The draft of the National Education Policy 2019 was released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD). The draft was submitted to the HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal by the drafting committee which was led by the Chairman and former ISRO Chief K Kasturirangan. In the draft, the committee had proposed to rename the HRD ministry as Ministry of Education.
School Education
The committee has proposed major changes in school education and suggested that Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) be made an integral part of the school education . It also suggested reconfiguring curricular and pedagogical structure. Another recommendation is to increase the extension of the Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children from ages 3 to 18.
Apart from restructuring the school curriculum in 5+3+3+4 design which is 5 years of foundational stage (pre-primary school, grade 1 and grade 2), 3 years of preparatory (grade 3, grade 4 and grade 5), 3 years of middle stage (grade 6, grade 7 and grade 8) and 4 years of high stage (grade 9, grade 10, grade 11 and grade 12) it suggested the content load in the schools be reduced.
One of the major objectives of the policy is to achieve the foundational literacy in grade 5th and by 2025. “… we are in a severe learning crisis with respect to these most basic skills: a large proportion of students currently in
elementary school - perhaps over 5 crores in number - have not attained foundational literacy and numeracy," it says.
Teachers’ Education
To enhance the quality of teachers’ education it is suggested that all the sub-standard teacher education centers be shut down and all teachers preparation programs be moved to large multidisciplinary universities and colleges. As mentioned in the draft, a minimum 4-year B.Ed. program will be a minimum requirement to be appointed as a teacher.
Higher education
In the domain of higher education, restructuring of higher education has been proposed. It has been proposed that higher education institutes be proposed into three types:
- Focused on world-class research and high-quality Teaching
- Focused on high-quality teaching across disciplines with significant contribution to research
- High-quality teaching focused on undergraduate education
Setting up of Rashtriya Shiksha Ayog, a new apex body, has been proposed which will ensure holistic and integrated implementation of all educational initiatives and improved coordination between the Center and state.
The committee also suggested the formation of National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA) as the sole regulator of the higher education and transforming UGC to Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for the proper and timely disbursement of the development grants and fellowships.
Tags: National Education Policy
Mhrd
Education In India
Improving Education Standards In India
