NEP 2020: HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA

Gunin Borah

(The writer is the Faculty of Geography, in Biswanath College, Chariali. He can be reached at Email ID: borah.gunin@gmail.com)

There are a set of policies formulated by the Government of India to promote education amongst Indian people. The National Education Policy (NEP) is basically a comprehensive framework to guide the development of education in the country.

The new policy is a comprehensive framework for Elementary Education to Higher Education as well as Vocational Training in both rural and urban India. The policy aims to transform India's Education System by around 2040.

The strategy aims to increase Public Investment in Education from 4.4 per cent of India's GDP to 6 per cent and improve education for nearly 300 million students in the country through a host reforms. The policy has set out comprehensive reforms that will affect every student from the first play-school to an ambitious Master's Degree, considering a Ph.D. programme.

There are a lot of reforms and new developments, which have been introduced by the National Education Policy (NEP) in the higher education sector. It has shed light on strategies of the government to benefit the Higher Education Institution and Universities. Let's take a look at some of the important ones, which are well-poised to create a positive difference in the sector.

In Higher Education sector in India the Gross Enrolment Ratio as of the year 2018 was 26.3 per cent. The NEP 2020 is playing to enhance the Gross Enrolment Ratio to 50 per cent by the year 2035. To make this plan a reality around 3.5 corer seats or even more will be allocated to higher education institutions.

The new element is that students will be given 'Multiple exit options' and appropriate 'certification' be given to them within their graduation tenure. For instance, students will get certification after the completion of one year, advance diploma after second year, Bachelor's Degree will be given after successful completion of 3rd years, and a Degree indicating research intelligence by the end of 4th years will be offered to students.

A Credit Bank of Academic Progress will also be formed to keep track of the credits earned during the entire educational journey of the students. The credits obtained in a year will be transferred to the next level after completion of successive academic years.

The government also taking steps towards establishment of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs) with global education standards just like Indian Institutes of Managements (IIM) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT). A National Research Foundation will also be created for fostering research and development activities.

A new ruling body called 'Higher Education Commission of India' (HECI)will come into existence in order to ensure best practices in the higher education sector, excluding the medical and legal fields. The HECI will have right to penalize institutions, who don't adhere to quality education.

The government will make efforts to ensure that students belonging to ST, SC, OBC and SEDGs get scholarships as per their merit. The officials would encourage higher education institutions, to offer scholarships to support talented students. The role and activities of National Scholarship Portal will be broadened to keep tab on the performance of students who have received scholarships.

To ensure the preservation and promotion of Indian languages, NEP has recommended to set up various bodies such as, (i) National Institute for Pali, Prakit and Persian, (ii) Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI). The Higher Education Institutions are allowed to use mother tongue, regional, local languages to help the students grasp the concept better. The government will create an autonomous entity called as the 'National Education Technology Forum' (NETF) to ensure appropriate integration of Technology in Education Institutions will be able to empower their faculty as well as students by streamlining classroom processes through ICT enablement.

The new NEP state that, the Core Structure of Universities will be formed in a new manner. As per the vision and mission of NEP, educational institutions, various categories of universities such as teaching-intensive universities, research-intensive universities, and autonomous degree-granting colleges will come into existence. The college affiliation procedure will be phased out in 15 years step by step and institution will be granted autonomy. The government will take several measures to ensure high quality education by opening the doors of open learning facilities, such as- online course introduction, digital repositories, funds for research work, credit based education, etc. There will be a trend of digitalization of teaching learning process. It will be no more traditional classrooms. A dedicated team for the developing digital infrastructure including E-content, digital library, etc will be initiated to meet the needs of the students and maximizing the learning outcome.

The proactive steps to impart professional education will be taken. The independent technical universities, agricultural universities, health science universities, and legal universities will head towards becoming multidisciplinary institutions.

In NEP, technology will be part of education planning, teaching, learning, assessment, teacher, school, and students training. The E-content to be available in regional language starting with eight major languages, available in Hindi and English.

The World's top 100 Foreign Universities will be facilitated to operate in India, through a new law. According to the HRD ministry document, 'Such Foreign Universities will be given special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance, and content norms as par with other Autonomous Institutions in India'.

The new National Education Policy is expected to bring positive and long lasting impact on the Higher Education System of the country. The fact that foreign universities will be allowed to open campuses in India is a commendable initiative by the government. This will help the students experience in Global quality of education in their very own country. The policy of introducing multi-disciplinary institutions will lead to renewed focus on every field such as arts, humanities, science, and this form of education will help students to learn and grow holistically. Thus students will be equipped with stronger knowledge base.

The introduction of single Common Entrance Test is another positive step which will reduce the stress of multiple competitive exams and ease off the pressure of preparing for so many of them. It will also ensure a level of playing ground for all student applicants going forward. Establishing Academic Bank Credit (ABC) is definitely a robust idea to store the academic credits that students earned by taking courses from various recognized higher education institutions. A student can earn scores by completing a course and this will be credited to the ABC Account. One can then transfer these credits if he or she decided to switch colleges.

The new NEP is focused on increasing the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education space which is currently around 26 per cent. The new NEP 2020 looks picture perfect currently. But the key to this success is its implementation within the set deadline. Now, we have to patiently wait and see how things turn out in the future and how we can reap the massive benefits that will be brought into the system with its successful execution.