INTRODUCTION
The new National Education Policy was newly formulated and announced by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) on 29 th July 2020. The new policy aims to EDUCATE, ENCOURAGE, ENLIGHTEN and ENABLE education for students from rural and urban India. It is set to transform the old Education System and create a curriculum that is centralised, academically strong, practice-based, career-oriented and provides multiple opportunities for further studies and advancement in career.
THE PRESENT EDUCATION SYSTEM
The Education System in India has been around since 1921. The academic curriculum was drafted with more emphasis on Science and Mathematics subjects and education was limited to the classroom.
In 1935, the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) was set up. The Board played a lead role in the evolution and monitoring of educational policies and programmes. In 1952, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) was started and all schools in Delhi and few in other regions came under the Board. In the 1960s, the Government made primary education a Fundamental Right of every Indian citizen. The National Policy on Education in 1986 pressed for free and compulsory education for all children below 14 years of age. In 1992, slight modifications were made to include the Skill-Based Learning System for all- round development of students. In 2019, the Indian government amended Section 16 of the Right to Education (RTE) Act to ensure that students from Class I to VIII are guaranteed promotion irrespective of their academic performance to avoid detention in the same class.
The Indian Education System has four levels - Lower Primary (Classes I to V, ages 6 to 10), Upper Primary (Classes VI and VII, ages 11 and 12), High School (Classes VIII to X, ages 13 to 15), and Higher Secondary (Classes XI and XII, ages 17 and 18). The main languages taught are Hindi, English and the regional languages (mother tongue).
NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2020
The National Education Policy proposed in 2020 was approved by the Union Cabinet of India on 29 th July 2020 with an introduction to India’s new Education System. A 60-pages report was submitted to the Government about the new format of the Education System. The policy aims to transform both rural and urban India's Education System through high-quality education by 2040.
- The Ministry of Human Resource Development will be renamed as the Ministry of Education
- For School Education, the 10 + 2 structure will be replaced with 5+3+3+4 structure as Foundational Stage (Preschool, Class I and Class II) through activity-based learning; Preparatory Stage (Classes III to V) through Speaking, Reading, Writing, Physical Education, Languages, Art, Science and Mathematics; Middle Stage (Classes VII to VIII) through application-based learning of Mathematics, Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities; Secondary Stage (Classes IX to XII) through multidisciplinary study and critical analysis
