NEP 2020: Education ministry advises implementation in current academic year

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The government wants implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 to be put on the fast track across states, paving the way for starting interdisciplinary education in higher educational institutes, setting up education complexes and allowing flexible entry-exit schemes in colleges and universities as part of the first phase.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has advised state institutions, including colleges and universities, to implement the policy in the current academic year.

Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat have said that NEP 2020 will be implemented in 2021-22 itself, while other states are in the process of setting up expert committees for this purpose.

Special purpose vehicles

In Gujarat, the higher education department has set up a special purpose vehicle called Shri KK Shastri Government Colleges, a college complex that’s been set up for NEP implementation on a pilot basis.

This complex will have six colleges – Government BCA College (self-financed), Government Law College, Government BBA College (self-financed), Government Science College (self-financed), Government Arts College and Sri KK Shastri Government Commerce College.

While these institutes are affiliated to Gujarat University, its single campus will facilitate multidisciplinary education. Sources said the thrust will be on skill-based, job-ready courses. Exchange programmes between these six institutes could also be permitted.

Taking a cue from this, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are said to be exploring the possibility of setting up large educational institute complexes where the associated colleges can benefit from the pooling of financial resources.

What are other states doing?

In Karnataka, the state government is setting up a unified college management system so that NEP implementation is smooth.

“Government-backed higher education institutions will be implementing NEP by promoting credit transfers, flexible entry-exit and single resource for access to all college-related information. Private institutes will be nudged to be part of it from this year itself,” a state education department official said.

In Madhya Pradesh, flexible entry-exit and optional courses will be introduced across colleges from this academic year. Here, apart from the core subjects, students can choose from an array of courses ranging from Hindi cinema and wildlife tourism to yoga. There would also be a system of credit transfers applicable for all educational programmes.

A thrust on regional languages in technical education has also been adopted. A report suggested that 14 engineering colleges including four in Uttar Pradesh, two in Rajasthan and one each in Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand will teach undergraduate programmes in Hindi to close to 1,000 students from 2021-22.

Meanwhile, the education ministry is setting up a live dashboard to monitor progress in the NEP implementation. The ministry has identified 181 tasks, which will have to be completed under NEP 2020.

This includes à la carte subject options across all undergraduate and postgraduate streams, regional language-based education, entry and exit flexibility in university degrees and a credit bank system, among others.