Celebrating Anniversary of NEP 2020
By: Syed Mustafa Ahmad
It is a joyous moment for all of us that on 29 July 2023, we completed three years of NEP 2020. Under the visionary Prime Minister of India, this innovation was brought in to change the overall scenario of the Indian education.
Gone are the times when education used to be limited to the vocational aim only. However, in the present, education means life. As we know life means to fight against all the odds and come out winning. In the same vein, education means to find a place in the society and strive hard to bring a positive change in every domain of life. It is in this backdrop that NEP 2020 was implemented. There are many causes responsible too. Let us discuss some of them briefly in the coming lines.
The first is science and technology. In the age of science and technology, it has become necessary to modernize education. In the age of the Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Machine Learning, it has become a duty to bring education at par with the modern trends. The age of primates is gone. The present age is the age of innovation and development.
The second is incompatible education. In the past, education meant memorizing things. However, in the present, when there are myriad problems, there is an urgent need to make education a problem solving process; rather than a problem-creator process. Poverty, cyber wars, unequal distribution of wealth, ethnic cleansing, et cetera are some problems that can be solved by sustainable education.
The third is individual differences. The same kind of education for different students is harmful. Every student is unique. So, education must be a mixture of different things. It should not be like a status quo. It should take individual differences into account. From choosing subjects to taking part in extra-curricular activities, there must be a choice-based system in place that proves healthy for students.
The fourth is legacy. India is a home to many world-class institutions. In the past too, India has made its presence felt in education department. So, keeping the legacy alive, it must become the leader in imparting life giving education.
However, there is a lot to be done. There are a lot of people who are unacquainted with the concepts of 2020. Though there is a visible change on the ground level, it will take a long time to fully integrate the educational system in the country. There is asymmetry at every level. Some are not ready to implement it. A lot of students are outside the school. There is an urgent need to bring them back to schools. Many students have left schools to become labourers.
There is a cut-throat competition that makes education a prospectus-less entity. Students commit suicide now and then. There is a caste bias prevalent in higher educations. Women still lag behind in research projects and at the governing bodies.
In short, NEP 2020 is a welcome step. It will reform our education system in the long run. We all have to make it a reality in the near future. Education must be a luxury; rather a liability. Overall, those countries prosper which invest in education and produce efficient human beings which we call human resources.
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