The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 has given wings to a large number of out-of-school children’s dreams of joining the mainstream education system, experts opined on Monday during the HT Education Summit-2023.
Several prominent women from education sector shared their views during a panel discussion on “Transforming Higher Education: Quality, Access, and Employability”, moderated by Sarah Zia.
Speaking on the occasion, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) chairperson Prof. Saroj Sharma equated education with the tool for liberation, elaborating that “the aim of education is to nurture educated minds and not just to make people literate”.
She also reflected on the journey of education policies in the country right from the recommendations of the Radha Krishnan Commission for university education in 1948-49 to the recent NEP 2020.
“Since 1949, when the Radha Krishnan commission highlighted that the higher education system at the time was not India centric… we have been witnessing this kind of education system where literacy was at supreme and education was not a thing of discussion. Now, after a long wait we are into the implementation of the NEP 2020,” Sharma said.
She pointed out that 4 million students are enrolled in NIOS. “One of the greatest mandates of the NEP is mainstreaming of the out-of-school children. A large number of such children are waiting to come into mainstream and for the first time, an education policy has given such kind of recommendation,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}She pointed out that 4 million students are enrolled in NIOS. “One of the greatest mandates of the NEP is mainstreaming of the out-of-school children. A large number of such children are waiting to come into mainstream and for the first time, an education policy has given such kind of recommendation,” she said.
{{/usCountry}}Bhuvana Santhanam, the CEO of Prashanthi Balamandira Trust, pointed out that only 40 million students are enrolled in higher education in India while only 1% of women in rural areas have a college education.
“We (the trust) give incentives to the girl children and urge the parents to let the daughters study for a few years. We also give them a stipend to help the parents re-evaluate their decision and in turn students are coming to schools and colleges, which is really changing lives and societies,” she said.
Santhanam said that 80% of around 3,000 students studying in 26 campuses of the trust-run institutions in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana come from below poverty line (BPL) families.
“NEP talks about innovation. We as a trust adhere to it and provide vocational training to students, so that they have some sort of skill in hand besides the regular 10th or 12th grade education,” she added.
British Council India (Education) director Rittika Chanda Parruck praised the NEP, saying it has internalisation of higher education as a critical component and not just an ancillary aspect.
“Last year was a watershed moment for us because for the first time, India became the largest country to send students for higher studies abroad, surpassing China. It is really exciting how the NEP put so much focus on internationalisation for the first time and the British Council celebrated this moment for seeing internationalisation at the centre stage.”