The NEP will also encourage institutions to develop incubator facilities that will develop new enterprises
The National Education Policy 2020 will enable India to achieve its UN SDG Goal-4, i.e., to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education. The policy brings together multiple stakeholders like the central government, state governments, the private sector, NGOs and educational institutions to realise the vision of universal education. Public expenditure on education is likely to increase to 6% of the GDP. Though the Right to Education Act has achieved great success in ensuring almost universal enrolment in primary schools, retaining students is a challenge. The Gross Enrolment Ratio decreases as students move to higher grades. This decline is more elevated for vulnerable groups like women, backward classes, low-income households, people living in remote areas, and people with disabilities. The policy talks about the set-up of special funds to assist these groups. The policy envisages doubling the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education institutions from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035. There will be an increase in digital platforms to provide open distance learning courses that will improve accessibility.
How will NEP empower the youth? The NEP is bringing significant changes in the current education system which will ensure the intellectual development of the youth. Students will be provided with updated resources and platforms. The existing education system has limitations that made youngsters focus on lopsided priorities, like doctor or engineer. NEP 2020 will help in changing this by mapping students’ interest, ability and demand. It will empower youngsters to be creative, committed and driven to their interests and abilities. We intend to stress on inquiry-based, discovery-based, discussion-based and analysis-based learning methods that will urge the students to constantly re-skill and up-skill themselves.NEP does realise the fact that we have a huge working population under 35 years of age. To build "New India", we must proactively engage them. I have many hopes that students will be able to compete successfully at a global level.
Will NEP allow foreign universities to set up their campuses in India without any inhibitions in areas such as course structure and duration? With NEP, we wish to bring a change in the global education system. The top 100 universities in the world have a possibility of coming to India; the final green signal can be given only by the Education Ministry. This will increase opportunities to enhance collaborative-learning through student exchange and twinning programmes. The NEP will also foster international collaborative research and improve research output. Also, I am confident that such measures will help Indian institutes improve their ranking at international levels. How far is NEP inclusive of the vast diversity of India in terms of social, economic, geographical, cultural and gender aspects? An essential idea of NEP 2020 is to respect the diversity of our country and respect the local context in all curriculum and pedagogy. We will also formulate a National Book Promotion Policy that will ensure the availability, accessibility, quality and readership of books across geographies, languages, levels and genres. NEP, hopefully, will encourage schools to teach the students in their mother tongue or home language till at least 5th standard. Disclaimer: The views, suggestions and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Forbes India journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.