National Education Policy aims to develop an equitable and vibrant knowledge society; says President Ram Nath Kovind

New National Education Policy aims to develop an equitable and vibrant knowledge society by providing quality education to all, said President Ram Nath Kovind.

The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 aims to develop the education system that will meet the need of the 21st century by achieving the twin objectives of inclusion and excellence, said the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind in the inaugural address of Visitors’ Conference on ‘Implementation of National Education Policy 2020 in Higher Education.

“It sets the vision of developing an equitable and vibrant knowledge society by providing quality education to all,” President Kovind added.

While applauding the efforts of the Ministry of Education and Dr. Kasturirangan and his team, who have crafted the policy, the President said that the policy has been prepared after extensive consultation with 2.5 lakh gram panchayats, more than 12,500 local bodies and about 675 districts generating more than two lakh suggestions thereby reflecting a ground-level understanding.

The President further said that the fundamental principles of the policy is to include creativity and critical thinking in order to encourage logical decision-making and innovation. He opined that effective implementation of the NEP 2020 is likely to restore India’s glory as a great center of learning as during the times of Takshashila and Nalanda.

President Kovind, describing the novel features of NEP, said that it will also introduce the system of Academic Bank of Credits. It will digitally store the academic credits earned from various Higher Education Institutions so that degrees can be awarded, taking into account the credits earned by students.

This inturn will allow students to have freedom to take courses as per their vocational, professional or intellectual requirements in addition to giving flexibility of suitable exit and re-entry points. The need for strict monitoring of B.Ed., vocational and distance-learning courses is also being taken care of in this policy, he added.

"The target of the NEP 2020 is to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio or GER in higher education to 50 percent by 2035. The online system of education can also be utilised to reach this target especially in catering to the female students or those who do not have physical access to educational institutions as well as the international students," the President further added.

Citing statistics, he added that according to All India Survey of Higher Education for 2018-19, GER for females is slightly higher than that for males.

However, the share of female students is extremely low in Institutions of National Importance and particularly low in technical education. While emphasising on equality and inclusion, he further said that gender disparity in higher education needs to be corrected.

The President also observed that it will be the role of head of institutions that will have an impact on the teachers and students and hence the heads of organizations should take an active interest in implementing the policy.

The Union Education Minister, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank  gave the opening remarks of the Conference.

The conference saw the participation of Vice-Chancellors of all Central Universities and Directors of IITs, NITs, SPAs etc.

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