NEP2020 highlights

On July 28th, 2020, the Union Cabinet of India approved India's National Education Policy (NEP). Over the course of more than 50 months of discussions and workshops, the Indian government gathered feedback from 2.5 lakh village-level stakeholders and presented it to two national parliamentary committees after a 34-year break. However, it is unclear to what extent the policy has taken into account recommendations.

In the midst of a slew of op-eds and commentaries on the NEP, this piece tries to look at the policy through the eyes of practitioners. 

1. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): 

Extends the eligibility window for the Right to Education from 6 to 18 years old. The policy promotes universalization of ECCE with the goal of having 100 percent of children "school-ready" by 2030.

Investment in play equipment and child-friendly structures, as well as CPD for ECCE instructors and Anganwadi workers through a six-month certification program with some online components.

Maintaining the status quo of having a curriculum under one ministry and implementation under three different ministries is a missed opportunity. This technique has resulted in poor integration of ECCE and primary education to date. The NEP's proposal for a "joint task force" does not appear to be a sufficient solution to this well-known problem. 

There is uncertainty over whether every Anganwadi or pre-primary learning center will have a qualified teacher and helper (sevika).

India's National Education Policy Cannot Be Afforded (NEP)

2. Literacy and Numeracy Foundations

To attain 100 percent foundational level (up to Grade 3) learning by 2025, a three-month preparatory course for pupils, access to digital content through electrified textbooks (ETB-DIKSHA), student-led peer learning, and community tutoring are all advocated.

Teacher vacancies should be filled as soon as possible, with priority given to underserved areas and groups.

There is no definition of what a fundamental text is, which will be used to assess literacy.

It is said that there is a National Book Promotion Policy. More than a book policy, however, it is critical to prioritize pupils' access to relevant, age-appropriate reading materials in a variety of languages, which is currently a priority of government programs like Samagra Shiksha.

Students' ability to grasp grade-level learning goals may suffer as a result of an exclusive concentration on core learning. As a result, children who are perceived to be "gifted" and/or "high achievers" may have their opportunities limited.

Overall, though the policy does not bind the government to any specific action, it clearly demonstrates the administration's desire to bring about significant improvements in the education system.

3. At all stages of education, everyone should have equal access.

A promise to attain a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 100 percent at all levels by 2030.

Investment in facilities and teachers for children up to Grade 12; as well as ensuring that social workers and counsellors are available to pupils to address problems that contribute to dropout rates.

To guarantee that no kid is left behind, a technology-based platform is used to track each and every one of them.

To reduce the number of dropouts and out-of-school children, alternative public-private partnership school models are being encouraged.

 There is no information on the number of social workers or counselors assigned to each kid, at what level they will be appointed (for example, at the school or cluster level), or whether they would be drawn from current ministry professionals.

There is no mention of legal infractions that lead to school dropouts, such as child marriage and child labor.

There is no agreement on the social and economic benefits of online learning courses for children who are unable to attend school.

4. Educational curricula and pedagogy

The policy emphasises bi-lingual education and textbooks for learning, as well as various languages at the middle and secondary levels, and supports local languages to be the medium of teaching until at least Grade 5.

The proposed 5+3+3+4 class system focuses on identifying learning levels at each important juncture, employing a multidisciplinary approach, and lowering material by focusing on fundamental learning capabilities.

At the middle school level, new age courses like coding and computational thinking (among others) are introduced.

Secondary school students can now select their own topic courses (primarily in arts, physical, and vocational education).

When it comes to teaching language, there is no clear decision or rule. For example, the policy states that local languages should be used "whenever possible," which gives a lot of opportunity for the status quo—that is, the present three-language formula—to remain, particularly in government-run school systems like Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs).

The policy offers what appears to be an endless list of pedagogies, values, abilities, and methodologies that are all deemed to be "nice to have." Many of these are already included in the 2005 National Curriculum Framework, although there have been observed difficulties in translating them into teacher practices or student behavior.

The issue of children's "mother tongues" and home languages differing from the local language utilized for school instruction has not been addressed, particularly in the case of migrant and Adivasi households.

The guideline instructs teachers to include in their curricula ‘Indian knowledge systems,' which include yoga, Indian philosophy, and Adivasi/indigenous learning methods. Upskilling educators, who are now struggling to teach the basic curriculum, to incorporate these complicated ideas in a secular and inclusive manner is, nevertheless, a significant problem.

National textbooks, which have been proposed, might be regarded as an attempt to over-centralize education, with unintended implications.

Due to the extensive range of ways that have been presented, teachers may feel perplexed regarding recommended classroom activities. This may result in a lack of focus as well as limited success with any particular strategy.

5. Evaluations and testing

Hits: A focus on quantifiable learning results at all levels of the newly planned educational system, including testing in the third, fifth, and eighth grades.

To monitor the children's continuous academic achievement, promote formative assessments (those that are done on an ongoing basis and cover smaller chunks of the curriculum), peer evaluation, and holistic progress reports.

Board examinations for 10th and 12th grades will include student choice. The policy proposes doing so by enabling students to choose their subject and difficulty level (standard and higher level).

Misses: The strategy recommends the creation of two new agencies: PARAKH (Performance Assessment Review Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) and NTA (National Testing Agency). These new organizations may result in over-centralization and, as a result, over-testing of children at the national and state levels.

There is some overlap in the emphasis assigned to board exams in the 12th grade and common university admission examinations after that.

Funding based on state performance may result in low-income and low-performing states being unable to access federal funds in the future, further stratifying the economy.

The strategy proposes the creation of a comprehensive progress report card for kids and parents, which can be accessible via AI-based software and used to track their progress on a regular basis. However, it is unclear how the massive digital gap that now exists will be bridged.

The policy statement emphasizes the need of boosting Olympiads and another competitive testing to enhance admission to IITs and NITs. 

Unintended consequences: A high-stakes testing culture (with schools mandated to publicly display student scores) on several state and national tests will put pressure on students to perform, countering the policy's intended impact of lowering coaching culture.

Teachers and schools will begin teaching for the exam, fully ignoring the curriculum section's holistic learning objectives.

6. Education and training for teachers

Hits: By 2030, the policy recommends changing the minimum teacher education degree requirement from a two-year D.El.Ed/B.Ed to a four-year B.Ed undergraduate program.

In theory, excessive teacher transfers should be avoided, resulting in improved continuity with pupils and the availability of local housing.

Promotion should be based on merit rather than seniority or teaching level (elementary/primary/secondary), according to the policy. There are also opportunities for vertical teacher mobility when high-performing teachers can be promoted to the district or state-level positions.

Promotion of blended learning teacher training programs (MOOCs) for CPD of teachers and school administrators, with a minimum of 50 hours of CPD per year required.

A chance to increase the efficacy of in-service teacher training by tying it to seniority-based credits was missed. (A global best practice is to assign "credits" for successful completion of each teacher training program; the accumulation of credits over a 10-year period can be used to qualify for increments and/or form the foundation of some weightage for promotions.)

There is no clear commitment to increasing special education support. The policy mentions a step-up course for current special educators, but this is insufficient unless the number of special educators is expanded in a proportionately reasonable relation to the number of children.

Unintended consequences: Graduate teachers with four years of university education may find the INR 4,000 average salary in low-cost private schools (which account for more than 70% of the private school sector) unsustainable, causing a ruckus in the sector or raising the overall cost of operations of those schools, making it less ‘low-cost' in the long run.

There is uncertainty about how to raise present teachers' professional qualifications to that of prospective four-year trained teachers. It's also possible that distinct groups may emerge within teacher unions and professional communities. Alternatively, an extremely resource-intensive and difficult, or perhaps controversial, the upskilling procedure will be required.

The policy mentions comprehensive criteria, including peer reviews, and makes references to performance-based pay/incentives for instructors. However, when the performance-based incentive system is not done cooperatively, worldwide problems have been highlighted.

7. An educational system that is both equitable and inclusive.

The ‘Gender Inclusion Fund,' which assists female and transgender students by pushing state-level inclusion efforts, providing enough infrastructure for safety, and targeted boarding, is a big hit.

In aspirational districts, Special Education Zones (SEZs) and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs)/KVs would be established with an emphasis on increasing the quantity and quality of learning.

There are no concrete steps or deadlines for closing the gap between socioeconomic groups or for children with special needs; merely a "verbal recognition" that injustices exist.

There is mention of a ‘culture of inclusiveness at the school level, but no specifics on how one may go about creating one.

Given the poor educational performance of certain religious minorities, particularly Muslims, the policy should have been more explicit in its acceptance and assistance.

The issue of female student safety and sexual assault is not addressed in the Gender Inclusion Fund or at the boarding school level.

The position, appointment, budgets, ratios, and other aspects of the social workers, special educators, and counselors who are needed to bridge different developmental and social inclusion gaps remain unclear.

8. School complexes

Reorganizing smaller schools with low enrolment into the school complex' structure, which connects 10-15 such small schools into one administrative unit, will help reduce school isolation, efficiently use teaching-learning resources, and increase governance and accountability, especially in rural/Adivasi areas of India.

In principle, giving local leaders power to develop and implement the project is a wonderful concept. At the school complex level, a School Complex Management Committee (SCMC) and public participation will support decentralized implementation and increased parental participation.

Misses: Students and parents are anticipated to have safe and cheap mobility, particularly while using common resources like as libraries, Balbhavans, labs, Samajik kendras, and so on. This mobility is now lacking, which is why tiny schools within a one-kilometer radius were necessary, to begin with.

Unintended consequences: School consolidation might be perceived as a catalyst for closing schools, resulting in a reduction in the size of the government's educational footprint. This might be used as justification for expanding the number of private schools in the future.

9. Accreditation of schools and the establishment of standards

 A concerted effort to increase transparency and accountability in schools by establishing standards through a specialized organization (the State Schools Standards Authority, or SSSA), which includes learning-related metrics and student input into school ratings.

Development, performance, and accountability will be three essential pillars of the system's support for officers and instructors, fostering more alignment and clarity in job tasks, periodic performance assessment procedures, and timely feedback methods.

Misses: Supervision frameworks such as the School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF), SSSA standards, department of education monitoring, and SSC Board frequent testing give the perception that there is too much oversight on how schools operate.

Public schools should become the most appealing alternative for parents, according to the strategy, while the conditions for establishing private schools should be loosened. 

Unanticipated outcomes:

Multiple monitoring and oversight frameworks by various entities may result in over bureaucratization and duplication in the education system's regulation.

While public disclosure of learning outcomes on school websites or the SSSA website is appealing in principle, it will put pressure on students and teachers to perform well, leading to a high-stakes testing culture, negating the earlier point about testing being used more for development and support than anything else.

Low-cost private schools will primarily follow looser criteria for establishing private schools, leading to segregation of students' educational experiences and a mentality that "low-cost is good enough for the poor."

Overall, though the policy does not bind the government to any specific action, it clearly demonstrates the administration's desire to bring about significant improvements in the education system. Much will depend on transparent and timely execution, just as it will with any other policy.