MHRD to unveil New Education Policy by March end; Focus on Overlapping Regulations

NEW DELHI, MARCH 12: The New Education Policy (NEP) will have more focus on technology-enabled education from schools to higher education, there will also be more emphasis on skill-oriented education to make students job ready.

The demographic dividend which India has at present is among the focal points around which the Central Government appointed Committee to draft the NEP is working upon.

The K Kasturirangan Committee formed by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is likely to submit its report by the end of March, and the report is likely to be released alongside the NIRF Ranking 2018.

The Committee is working with a vision for education reforms as there are several challenges with the overlapping jurisdiction of regulatory bodies. It is also keeping in mind the main theme of Modi government which is to improve the quality at all levels, improve the research & innovation and also accord autonomy to good institutes,” said a source working closely with the Committee.

“There is focus on using technology to reach a large number of people and overcoming various barriers, the use of technology will also address the issue of faculty shortage to some extent. There is also work being done on orienting the Curriculum at the School level and University towards skill. We have seen the example of Model Curriculum launched by the AICTE for technical education recently,” he added.

The NEP will pave way for making the education system more learner-centric, instead of teacher-centric. The new policy will be based on five major pillars Accessibility, Affordability, Accountability, Equity and Integrity.

“The policy will also boost private sector participation in the education system as their contribution cannot be undermined, though there have been some challenges with the quality of education being offered by them and the fees being charged but the Committee is looking into these aspects as well and will come up with some concrete suggestion in this regard,” said a Professor of the University of Delhi who has contributed to the Draft Policy being formulated.

The Policy is likely to be out March end as initially the Committee was supposed to submit the Draft Policy to the Ministry by December 2017, but it asked for more time as inputs from various stakeholders were still coming in and it needed some more time to study upon the issues and challenges being raised.

The previous Policy was formed some 30 years ago and the academics have been demanding that the new education policy must come out with a clear framework that shall address the formidable challenge of quality and relevance of primary education and quality.

The new policy should be targeted to boost the employability of professional education and ensuring relevance of research and innovations to the needs of the society and industry.