NEW DELHI: From introducing of 4-year undergraduate degree courses in universities, expanding the ambit of the Right to Education Act from playschools to class 12, stressing on Indian languages, to regulation of fee in private schools, the new draft education policy has proposed a host of changes to revamp the education sector.
The draft also suggests incorporation of Indian knowledge system into the curriculum whose topics might include Indian contribution to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, psychology, yoga, architecture, medicine as well as governance, polity, society and conservation.
The NEP was put out in the public domain on Friday, the first day of the new Modi government, after it was formally handed over to the new Union Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank.
The 477-page draft NEP has been prepared by a 9-member committee headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Kasturirangan.“We will very soon notify the policy following feedback from states and other stakeholders,” said Nishank after taking charge and holding a meeting with the officials.
The document has also proposed a National Education Commission to be headed by the Prime Minister. The RSA will be responsible for developing, articulating, implementing, evaluating, and revising the “vision of education in the country” on a continuous and sustained basis, it proposes.
It also proposes to change the name of MHRD to Ministry of Education to bring the focus back on education and learning and stress on Indian languages in schools, while also recommending that primary education be imparted in mother tongue.