the most significant and drastic change is the new schooling system on a 5+3+3+4 model instead of the current 10+2 model. Besides, the high stake Board exams at Class 10 and Class 12 will be low stake and may be conducted more than once a year.

The new policy recommends that vocal education will be integrated from Standard 6. Also, an internship of ten days at the school level will be made part of the system.

The new policy emphasizes foundational learning in languages, especially in the mother tongue, and mathematics. With the implementation of the new education policy, the education sector is expected to witness massive usage of technology in teaching, learning, and assessment.

Also Read: Delhi Man donates plasma 6 times, ready for round 7