NEP ‘S Sucess for the 2020s depends upon Cooperative Federalism And State Ownership Of Reforms
The first education policy of the 21st century was unveiled in July last year in India. India’s education system faces multiple crises, and the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is India’s first omnibus policy since 1986. A vital part of the occasion is the implementation of the NEP.
To create a new India and future-ready youth, this will be critical. NEP 2020, according to the Education Minister, is a visionary education policy that empowers youth, universalizes education, builds capacities, and transforms the learning landscape in India.
A holistic, affordable, accessible, and equitable educational environment is what the NEP will provide. Has progress been made so far? Is the NEP rolling out as planned? How will this mega education policy be challenged in the coming years?
Major Milestones
In terms of building awareness about the mission and vision of the NEP, the government has made good progress. A series of national-level events were held along with the Shikshak Parv, which took place for ten days.
Additionally, the government renamed the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) to the Ministry of Education to emphasize the new purpose. By bringing in Dharmendra Pradhan, the man who transformed the vital energy ministry, this vital ministry has been infused with new energy and dynamism.
Mr Pradhan’s experience in implementing and diplomatically negotiating will give him an advantage when pushing mega-initiatives likely to be opposed by states ruled by Opposition parties.
School curriculums have been revised to include financial literacy and artificial intelligence (AI) as NEP activities. As the NEP gave priority to the mother tongue or regional language, several states have used this as a model, although on a trial basis.
Also, the Ministry of Education has initiated the much-discussed Academic Bank of Credit program, which provides students in higher education with different options for entry and exit.
Among the states, only a few have launched the programme, mainly under the ruling parties. In August, Karnataka became the first state to implement NEP. Recently, a series of statewide NEP initiatives have been launched in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, giving the mega policy a much-needed push. NEP is generally gaining traction.
Five Major Challenges
However, the road to the NEP’s realisation is filled with endless potholes. Firstly, India’s education sector is so large and diverse that implementation is complex. Let’s take the school system alone as an example.
India’s education system ranks among the world’s leading education systems, with 15 lakh schools, 25 crore students, and 89 lakh teachers. Higher education is also a massive industry in India.
There are 3.74 crore students enrolled in India’s higher education sector, which includes nearly 1000 universities, 39,931 colleges, and 10,725 stand-alone institutions, according to AISHE 2019. Implementing this mega education policy at the state, district, sub-district, and block levels will be a task with multiple stakeholders.
Leading at state and district levels with exceptional diversity will be a significant challenge for the educational leadership to create a shared sense of responsibility and ownership among key stakeholders, including the private sector.
Secondly, the NEP’s eventual realization requires state capacity. India’s education system lacks innovation and scale-up capacity, as mentioned by the NEP Drafting Committee led by K Kasturirangan.
Moreover, the ability of education ministries and regulatory bodies to oversee the reforms envisaged in the NEP is grossly inadequate. Thousands of schools and colleges would require capacity building and reorientation to implement a massive learning programme with various learning outcomes.
There will be a considerable overhaul of the existing organisational structure and ecosystems of the ministry.
Third, the NEP would be largely dependent on government cooperation with states. After input from multiple stakeholder groups, the Union government drafted the NEP, including state governments, but its implementation largely depends on their active collaboration. State governments are often the primary providers of education services.
As the Centre implements key initiatives, decentralisation and cooperative federalism must be skillfully negotiated. The sharpening of political polarization and the deterioration of trust between the Centre and states make this not an easy act.
There have been strong objections from several Opposition-ruled states to several key provisions of the NEP and the implementation process. However, the biggest concern is that Tamil Nadu’s decision not to implement the NEP may encourage other opposition-ruled states to follow its example. The success of the NEP depends on the management of federal math.
Fourth, translating the inclusionary vision of the NEP depends heavily on the private sector, particularly about higher education. As many as 70 per cent of higher education institutions (colleges and universities) are run by private companies. Sixty-seven per cent of students are enrolled in private colleges and universities.
In addition to this, the private sector brings money and innovation. Governments and regulatory bodies should create structures and procedures that allow the private sector to contribute effectively to the NEP process and be treated as equal partners.
Furthermore, to execute key initiatives successfully, adequate financial resources must be available over decades. Accordingly, the NEP states that the country must raise public spending on education to 6% of GDP to realise the goals of the new policy.
Considering past promises and their actual fulfilment, this is a daunting task. National Education Policy of 1968 recommended that education accounts for 6% of GDP. The government has never spent more than 3% on education in all these decades.
Despite this, education allocations in the budget for NEP’s launch year have declined. A 6% cut was made to the education budget from 99,311 crores to 93,224 crores for the next financial year.
There is no clear roadmap still on how enormous sums of financial resources can be augmented, given the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic distress that large sections of the population face.
NEP 2020 is truly a groundbreaking document. One of the goals of the policy is to address pedagogical issues, structural issues, and access and make the students future-ready and ready for the 21st century.
Having to manage multiple crises in the education system simultaneously is the most challenging task facing the NEP. For India to reap the demographic dividends and leverage the opportunities presented by its rapidly growing knowledge economy, it must be effectively implemented. Despite the pandemic challenges, the Centre has launched many initiatives in recent months, highlighting its transformative potential.
The policy has been implemented in several states, and many others are setting it up. However, the NEP faces many challenges. It is a daunting task to implement such a large project and coordinate the activities of multiple stakeholders at the state and district levels and the private sector, among other stakeholders.
Besides this, there are other issues, including weak state capacity, limited financial resources, and, of course, the education ecosystem that hinders innovation and encourages old ones.
A critical challenge for NEP remains to gain consensus and ensure that states own the first omnibus programme after 1986. As a result, the NEP’s success depends heavily on states taking responsibility for reforms and cooperative federalism.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
