NEP: No rigid separation between arts & science streams

July 29: On Wednesday, the Union government approved the New Education Policy (NEP) where there will be no rigid separation between Arts and Science streams and curricular and extra-curricular activities in school education and higher education. The idea is to have all-round development of the student by helping the candidate chose which combination of subjects they wish to take. The government said it will now follow a multi-disciplinary approach.

As for instance, if a student wants to pursue fashion studies with Physics, or if one wants to learn bakery with Chemistry, they will be allowed to do so. Till now, there was a strict separation between the subjects a student could take. This was dependent on which stream of education was chosen by the candidate. But now, in school and higher education institutes, an Arts student could now take up Physics or Mathematics as a subject while a Science student could take up Music as a subject.

The idea here is to encourage cross-functional thinking so that the student has basic knowledge of subjects across educational fields. Accumulated credits can be taken up for getting a degree or diploma programme across all fields of education.

Thanks to NEP 2020, the Indian Higher Education sector will have a holistic and multi-disciplinary approach. UG education will offer flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 29, 2020

As per the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the 10+2 structure in school education will be modified now with a new pedagogical and curricular restructuring of 5+3+3+4 covering ages 3 to 18. The foundation stages will cover ages 3 to 8, while the preparatory stage will include Classes 3 to 5. The middle stage will cover Classes 6 to 8 and secondary stage includes Classes 9 to 12.

#Cabinet approved National Education Policy 2020; Major reforms in higher education include target of 50% gross enrollment ration by 2035 and provision for multiple entry/exit pic.twitter.com/EMvVJIiI0b

— K.S. Dhatwalia (@DG_PIB) July 29, 2020

Here are the some other key reforms introduced in the NEP:

• A major change would be that the medium of instruction would shift to regional language or mother tongue till 5th grade.
• Early childhood care and education (ECCE) would be universalised. EECE traditionally aims to provide emotional, social, cognitive learning to children till third grade.
• School curriculum to be reduced to core concepts; integration of vocational education from class 6.
• The nature of board examinations would change as board exams will be based on knowledge application.
• All higher education institutions, except legal and medical colleges, to be governed by single regulator.
• MPhil courses to be discontinued under new the National Education Policy.
• Top universities from across the world will be allowed to operate in India.
• Common entrance exams to be held for admission to universities and higher education institutions.
• Along with these major reforms, the introduction of a Book Promotion Policy and popularising digital libraries would take place.
• Departments in Languages, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Indology, Art, Dance, Theatre, Education, Mathematics, Statistics, Pure and Applied Sciences, Sociology, Economics, Sports, Translation and Interpretation, etc. will be established and strengthened at all higher education institutes.