Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan recently talked about the controversy around changes in the textbook content and various other topics related to the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The minister lauded the reforms undertaken by the government over the past nine years.
Pradhan said that after a gap of 34 years, the NEP was introduced and the work for it started in 2014. “If there was one sector that needed change, it was education and NEP,” Pradhan told the Times of India. As our country is in a leadership position in sustainability; it becomes all the more important to bring the education ecosystem of India to that level, he added.
Talking about the three key areas of NEP which is the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), new textbooks, and digital university, Dharmendra Pradhan said that things ‘are at an advanced stage in all three’ areas. “Textbooks for Classes 1 and 2 are already printed and when schools reopen after the summer break, National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF) recommended books for Classes 1 and 2 will be implemented. For Classes 3 to 12, the final recommendations for the NCF will be ready this month. States are aligned and NCERT is in total control — textbook committees, oversight committees are being set up and we are trying to ready all NEP recommended, NCF envisioned textbooks by 2023 itself,” Pradhan announced.
Giving an insight on the digital university plan, Pradhan stated that multi-level discussions have taken place for HECI and digital university. The government is also trying to put forward the bills in Parliament soon. Furthermore, the new guidelines for deemed-to-be universities as well as foreign universities along with the new curriculum for higher education are in process.
Last year, the National Testing Agency (NTA) was forced to cancel the debut edition of the Common University Entrance Test Undergraduate (CUET UG) at several exam centres due to technical glitches. While speaking on the issue, Pradhan asserted that last year’s learning helped them to deliver the exam better in 2023. He also praised the NTA team for administering the exam well this year.
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