PM Chairs Meet On National Education Policy, Pushes For Hybrid Learning

Pushing for the adoption of technology in delivering formal education, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said a hybrid system of online and offline learning should be developed to avoid overexposure to technology in school-going children. While chairing a high-level meeting to review the progress in the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, he said that in the two years since its launch, the new policy has seen many initiatives being unrolled to achieve the objectives of access, equity, inclusivity, and quality, as laid down under the policy. 

The PM's office said in a release that NEP has given a big push to online learning with higher education institutions being allowed to run full-fledged online courses and the permissible limit of online content being raised to 40%.

"Prime Minister was also informed that the guidelines for Multiple Entry-Exit for flexibility and lifelong learning, along with the launch Academic Bank of Credit on Digilocker platform will now make it possible for students to study as per their convenience and choice. In order to create new possibilities for life-long learning and centrally involve critical and interdisciplinary thinking in learners, UGC has published guidelines according to which students can pursue two academic programmes simultaneously," it said.

In the meeting, the PM suggested that secondary schools with science labs should engage with farmers in their area for soil testing to create awareness of soil health. He also suggested that regular health check-ups and screening for children in schools should be carried out with the help of technology. Emphasis should be laid on the use of indigenously developed toys to develop conceptual skills in students, he said.

The Prime Minister was apprised that the work of formulation of the National Curriculum Framework, under the guidance of the National Steering Committee, is in progress. In school education, initiatives like quality ECCE in Balavatika, NIPUN Bharat, Vidya Pravesh, examination reforms and innovative pedagogies like Art-Integrated Education, toy-based pedagogy are being adopted for better learning outcomes and holistic development of children. 

Stress is being paid to multilingualism in education and testing to ensure that lack of knowledge of English does not impede the educational attainment of any student, the meeting observed. 

The databases maintained by Anganwadi centres should be seamlessly integrated with the school databases as children move from Anganwadis to schools, the PM said.

From special efforts to track out of school children and bring them back into the mainstream, to the introduction of multiple entries and exits in higher education, many transformative reforms have been initiated that will define and lead the progress of the country, he said.

Online, open and multi-modal learning has been promoted vigorously by both schools and higher education institutions. This initiative has helped in reducing the learning loss due to the Covid pandemic and will contribute greatly to reaching education to remote and inaccessible parts of the country, the meeting observed.