National Education Policy - Critical Analysis

Profile:

Anushka Bhardwaj Arora, Principal at ABA Law Offices, New Delhi shares her critical analysis on the National Education Policy 2020 (“NEP”).

Principal at ABA Law Offices, Advocate High courts & District Courts, speaker, Ram Jethmalani Academic Excellence Awardee (for overall outstanding performance), Anushka Bhardwaj Arora specializes in Intellectual Property Laws. Anushka’s forte lies in taking up challenging matters, litigation and pro bono. Alongside IPR, she has dedicated her time into Commercial, Civil, Criminals matters and Arbitration. She has represented clients from leading Companies, Firms, and Individuals. Anushka’s litigation experience is not only confined to National practice but she has also trained-cum-interned at various law offices in Singapore.

Anushka is a graduate of first class with distinction from Guru Gobind Singh IP University, Main Campus (BA. LL.B. (H) (2017), New Delhi and has earned her Master of Laws from the National University of Singapore (LL.M. IPR).

Anushka bears a multi-faceted personality. She has not only excelled in academics (top 5-10 in all years of law school, topped in final semester), has also won laurels and accolades in prestigious Moot Court Competitions including the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot, Conferences and seminars (National & International). Anushka is also a member of the Philip C. Jessup Family, after winning the 3rd Best Advocate Award in the year 2017; She has also been called upon by the said organization to Judge the White & Case International rounds and National rounds since 2018. She has also judged other competitions and mentored teams.

Anushka has demonstrated leadership skills by working for the welfare of the University students and society, by being at the principal positions in the University and Hostel Council including the president, Legal Aid Society, the Indraprastha Law Society, Vice President at the Young Lawyers Division of Indian National Association of Legal Professionals, member at the Delhi High Court, etc.

Anushka has also written numerous research papers on topics ranging from IP laws, social welfare laws, International Laws, etc. and was even invited to present her research on transgender at Ghent University, Belgium. Critical Analysis:

A policy well planned, an outcome of “extensively, high participatory and inclusive consultation process” aiming to meet challenges of the current education system along with bridging the international education gap, is in nut-sheet the National Education Policy (“NEP”) a remarkable step towards an inclusive yet trans-formative education.

The NEP after being passed by the union cabinet on 29 July 2020 has evoked mixed and conflicting reactions from academician, political parties and associations. The said policy was recently approved by the union cabinet which brings a sweeping change into the existing education system in India. NEP is seen to have vivid colors, each color strain having its own persona. From claiming to achieve a 100 percent gross enrollment ratio to attracting foreign direct investment into education NEP seems to be nothing less than a sparkling diamond. However, understanding that NEP is indeed a robust and a visionary policy, bearing remarkable developments in school to higher education including altering the school structure with a 5 +3+3+4 curriculum structure, early childhood care education, focus on early language and mathematical skills from grade 1-3, carrying out medium of instruction till class 5 in home language/mother tongue, reforms in exam structure, establishments of standard setting bodies, equitable and inclusive education, development of national professional standards for teachers, setting of state school standards authority, and introduction of vocational education etc there are yet various hurdles to tackle. As far as higher education is concerned remarkable eye catching developments include introduction of multidisciplinary education, restructuring of PG and UG courses, setting up of multi-disciplinary and research universities, setting up of rationalized institutional architecture or knowledge hubs for students, provision of financial support to students, establishment of single regulatory body for higher education, formulation of new curriculum for teachers, promotion of use of technology, promotion of achieving higher education in mother tongue or local language.

For a pragmatic implementation of any policy, consideration and dealing with anticipated hurdles are necessary. The very fact that the NEP commits into increasing public expenditure to 6% of GDP, it unclear as to how the said increase in expenditure would be shared between central and state government. Further, a worrisome implementation under NEP being the introduction of ‘mother tongue as medium of instruction till class 5 ‘wherever possible’ seems not catching much brownie points. Understanding that English language is widely associated with “privilege”, “employability ” and acceptance, thinking about how would the said idea fare well among under privileged sections of the society is a reason to worry. Even though the intention behind inclusion of mother tongue language into the policy was for ease of learning, however taking into consideration the impact of the same over employability and higher education aspects for marginalized sections seems far fetched. Another troubling aspect oozing out from the aforementioned issue is with respect to children of families having transferable jobs, where one may travel from Delhi to Chennai, curriculum being conducted in mother tongue would definitely pose a problem.

Furthermore, though a remarkable step of inclusion of technology driven education, the implementation aspect would need to be carried out in a planned manner.

Also, understanding the harsh reality of India in terms to infrastructure, where rural segments lacks basic sanitation facilities much less technology, funding for the same, taking into account expenditure for setting up high speed internet facilities and other requisite technology mediums needs to be understood in order to claim to achieve technology drive education in near future.

Understanding that there are barely a handful rational critical issues of the said policy the list of vague and misleading criticism by primarily left wings has yet again proved that India politics is not based over a pragmatic approach but is upon party ideologies. As far as these criticisms are concerned be it from teachers association or political parties, a simple bare perusal of the NEP negates all dilemma and baseless criticism. For example the hullabaloo of states not being taken into consideration is out-rightly the most idiocentric criticisms, a bare perusal of the stake holders being consulted from various levels, states, regional etc before formulation of NEP is sufficient to evince the said point. Furthermore the scare of RSS ideology to introduce and impose Sanskrit is totally absurd, the NEP barely mentions that the option to opt Sanskrit would be available at all grades and so on.

Overall, NEP is a remarkable step towards a progressive India, however, there are various implementation, formulation and execution barriers involved which have to be pondered upon in order to effectively carry out process under the NEP.