NATIONAL POLICY ON

EDUCATION
1968, 1986, 1992, 2012, 2020
 NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION, 1968
 Free and Compulsory Education: ‘Strenuous efforts’ should be made to fulfil the Constitutional
mandate of free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14 years.

 Status, Emoluments and Education of Teachers:

• Improvement in the status and service conditions of teachers
• Academic freedom of teachers to pursue and publish independent researches and to express
their views about significant national and international issues

 Development of languages: Use of regional language should be encouraged for educational and
cultural development while outlining the three-language formula.

 Equalization of Educational Opportunity: Making serious efforts to equalize educational

opportunity for all irrespective of religion, abilities, gender, class, caste etc., bridging the gap
between educational facilities for rural and urban, male and female.

 Identification of Talent: Identification of talents in different fields at the earliest and providing
opportunities to develop its fullest.
 Work-Experience and National Service: These programmes will help in developing character
formation and a sense of social commitment.

 Science Education and Research: Should be given a high priority as it accelerates national
economic growth. Science and mathematics should be an integral part of general education
through entire school life.

 Education for Agriculture and Industry: Special efforts for the development of education for
agriculture and industry by establishing at least one agricultural university in each state, and by
assisting other universities to develop departments for the study of one or more aspects of
agriculture.

 Production of Books: The policy criticized frequent changes in books and high price of books. It
recommended special attention regarding books in regional languages for students of all levels
including university levels. It also emphasized the importance of production of high-quality
textbooks for schools and universities and recommended that efforts should be made to have a
few basic textbooks common throughout the country.

 Examinations: Emphasized on continuing and improving the reliability and validity of

examinations.
 Secondary Education: Considered secondary education as a major instrument of social change
and transformation and emphasized need to increase facilities for technical and vocational
education at this stage.

 University Education: Establishment of new universities only after adequate funding

provisions, attention to post graduate courses, and improvement in training and research
facilities, etc.

 Part-time Education and Correspondence Courses: Developing part time education and
correspondence courses of the same status as full-time courses, on a large scale for the
university and school students, teachers and workers.

 Spread of Literacy and Adult Education: Liquidating of mass illiteracy by actively involving
teachers and students in literacy campaigns as part of the Social and National Service Program.

 Games and Sports: Improving physical fitness and sportsmanship of the students by games,
sports and physical education programs.

 The Educational Structure: Suggested uniform educational structure in all parts of the
country by adopting the 10+2+3 pattern. Setting goals to gradual increase in investment in
education by increasing expenditure of 6 percent of the national income.
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 NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION, 1986
 National System of Education: The National System envisaged a common educational
structure i.e. 10+2+3 as suggested by NPE 1968. This National System of Education was based
on a national curricular framework comprising some common core along with some flexible
components.

 Early Childhood Care and Education: Integrated Child Development service, Balwadis, Pre-
Primary schools of the State government and Municipalities, Day-care centers.

 Elementary Education and Operation Blackboard:

• Universal retention of children up to 14 years of age
• A substantial improvement in the quality of education
• Child centered and activity-based process of learning and total exclusion of corporal
punishment
• Realizing the insufficient facilities in schools, the Scheme of Operation Blackboard was
suggested to provide essential facilities in primary schools. This scheme envisaged on
providing three reasonably large rooms that can be used in all weather, and blackboards,
maps, charts, toys, other necessary learning aids and school library along with at least three
teachers (50% female)

 Education of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and backward Sections: Open
primary schools in tribal areas, scheduled caste areas and backward areas on a priority basis and
set a goal for cent percent enrolment of SC/ST children in the age group of 6-11 by 1990.
 Education of the Handicapped: Education of children with locomotor handicaps and other mild
handicaps should be common as the normal children. Measures should be taken for establishing
Special Schools with hostel facilities at district headquarters for the severely handicapped
children. Adequate arrangements should be made for vocational training to the disabled, teacher
training programmes, and voluntary effort for the education of the disabled.

 Non-Formal Education: For school dropouts, children from habitations without schools, girls
having problem in attending school, and working children, non-formal education program of
comparable quality was suggested. The responsibility of running NFE program was given to
voluntary agencies and Panchayati Raj institutions.

 Secondary Education: Provision of establishing school system in the unserved areas and
providing special facilities for the children with talents and high achievers. The following facilities
were suggested:
• Programme to widening access to secondary education enrolment of girls, SCs and STs,
particularly in unserved areas
• Programme of consolidation in other areas
• Pace-setting residential schools, Navodaya Vidyalayas, for children with special talent with
reservation for the rural areas, SCs and STs

 Vocationalisation of Education: Recommended various vocational courses at the +2 stage of

secondary education. It was proposed that ‘vocational courses to cover 10 percent of higher
secondary students by 1995 and 25 percent by 2000’
 Higher Education: All round improvement in the existing system and protection of system from
degradation, encouraging the establishment of autonomous department and Autonomous
Colleges according to UGC directives. It also suggested increased flexibility in the combination of
courses with transformation of teaching methods by introducing Audio visual aids and electronic
equipment. Recommended systematic assessment of Teachers' performance. Special emphasis
given to research facilities in universities and encouraged interdisciplinary research.

 Open University and Distance Education: Open learning system has been started to widen
the access to higher education keeping in view the unique needs of learners and the importance of
flexibility in Educational Policies in India education. The Policy assigned responsibility to Indira
Gandhi National Open University to coordinate the distance learning system in the country.

 De-linking of Degrees from Jobs: The National Evaluation Organization was proposed to be
established to conduct tests on a voluntary basis to determine the suitability of candidates for
specific jobs.

 Rural Universities and Institutes: Based on Gandhian Basic Education.

 Technical and Management Education: Criticized separate functioning of technical and

management function, and emphasized the need for integration of these two. It promoted
continuing education covering existing as well as emerging technologies, and suggested that
Technical Manpower Information System will be strengthened in order to improve the situation
regarding manpower information.
 National Education Policy, 2020
 Ensuring Universal Access at all levels of schooling from pre-primary school to Grade 12
 Ensuring quality early childhood care and education for all children between 3-6 years
 New Curricular and Pedagogical Structure (5+3+3+4) including foundational, preparatory, middle
and secondary
 No hard separations between arts and sciences, between curricular and extracurricular activities,
between vocational and academic streams
 Establishing National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
 Emphasis on promoting multilingualism and Indian languages; The medium of instruction
until at least Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother
tongue/local language/regional language.
 Assessment reforms- Board Exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one
main examination and one for improvement, if desired
 Setting up of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review,
and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development)
 Equitable and inclusive education - Special emphasis given on Socially and Economically
Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs)
 A separate Gender Inclusion Fund and Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions
and groups
 Robust and transparent processes for recruitment of teachers and merit-based
performance
 Ensuring availability of all resources through school complexes and clusters
 Setting up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA)
 Exposure of vocational education in school and higher education system
 Increasing GER in higher education to 50%
 Holistic Multidisciplinary Education with multiple entry/exit options
 NTA to offer Common Entrance Exam for Admission to Higher Education Institutions
 Establishment of Academic Bank of Credit (ABC)
 Setting up of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs)
 Setting up of National Research Foundation (NRF)
 ‘Light but Tight’ regulation
 Single overarching umbrella body for promotion of higher education sector including
teacher education and excluding medical and legal education- the Higher Education Commission
of India (HECI)-with independent bodies for standard setting- the General Education Council;
funding-Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC); accreditation- National Accreditation Council
(NAC); and regulation- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC)
 Expansion of open and distance learning to increase GER
 Internationalization of Education
 Professional Education will be an integral part of the higher education system. Stand-alone
technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities, or institutions
in these or other fields, will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions.
 Teacher Education - 4-year integrated stage-specific, subject- specific Bachelor of Education
 Establishing a National Mission for Mentoring.
 Creation of an autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) to provide
a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance learning, assessment,
planning, administration. Appropriate integration of technology into all levels of education.
 Achieving 100% youth and adult literacy.
 Multiple mechanisms with checks and balances will combat and stop the commercialization of
higher education.
 All education institutions will be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a ‘not for
profit’ entity.
 The Centre and the States will work together to increase the public investment in Education
sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.
 Strengthening of the Central Advisory Board of Education to ensure coordination to bring
overall focus on quality education.
 Ministry of Education - In order to bring the focus back on education and learning, it may be
desirable to re-designate MHRD as the Ministry of Education (MOE).