[Answered] Discuss salient features of draft National education policy. How it ensure better learning and critical thinking?

Demand of the question
Introduction. Contextual Introduction.
Body. Salient features of NEP. How it ensure critical thinking and learning. Conclusion. Way forward.

The draft of New National Education Policy has been recently submitted by the Committee led by the Chairman Dr. Kasturirangan on education policy. The policy aims at making India a knowledge superpower by equipping students with the necessary skills and knowledge.

Key features of the draft Policy:

  1. The draft Policy recommends developing a two-part curriculum for early childhood care and education.
  2. The draft Policy recommends extending the RTE Act to include early childhood education and secondary school education. This would extend the coverage of the Act to all children between the ages of 3 to 18 years.
  3. It recommends that there should be no detention of children till class eight. 
  4. The current structure of school education must be restructured on the basis of the a 5-3-3-4 design comprising:
    • five years of foundational stage (3 years of pre-primary school and classes 1 and 2),
    • three years of preparatory stage (classes 3 to 5),
    • three years of middle stage (classes 6 to 8), and
    • four years of secondary stage (classes 9 to 12).
  5. The draft Policy recommends that multiple public schools should be brought together to form a school complex. Teachers should be deployed with a particular school complex for at least five to seven years.
  6. For teacher training, the existing B.Ed. programme will be replaced by a four-year integrated B.Ed. programme that combines high-quality content, pedagogy, and practical training.
  7. The draft Policy recommends separating the regulation of schools from aspects such as policymaking, school operations, and academic development. It suggests creating an independent State School Regulatory Authority for each state that will prescribe basic uniform standards for public and private schools.
  8. It proposes setting up the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA). This independent authority would replace the existing individual regulators in higher education, including professional and vocational education.
  9. Higher education institutions will be restructured into three types:
    • research universities focusing equally on research and teaching;
    • teaching universities focusing primarily on teaching; and
    • colleges focusing only on teaching at undergraduate levels. 
  10. It recommends establishing a National Research Foundation, an autonomous body, for funding, mentoring and building the capacity for quality research in India. The Foundation will consist of four major divisions: sciences, technology, social sciences, and arts and humanities.
  11. Recommends development of a Continuous Professional Development programme and introduction of a permanent employment (tenure) track system for faculty in all higher education institutions by 2030.
  12. It recommends creation of a National Education Commission or Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog, as an apex body for education, to be headed by the Prime Minister. This body will be responsible for developing, implementing, evaluating, and revising the vision of education in the country on a continuous and sustained basis. 
  13. The Draft Policy reaffirmed the commitment of spending 6% of GDP as public investment in education.
  14. It recommends National Mission on Education through information and communication technology that will include virtual laboratories which will provide remote access to laboratories in various disciplines. A National Education Technology Forum will also be setup under the Mission, as an autonomous body, to facilitate decision making on the induction, deployment and use of technology.
  15. For vocational education it recommends:
    • Higher Education Institutions to offer vocational courses that are integrated into the undergraduate education programmes.
    • National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education.
  16. Establishing an autonomous Central Institute of Adult Education, as a constituent unit of NCERT, which will develop a National Curriculum Framework for adult education.

National Education Policy and Critical thinking:

Critical thinking is the process of active and skilful application , analysis, and evaluation of information gathered from, observation, experience, reasoning, or communication into actions. Draft NEP promote this through:

  • 3 language formula developing multi-lingual skills in child.
  • Lesser burden of curriculum through its reorganisation.
  • Focusing on research in higher education.
  • Restructuring of board exams providing options to students to choose from subjects.
  • Liberal training that will develop a broader perspective in a child.
  • Teacher training with a focus on their holistic development.
  • Improved learning through a desirable student-teacher ratio of not more than 30:1.

National Education policy holds a potential to improve Indian education system but it will require political will and government spending.

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