The National Education Policy 2020, replacing the National Policy on Education of 1986, placed Bharat’s education system at a historic crossroads, braced to deal with the emerging social, economic and technical challenges of 21st century. Five years after its adoption, the policy has clearly changed the trajectory and discourse of Higher Education in Bharat. Although progress has been made but it will be pertinent to gauge the extent of NEP implementation; its achievements and the challenges that lie ahead.
Some fundamental principles were identified to frame the NEP 2020. These include flexibility, no separation between streams of academics, multidisciplinarity and holistic education, promotion of multilingualism, skill development and employability, research and innovation, emphasis on human and constitutional values as well as character building and all-round development of students among others. Rolling them out was easier said than done as implementation proved a tremendous task given the scale and diversity of Bharat. With concerted effort from partners such as Ministry of Education, University Grants Commission and others, a phased approach implementation of the policy was taken up.
One of the key achievements of NEP 2020 has been the promotion of multidisciplinary and holistic education. Bharat’s Higher Education framework, for last hundred fifty years, has been defined by strong disciplinary boundaries, wherein students were pigeonholed into specific academic streams like Science, Commerce or Humanities. NEP challenged this structure by promoting multidisciplinary learning. Now, Universities are increasingly combining disciplines such as Biology and Psychology, Economics and Literature or Physics and Music etc. Moreover, some universities like University of Delhi (DU) walked a step further by launching such courses that themselves are truly multidisciplinary in nature. The Value Addition Courses (VACs) offered to undergraduate students have various novel courses of this kind as ‘Science and Society’, ‘The Gita for Sustainable Universe’, ‘The Art of being Happy’ which have components from various disciplines ranging from Physics, Life Science, Environmental Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Sociology, Sanskrit and English etc. The purpose behind the adoption of this strategy was to promote critical thinking and analytical skills among students to help them evolve into critical thinkers, creative, communicators with a holistic personality rather than simply qualifying as degree holders.
These reforms are aimed at bringing Bharatiya Higher Education closer to global models of liberal education and preparing students for a fast-changing world. This ‘liberal model’ of Education is not a ‘Western’ import, rather an attempt to reclaiming our rich heritage. Ancient Bharatiya literary works such as Banabhatta’s Kadambari described a good education as knowledge of the 64 Kala (arts). One must know that these arts encompassed not only singing and painting, but also knowledge of the scientific, vocational, and professional fields.
Transforming The Academia
A key reform introduced under NEP 2020 is the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) with different entry and exit possibilities. Under this framework, students have the option to exit college with a certificate after one year, a diploma after two years, a bachelor’s degree after three years and a research degree after four years. This offers flexibility to the students and allows a retailoring of the “all-or-nothing” aspect of Higher Education. The basic objective was of benefitting those students who could not continue their education owing to various reasons. Over 105 Universities, including 19 central Universities adopted these reforms by early 2025 with more in the process.
In addition, the four-year system of education matches the Bharatiya undergraduate education with international standards, thereby offering mobility and opportunity to students to pursue higher studies overseas.
A pioneering success of NEP 2020 is the creation of the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) where students can electronically deposit academic credits earned at multiple schools transferring them as needed. Over 3 crore students have registered in ABC, enabling seamless mobility from one institution to another, as per requirement, without losing academic progress. This measure has given boost to flexibility, mobility and lifelong learning as seen in Higher Education. Students are no longer tied to one institution for their whole academic career and are free to take courses across colleges, as per their interests and professional ambitions. This was a huge transition that permitted the crossover of Higher Education learning from an institution-centred to a learner-centred model.
NEP 2020 has also hastened the digitalisation of Higher Education. Platforms such as SWAYAM, DIKSHA and virtual laboratories have improved access to educational content, especially for the remote areas and led to innovation in pedagogy.
Values With Modern Education
Another highlight of NEP 2020 is character building of students. The ‘Principles of the Policy’ in NEP draft emphasises, “The purpose of the education system is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values.”
In today’s scenario, when a substantial number of youth are at crossroads with various personality issues, the need for holistic personality development having Bharatiya value system is an urgent need. The DU, while implementing NEP 2020, designed 39 ‘Value Addition Courses’ (VACs) keeping in mind students’ holistic development, a groundbreaking step in the country’s university education. These VACs are credit courses, and are mandatory for students of all the streams of Higher Education. Some of these courses are ‘Vedic Mathematics’, ‘Swachh Bharat’, ‘The Gita: Navigating Life Challenges’, ‘Panchkosh: Holistic Development of Personality’, ‘Bharatiya Bhakti Tradition and Human Values’, ‘Yoga: Philosophy and Practices’, ‘Sahitya, Sanskriti and Cinema’, ‘Ethics and Values in Ancient Bharatiya Tradition’, ‘Fit India’, ‘Emotional Intelligence’, ‘Constitutional Values and Fundamental Duties’, ‘Indigenous Sports’ etc. which are proving to be a boon for the students.
NEP also emphasises on Bharatiya knowledge system (IKS) saying, it will be incorporated in an accurate and scientific manner in the curriculum wherever relevant. Currently, elements of IKS are being incorporated in the syllabi wherever possible. But most of our curriculum is based on Euro or US centric approach. A better approach would be to design or redesign the curriculum keeping in mind the Bharatiya perspective. DU has taken an initiative by developing many courses on IKS, under VACs, from the Bharatiya perspective also.
Research and innovation is another high priority under NEP 2020 as hundreds of years slavery pushed Bharat’s research to cold storage. The fourth year of UG programme of NEP is totally dedicated to research, providing opportunity to young minds. Additionally, Universities have also started setting up incubation centres, innovation hubs and industry-academia connections. These measures are aimed at making Bharat a knowledge economy.
Much emphasis is put on the use of Bharatiya languages in NEP 2020, in terms of both, ‘teaching in’ and ‘teaching of’ the Bharatiya languages. However, only few Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), especially the technical ones, are imparting teaching in Bharatiya languages even as it has seen more progress. DU is offering the teaching of all the 22 Bharatiya languages of 8th schedule of the constitution.
NEP 2020 has also helped in skill development and employability. Bharatiya Higher Education has long been criticised for creating graduates who lack industry-relevant skills. HEIs try to fill this gap by adding vocational education, internships, entrepreneurship, coding and practical training in university curricula.
Internationalisation of Higher Education is another salient feature of NEP 2020. Bharat has achieved significant progress in internationalising its Higher Education with International branch campuses of IIT Madras in Zanzibar, IIT Delhi in Abu Dhabi, and IIM Ahmedabad in Dubai. On the other hand, foreign universities are now allowed in Bharat which will save substantial foreign exchange. Deakin University and the University of Wollongong have campuses in Gujarat’s GIFT City, while Southampton University and many other global universities are in the offing. Besides, NEP 2020-aligned improvements has enhanced Bharat’s position significantly in world academic rankings; 54 Bharatiya HEIs feature in the QS World University Rankings 2026 now, which is a big jump from just 28 institutions in 2021.
The Roadblocks Ahead
Despite the success, the implementation of NEP 2020 has encountered many problems too. The biggest challenge is the lack of sufficient public funding. Many public universities and colleges, especially in the states, continue to grapple with insufficient infrastructure, shortages of faculty, obsolete facilities and limited digital resources. Among 1,100 universities and 45,000 colleges across the country, larger, well-funded and administratively robust institutions have adapted better whereas smaller colleges and rural institutions continue to struggle to meet even basic requirements.
The practical difficulties of teaching in Bharatiya languages medium compound the issue. There is a scarcity of good quality academic material, technical terminology and multilingual teachers in several areas. The process of transferring complicated scientific and professional education into the regional languages is a long-term process and involves considerable intellectual and institutional commitment. It is reassuring that SWAYAM portal of Ministry of Education shows Engineering courses available in 11 Bharatiya languages, along with reading material for Medical and Management courses.
Governance and regulation also need a new framework. NEP 2020 suggests HECI to streamline regulation and boost accountability; measures that should come into existence sooner than later.
Thus, it can be concluded that NEP 2020 has definitely brought in some key shifts in Bharat’s Higher Education sector. It can best be described as an unfinished reform that the Higher Education sector is eagerly awaiting.
