Govt. of India announced new education policy in July 2020 which replaces a 34 year old policy of 1986. The new policy is being projected by the Govt. as a significant mile stone in the history of Indian education. The importance of this policy to the union govt. becomes evident from the fact that the Prime Minister has personally spoken in detail number of occasions about the significance of this policy. Many educationists have hailed this policy as a path-breaking and progressive, offering many transformational reforms both in school and higher education system. however, there are others who have some serious reservations regarding some of the proposals contained in the new policy. It is being argued that it is not a progressive proposal to emphasise on the mother tongue as a medium of instruction when English language is widely associated with employability and privilege in the country. An article in ‘The Print’ has articulated very eloquently how having proficiency in English language has contributed to the economic prosperity of our nation. There is no denying the fact that there are some question marks about the utility of some of the proposals but overall this policy contains many useful proposals. With respect to higher education, the new policy contains many useful proposals which if implemented in letter and spirit, have the potential to take higher education to greater heights. Some of the important takeaways of NEP-2020 for higher education includes:
- Transformation of discipline centric into a multidisciplinary system of education to develop well-rounded individuals, possessing critical 21st century capacities in fields across the arts, humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences, professional, and vocational fields.
- Creation of Academic Credit Bank (ACB) to facilitate transfer of credits between different HEIs is the other notable feature of NEP-2020. The new policy also allows students an option of a sabbatical leave to rejoin after some time to complete the degree without losing credits already earned.
- Creation of strong internal systems for supporting ‘Diverse Student Cohorts’ in academic and social domains both inside and outside formal academic classroom is another useful proposal of the policy. It would be essential for HEIs to have mechanisms and opportunities for funding of topic-centred clubs and activities organized by students with the help of faculty and other experts.
- Each HEI shall develop a system of multiple parameters for performance assessment, for the purposes of confirmation, promotion, salary increases, recognitions, etc., which shall be clearly enunciated in Institutional Development Plan (IDP).
- Greater autonomy both at the institutional and faculty levels is envisaged in the policy. In line with this goal, the new policy aims to upgrade the affiliating colleges into Autonomous Degree Granting Colleges by gradually phasing out the system of ‘Affiliated Colleges’. It also provides for universities to become self-governing institutions through a system of graded accreditation and graded autonomy, but in a phased manner. Upon receiving the appropriate graded accreditations, a university can become independent self-governing institution through the Board of Governors (BOG).
- To make the focus of their goals and work crystal clear, HEIs have been structured into a ‘University’ and a ‘College’. A university can be a ‘Research Intensive’, or a ‘Teaching Intensive’. A College will refer to a large multidisciplinary institution that is primarily focused on undergraduate teaching.
- New policy recognises that a robust ecosystem for research is perhaps more important than ever with the rapid changes taking place in the world today in the realm of climate change, biotechnology, digital marketplace, and the rise of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Therefore, to grow and catalyze quality research in HEIs, the new policy proposes the establishment of a National Research Foundation (NRF).
- Establishment of Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) has been a major step of the new policy to overcome the very basic problems with the existing regulatory system, such as; heavy concentration of power within a few bodies, conflict of interests, and lack of accountability.
- Towards achieving the goal of multidisciplinary education, the new policy offers moving towards a higher educational system consisting of large multidisciplinary universities and colleges. Accordingly, it aims at phasing out of the Single-stream HEIs over time to make such institutions multidisciplinary or parts of vibrant multidisciplinary HEI clusters.
- New policy also aims to make India as a hub for international students as well as provide greater mobility to Indian students who may wish to study at, transfer credits to, or carry out research abroad, and vice versa. High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries, and similarly, universities particularly those from among the top 100 global universities will be facilitated to operate in India.
- Model Public universities for holistic and multidisciplinary education, at par with IITs, IIMs etc., called MERUs will be set up.
- Vocational education will be integrated into the system of education and by 2025, at least 50% of the learners through school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education.
There are some proposals which are quite challenging thus, difficult to implement and some other proposals instead of doing any good, are likely to prove counterproductive. The 4-year programme is recommended to lead to a degree with ‘Research’ if students complete a rigorous research project in his or her major area(s) of study. However, a 4-year programme leading to degree with ‘Research’ is unlikely to serve any meaningful purpose as it would be a daunting job for HEIs to ensure quality of research for obvious reasons. Similarly, 2-year masters programme with second year devoted entirely to research for those who have completed 3-year Bachelor’s programme would do no good rather such a move will only deteriorate its quality. It is also that the provision of admission to Ph. D. programme with bachelor’s degree would be unfeasible, rather unwise move because such students have not yet mastered the subject in which he or she will pursue research. Besides, doing away with the system of affiliating colleges by upgrading the existing affiliated college into an ‘Autonomous Degree Granting Colleges (ADGCs)’ is likely to serve little or no purpose for two reasons, One; that granting academic autonomy without administrative autonomy would be meaningless. Second, this concept of ADGCs has been in vogue but has been found to have done no good to the academics in the colleges which have been granted such a status. Establishment of NRF most likely would end up to the extent of an addition of one more institution, funding peer-reviewed grant proposals. It is good to try to address the problem of the lack of sufficient funding but it was equally important to address the other issues inhibiting the conduct of quality research of international standards in Indian universities which find no mention in the new policy.
Politicians and many academicians have exhibited exuberance and confidence that the steps taken in the NEP- 2020 will not only make India as a hub for international students but will stop Indian students going abroad as the world class educational opportunities will be available right here, once top 100 global universities will set-up campuses in India. The exuberance shown by the government functionaries and others about the potential of NEP-2020 to make India as a hub for the international students and in putting a break on ‘Brain Drain’ by stopping Indian students to go abroad, realistically speaking, it is more in “Rhetoric Than in Reality”. A strong push by the government and the HEIs will help in getting international students but not in large numbers and that too generally from Africa and some South Asian countries. The reason being that it is not only in the search for world class education Indian students go abroad but more for an opportunity to settle in the western world for the reasons of having access to the promising professional prospects and better quality of life.
These are justifiable question marks but overall the policy has to offer a lot to the higher education system provided implemented successfully. Policies deliver due dividends only when implemented in letter and spirit. For effective implementation of this policy, at the top of everything it needs wholehearted support of the state govts as education is a state subject. At the HEI level, it needs strong commitment of the vice chancellors and concerned state functionaries. But ultimately effective planning in its implementation at the gross root level would be critical which among other things would need to have thorough debate and discussion among those who have to actually implement it both in letter and spirit. Timely infusion of requisite resources – human, infrastructural, and financial – at the Central and State levels will be crucial for the satisfactory execution of the policy. Besides, the policy contains some radical proposals like multidisciplinary education, Board of Governors for universities but without any blueprint. It would serve a great purpose if centrally a complete blue prints for the implementation of these important proposals are prepared after debate and discussion. Periodical review of the implementation of the policy will be all the more important to align and realign proposals and processes if required.
The policy has enunciated the following principles for its implementation. First, implementation of the spirit and intent of the Policy will be the most critical matter. Second, it is important to implement the policy initiatives in a phased manner, as each policy point has several steps, each of which requires the previous step to be implemented successfully. Third, prioritization will be important in ensuring optimal sequencing of policy points, and that the most critical and urgent actions are taken up first, thereby enabling a strong base. Fourth, comprehensiveness in implementation will be key; as this Policy is interconnected and holistic, only a full-fledged implementation, and not a piecemeal one, will ensure that the desired objectives are achieved. Finally, careful analysis and review of the linkages between multiple parallel implementation steps will be necessary in order to ensure effective dovetailing of all initiatives.
Author is Professor in the Dept. of Commerce , University of Kashmir.