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10-year Education Report Card: Hits & Misses

Public spending on education as % of GDP declined
National Education Policy 2020 from 3.1 percent in 2013-14 to 2.9 percent in 2022-23
NCF for the Foundational Stage 2022 Rewriting school textbooks controversy
National Research Foundation not established despite
NCF for School Education 2023 being announced in consecutive Union budget speeches
Higher Education Commission of India Bill yet to be
Foreign university campuses permitted in India tabled in Parliament
Digital University announced in Union Budget
Promotion of new higher ed institutions including IITs, 2022-23, yet to be established.
IIMs & AIIMS
Decline in teenage students' learning outcomes as reported
National Testing Agency by ASER 2023 and the government’s NAS 2021
Faculty shortages — 40 percent of teaching posts
Higher Education Financing Agency vacant in the IITs, 31 percent in IIMs and 30 percent
in Central universities
National Credit Framework 48.75 percent of graduates are unemployable (India Skills
Report)
Only 4.69 percent of the total workforce in India
India Skill Mission is formally skilled (TeamLease)
NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading Slow progress on liberalization and deregulation of school
with Understanding and Numeracy) and higher education

NEP 2020 a pathbreaking landmark ...

polymath alumnus of Madras, Del- tidisciplinary and liberal education, research,
hi, Hong Kong, Oxford and Harvard academic freedom, institutional autonomy
A universities, Dr. C. Raj Kumar and regulatory reforms. But time bound
is founding vice chancellor of the private implementation of NEP 2020 is critical for
top-ranked O.P. Jindal Global University, attaining its laudable objectives.
Sonipat, Haryana (JGU, estb.2009).
What should be the Top 3 education priorities of
Are you satisfied with the education record of the new post-2024 government?
the past 10 years of the BJP government? NEP implementation. This powerful
India faces a historic opportunity with an policy document has the power to propel the
advantageous demographic dividend — 70 dream of Viksit Bharat@2047. But its imple-
percent of its population is below the age mentation requires the highest degree of
of 35. To empower these 1 billion young Indians, the operational governance. Moreover there’s urgent need to
government has focussed on improving access and quality create new institutional mechanisms with active partici-
of education. NEP 2020 is a transformative step in this pation of all key stakeholders.
direction. PM Modi’s call for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and Build research-oriented higher education institu-
‘Viksit Bharat@2047’ are direct calls for strengthening tions. In the emerging knowledge economy, India needs
India’s higher education landscape and building world- to build and nourish a research ecosystem to address
class universities. complex problems of society and embrace technological
progress.
What are the biggest education achievements and failures of Confer greater autonomy to higher education
the BJP government? institutions (HEIs). A continuing concern to HEIs is
NEP 2020 will go down as a pathbreaking landmark in over-regulation by overlapping regulatory bodies. It’s im-
the annals of Indian higher education. The policy will re- portant to reimagine and restructure the entire regulatory
energise the education system by giving impetus to mul- framework to provide greater autonomy to HEIs.

MARCH 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 51