The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) took several key decisions in 2019, which are expected to bring about a change in the country’s education system.
The HRD Ministry in May released the draft of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2019, and it also gave a go-ahead to the on-demand examination in December. The NEP is aimed at ushering in new reforms while the on-demand exam will help students move away from the practice of rote learning.
Draft of NEP
The aim of the NEP is to equip students with necessary skills and knowledge that will help them meet the demands of the changing world. Besides, it focuses on eliminating the shortage of manpower in the education sector. It also aims at promoting quality, accountability, affordability and access to resources for all.
The draft proposes to bring reforms in the school education with Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). Under the ECCE, a two-part curriculum for early childhood care and education will be developed. The NEP also seeks to change the current structure of school education on the basis of the development needs of students.
For improving the higher education in the country, the draft looks at restructuring of the higher education institutes into three types:
1) Research universities focusing equally on research and teaching
2) Teaching universities focusing primarily on teaching
3) Colleges focusing only on teaching at undergraduate levels.
On-demand examination
This is considered a big decision by the HRD Ministry as it could help students focus on understanding the concepts of the subjects. It is generally observed that students just focus on mugging up the syllabus to get through in the year-end examinations. But, with the new initiative, the students will get to take the examinations whenever they are ready.
However, taking the scale of school and college examination across the country into consideration, the proposal appears to be at the budding stage.
Amendment to Central rules to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act
The government, last year, brought amendments to the Central rules to the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, to focus on ensuring competencies. The amendment made by the Centre focuses on class-wise, subject-wise learning outcomes.
Under the amended Act, the Centre has finalized learning outcomes in Environmental Studies, Languages (Hindi, English and Urdu), Mathematics, Science and Social Science up to the elementary stage and shared it with all states and UTs. The amendment aims to serve as a guideline for the states and UTs so that children at every stage acquire holistic and appropriate learning.
