The covid19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown has made the situation even worse for graduates who are going to enter the job market and students in general. The implications brought in by the pandemic has made the industry academia gap even wider with many finding it hard to get absorbed in an industry that complements their academic background. With that said, the announcement of National Education Policy 2020 or NEP 2020 has brought in a fresh wave of enthusiasm and optimism in the Indian education fraternity. The policy is set to overhaul the current education system to equip the Indian students to compete with their western counterparts. With more importance given to experiential learning, many educationalists consider the introduction of NEP 2020 a welcoming sign. So, lets take a look at what the students can expect in the years to come from an academic standpoint through NEP 2020. Let’s start with the pros of NEP 2020.
- The Option of Entry and Exit: One change that many consider is one of the biggest advantages of NEP 2020 is the freedom given to the students to leave the college at different points of time. This is helping the students in two different ways – deciding on how much to study and deciding on when to study. This greater flexibility will allow students to set pace of their own education and ensure that they are learning constantly and keeping themselves updated with the requirements of the industry.
With that said, well planned and executed implementation will have a massive say when it comes to deciding the success and impact of NEP 2020
- Multidisciplinary Education: NEP 2020 offers the students the ability to learn on a much broader scope which not only enhances their employment opportunities but also helps them to expand their horizons by increasing their knowledge base. This will change the old norm of students primarily focusing on a single topic which will lead them to follow a linear career path. Through multidisciplinary education, students will find different areas of interest and expertise which will help them to be better equipped to face the demands on the modern-day industry.
- Develop Critical Thinking Capabilities: This is yet another area which most students are lacking nowadays. Our academic structure compels students to be more concerned about studying all the academic topics byheart and just try to perform well in the exams. The biggest downfall of this method is that, students mostly won’t find an inclination to learn more about the concepts that they are learning and they will just forget about it right after the exams. NEP 2020 will help students to develop their critical thinking capabilities and become more engaged in the learning process. This will help the students to increase their curiosity and develop interests in the topics that they are learning about and improve their academic appetite as well as develop interests to learn about new things on a consistent basis.
These make some of the most compelling reasons why NEP 2020 will be an upgrade to the existing Indian education system. With that said, like most things, there is another side to NEP 2020 and one of the most noticeable and concerning drawback when it comes to NEP 2020 is-
- Implementation Challenges. This is by far the biggest concern surrounding NEP 2020. When everything is said and done, how is the government going to successfully implement this in educational institutions across the country is a serious doubt for many. Even with major emphasis given on constant change, not enough emphasis is given to how this change will happen. There are still a lot of grey areas that needs to be dealt with to ensure that the students will get the best possible results of this education policy.
With that said, well planned and executed implementation will have a massive say when it comes to deciding the success and impact of NEP 2020.
