PM Modi chairs meet on NEP, calls for hybrid learning

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to review the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) and advocated developing a hybrid system of online and offline learning to “avoid overexposure of technology of school-going children”.

The Prime Minister said that the implementation of NEP 2020 in the two years since its launch saw many initiatives in achieving the objectives of access, equity, inclusivity and quality, according to an official statement.

At the meeting, the Prime Minister was told that the work on formulating a National Curriculum Framework under the guidance of the National Steering Committee was in progress.

“The databases maintained by anganwadi centers should be seamlessly integrated with the school databases as children move from anganwadis to schools. Regular health check-ups and screening for children in schools should be carried out with the help of technology,” the statement quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

Praising the new education policy, Modi said that from special efforts to track out-of-school children and bring them back into the mainstream to the introduction of multiple entry and exit points in higher education, many transformative reforms have been initiated that will define and lead the progress of the country as it enters the “Amrit Kaal”.

In July 2020, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, approved the implementation of NEP 2020, making way for large-scale, transformational reforms in schools and higher education sectors.

Referring to multi-disciplinarity in higher education, the government said that the Prime Minister was informed that the guidelines for multiple entry-exit for flexibility and lifelong learning along with the launch of academic bank of credit on digilocker platform will now make it possible for students to study as per their convenience and choice.

The meeting was attended by the Union education, skill development and entrepreneurship minister Dharmendra Pradhan, and chiefs of the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training among other senior officials.

Saturday’s meeting discussed that the initiative to promote online, open and multi-modal learning in schools and higher education institutions is aimed at reducing the learning loss due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The statement also said that that stress has been given to multi-linguality in education and testing to ensure that the lack of knowledge of English does not impede the educational attainment of any student.

With this objective in mind, states are publishing bilingual and trilingual textbooks at foundational level and content on DIKSHA platform has been made available in 33 Indian languages.

The NIOS has introduced Indian Sign Language (ISL) as a language subject at the secondary level.

Technical book writing is being undertaken in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, it said, adding that engineering courses are being offered in six Indian languages in 19 engineering colleges across 10 states from 2021-22.