‘Through NEP, India will create new global order’: Education Minister

NEW DELHI: The main challenge before central and state governments that the National Education Policy 2020 must address is bringing the 170 million children and youth who are outside into the fold of mainstream education, said Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday. With “accessibility, affordability, equity, quality” as its “four pillars”, added Pradhan, “through NEP, India will create a new global order.”

The education minister was speaking at the launch of Karnataka’s implementation plan for NEP 2020. Pradhan expects Karnataka to be foremost in implementing the policy, he said at the inauguration attended by the state’s chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and K Kasturirangan, the former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) who headed the committee that framed the NEP 2020.

Inauguration of NEP Implementation in Karnataka with Shri @BSBommai and Shri. @drashwathcn. #NEPKarnataka https://t.co/vhnfs49i9q

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) August 23, 2021

“Today the population in the age group of 3 to 23 -- the NEP is meant for them -- is 520 million. If we put together the population in anganwadis, government and private sector schools, higher education institutions, the population is around 350 million. This means, another 170 million youngsters are yet to come inside the framework that is the primary challenge of the NEP,” explained Dharmendra Pradhan. “Every year, 25 million are getting added to the age-group who are the natural claimants and beneficiaries of NEP.”

The education minister said that he believes that Karnataka, with its 70 million population, is where the NEP’s impact will “unfold”. “India is a knowledge society and it must become a knowledge economy. I hope Karnataka will be successful in that direction,” said Pradhan. Plus Karnataka’s status as India’s information technology (IT) hub will help as in the NEP framework, “digitalisation is a primary strategy’’.

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