Cabinet approved
Replace the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE),1986
Vision

An education system that contributes to an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high-quality education to all.
Develops a deep sense of respect towards the fundamental rights, duties and Constitutional values, bonding with one’s country, and a conscious awareness of ne role and responsibilities in a changing world.
Instils skills, values, and dispositions that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development and living, and global well-being, thereby reflecting a truly global citizen

T.S.R. Subramaniam Committee Report (2016) • Dr. K. Kasturirangan Committee Report (2 19)

School Education

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE)

Universal Access for children of 3-6 years
National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE)

For children upto age of 8 years
NCERT will develop

ECCE will be delivered through trained Anganwadis and pre-schools
Pre-school sections covering at least one year of early childhood care and education will be added to Kendriya Vidyalayas and other primary schools, particularly in disadvantaged areas
Implementation to be jointly carried out by Ministries of HRD, Women and Child Development (WCD), Health and Family Welfare (HFW), and Tribal Affairs.

Attainment of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy

National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
National Book Promotion Policy
National Repository of high quality resources

Curtailing Dropout Rates and Ensuring Universal Access to Education at All Level

Policy aims to achieve 100% GER in preschool to secondary level by 2030.

Providing effective and sufficient infrastructure
Open and Distance Learning Programmes
Special emphasis on Socio-Economic Disadvantaged groups (SEDG)
Tracking students

Curriculum and Pedagogy

Restructuring school curriculum and pedagogy in a new 5+3+3+4 design

5 years of the Foundational Stage: 3 years of pre-primary school and Grades 1, 2.
3 years of the Preparatory Stage: Grades 3, 4, 5.
3 years of the Middle Stage: Grades 6, 7, 8
4 years of the High Stage: Grades 9, 10, 11, 12

National Curricular Framework for School Education will be developed by the NCERT
Reduced curriculum content
Experience learning
Freedom of choosing a variety of subject combination: no rigid separation among ‘curric lar ‘extracurricular’, or ‘co-curricular’, among humanities’, a ‘sciences’, or between ‘vocational’ or ‘academi s.
Introduction of contemporary subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Design Thinking, Holistic Health, Organic Living, Environmental Education, Global Citizenship Education (GCED), etc..
Vocational education through 10-day bagless period sometime during Grades 6-8 where students will intern with local vocational experts such as carpenters, gardeners, potters, artists, etc

Student assessment

School examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by the appropriate authority and Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will be continued but redesigned.
National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), will be set up as a standard-setting body under Ministry of Education
Holistic progress card
National Testing Agency to conduct entrance examinations for undergraduate and graduate admissions and fellowships in higher education institutions

Language

Medium of instruction up till grade 5, and preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be home language/ mother tongue/ local language.
Three languages formula with greater flexibility
All classical languages (Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia) will be widely available in schools as options in addition, Pali, Persian, and Prakrit.

Equitable and inclusive education

Socio-Economically disadvantaged groups SEDG
Children with disabilities
Gender Inclusion Fund
Special Education Zones SEZ

Large population with SEDG to be declared as SEZ

Bal Bhavans
Samajik Chetana Kendras
Fee waivers and scholarships
Additional Schools- Setting-up of additional JNVs and KVs in aspirational districts/SEZ

Teacher Education and Recruitment

National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education by 2021
National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be developed by the National Council for Teacher Education by 2022
National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) to be restructured as a Professional Standard Setting Body (PSSB)
National Mission for Mentoring
Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) for all teachers across Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary stage in both public and private school

School Governance

Schools can be organized into complexes or clusters which will be the basic unit of governance
Schools will develop School Development Plans
The twinning/pairing of one public school with one private school

Standard setting and Accreditation for School Education

Clear, separate systems for policy making, regulation, operations and academic matters
State School Standards Authority (SSSA) to be setup by States/Uts
School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF) to be developed by SCERT

Both public and private schools will be assessed and accredited on same criteria except central govt schools

National Achievement Survey for a periodic ‘health check-up’ of the overall system sed on PARAKH

Higher Education

Institutional restructuring and consolidation

All higher education institutions to be consolidated into three types of institutions:

Research Universities - equal focus on research and teaching
Teaching Universities - primary focus on teaching with significant focus on research
Autonomous degree granting colleges - almost exclusive focus on teaching

Affiliation of colleges is to be phased out in 15 years and a stage-wise mechanism is to be established for granting graded autonomy to colleges
By 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall aim to become multidisciplinary institutions
to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035

Holistic Multidisciplinary criteria

flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification.
Academic Bank of Credit system - Digitally storing academic credits
Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs), at par with IITs, IIMs, to be set up as models of best multidisciplinary education of global standards.
National Research Foundation

Regulation

Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)

HECI will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding medical and legal education.
Four verticals

National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation,
General Education Council (GEC) for standard setting,
Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding,
National Accreditation Council (NAC) for accreditation.

Public and private higher education institutions will be governed by the same set of norms

Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions

International Students Office at each HEI
High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries and vice versa
Research collaboration and student exchanges
Credits acquired in foreign universities will be permitted, where appropriate

Equity and Inclusion

Earmark suitable Government funds and set clear targets for the education of SEDGs
more high-quality HEIs in aspirational districts and Special Education Zones containing larger numbers of SEDGs

Misc provisions

Financing Education

Centre and State together increase the public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP
Philanthropic support

Technology in education

National Educational Technology Forum (NETF),
Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education

Adult Education

Policy aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy.

Online and Digital Education
Professional Education

Part of Higher Education

Promotion of Indian Languages, Arts, and Culture

4- year B.Ed. dual degrees will be developed in these subjects of Indian languages, comparative literature, creative writing, arts, music, philosophy
Outstanding local artists and craftsperson will be hired as guest faculty
Artist(s)-in-Residence

Every higher education institution and even every school or school complex will aim to have Artist(s)-in-Residence to expose students to art, creativity, and the rich treasures of the region/country.

High-quality programmes and degrees in Translation and Interpretation, Art and Museum Administration, Archaeology etc will also be created
Academies will be established consisting of scholars and native speaker for each 8th schedule language