Modi govt will finally announce New Education Policy by 31 May after 4-year delay

The New Education Policy was one of Modi’s poll promises in 2014. Now, the govt wants to get it out for public feedback by May, and through cabinet by July.

Representative image | Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg

New Delhi: The wait for a New Education Policy (NEP) might finally be over, with Narendra Modi’s incoming government planning to release it by the end of May.

The policy is one of the major decisions that the new government has planned for its first 100 days in the education sector. Even before the results had been announced, all the ministries had been asked to prepare a roadmap of what they plan to do within the first 100 days of the new government.

Confirming the development, a senior official in the Ministry of Human Resource Development told ThePrint: “The New Education Policy will be first handed over to the new HRD minister, and then we will put it up on the website by 31 May.”

After a round of public feedback, the policy will finally be presented to the cabinet in July for approval.

Modi had promised it in 2014

The NEP was one of the biggest promises of Modi and the BJP before coming to power in 2014, and that’s why the government wants to release it as soon as it starts its second innings, sources said.

Although the official quoted above refused to divulge details on what the policy contains, he said the major focus is on improvement of quality of education, curriculum, bringing in new technology, and changing the pedagogy.

In the previous term, the NEP had been delayed by almost four years, going through two committees, which got many deadline extensions to submit their reports.

EQUIP

Apart from the NEP, another big thing the government has planned is an overhaul of higher education by bringing in a programme called EQUIP, or Education Quality Improvement Programme. This aims to improve quality and make education accessible — it is planned to be to higher education what the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan was to school education.

According to officials in the ministry, EQUIP is one of the biggest programmes in the education sector and will prove to be a game-changer. Under EQUIP, the ministry plans to work on education under 10 different broad areas, including accessibility, accreditation, employment, research and finance.

Among other things that the ministry plans to improve is the teacher recruitment process for colleges and universities.