Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address policy makers in the domain of education and skill development, students, teachers, across the country on 29th July 2021, via video conferencing, to mark the completion of one year of reforms under the National Education Policy 2020. He will also launch multiple initiatives in the education sector.
Prime Minister will launch the Academic Bank of Credit that will provide multiple entry and exit options for students in Higher education; 1st Year Engineering Programmes in Regional Languages and Guidelines for Internationalization of Higher Education.
The initiatives to be launched also include Vidya Pravesh, a three month play based school preparation module for Grade 1 students; Indian Sign Language as a Subject at secondary level; NISHTHA 2.0, an integrated programme of teacher training designed by NCERT; SAFAL (Structured Assessment For Analyzing Learning Levels), a competency based assessment framework for Grades 3, 5 and 8 in CBSE schools; and a website dedicated to Artificial Intelligence.
Further, the event will witness the launch of National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Education Technology Forum (NETF).
These initiatives will mark a significant step towards realization of the goals of NEP 2020 and will make the education sector more vibrant and accessible.
The NEP, 2020 is the guiding philosophy for changing the learning landscape, making education holistic and for building strong foundations for an Atmanirbhar Bharat.
This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. Built on the foundational pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability, this policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge superpower by making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aimed at bringing out the unique capabilities of each student.
Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Education Minister will also be present on the occasion.
As education ecosystem will be looking forward to listening from the PM on education after recent reshuffle, there is optimism that new announcements will further invigorate the momentum in edtech sector.
“The learnings from the past year of pandemic by the EdTech industry will help us strengthen the existing education system in alignment with the NEP. Further focus on National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Education Technology Forum (NETF) will give fillip to such teaching and learning initiatives. They will support investment in EdTech in order to facilitate experiential and immersive learning, get better outcomes, and include skill development in line with global practices,” said Vinay Sharma, Head of digital services, S.Chand and Co.(Mylestone and Learnflix).
According to observers, with its focus on strengthening a student’s practical knowledge and developing a scientific temper from a young age, NEP is on the right track. “Ushering regional languages for Engineering education, conducting entrance exams like JEE Main & NEET in 13 languages are some of the initiatives that have worked well in the last year. We are excited to see the outcome of changes by NEP such as the introduction of Sign Language as one of the subjects, special focus on Artificial Intelligence, the Academic Credit Bank, and the Multiple Entry & Exit Options in IoEs, etc. If the entire education fraternity and the government continue to work in partnership with specific strategies in mind and a step-by-step approach, whilst evaluating and improving them from time to time, Indiawill surely be able to match global standards of quality and value-based education,” says Ruchir Arora, Co-Founder & CEO, CollegeDekho
