New Delhi: The Ministry of Education is all set to officially launch 10 schemes that were announced under the new National Education Policy (NEP) by May this year, ThePrint has learnt.
The schemes are currently at different stages of approval within the government.
Highly-placed sources in the ministry told ThePrint that the policies it plans to launch include a common entrance test for admission in colleges, multiple entry-exit option during graduation, establishment of academic bank of credit by University Grants Commission (UGC) and the National Research Foundation (NRF), among others.
Once these schemes are launched officially, they will come into effect from the academic session 2021-22.
“We are working on launching some important schemes that were announced in the NEP 2020 by May this year. They are at various stages of approval within the government and will be ready for launch by the month of May. Once launched by the ministry, the policies will become a part of the education system from the academic session 2021-22,” a ministry official told ThePrint.
ThePrint reached the ministry spokesperson through email for a comment, but there was no response till the time of publishing the report.
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The schemes
Among the schemes that are going to be launched is the common entrance test for admission to colleges and universities.
The entrance tests, which are mentioned in the NEP, are meant to simplify the admission process to undergraduate colleges in non-technical courses.
ThePrint had reported details of the common entrance test. There will be different tests for different courses, which will be conducted by the National Testing Agency, the body that currently conducts NEET and JEE Mains.
The other scheme, which will be officially launched, is the Academic Credit Bank for which the UGC has already prepared draft regulations, which are in the process of getting approved by the government.
The draft lays out rules that will enable students to save and transfer academic credits that they have earned during a particular course. The regulations will help students design their own course, with a mix and match of different disciplines.
Another scheme is the multiple entry and exit option, giving students the freedom to be able to leave a course anytime during their three- or four-year graduation.
Under this scheme, if a student leaves college after one year, he or she will get a certificate. If a student leaves college after two years, he/she will get a diploma, if he/she leaves after three years, then a degree. It will be a degree with research if the student chooses to pursue four years of graduation.
This will be facilitated on the basis of academic credits that a student accumulates during his/her course.
The NRF
The NRF, a body purely dedicated to research, was announced in the 2019 Budget by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
In the 2021 Budget, the finance minister allocated Rs 50,000 crore to NRF over five years.
The NRF will assimilate the research grants being given by various ministries independent of each other. It will competitively fund research in all disciplines across the academic landscape — in subjects such as medicine, physics, agriculture, artificial intelligence, nanoscience, education, sociology, archaeology, art history and literature.
(Edited by Debalina Dey)
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