Explained: Every Education Policy in India

India has seen a series of reforms through, education policies, acts, plan of action, and curriculum frameworks. However, despite a considerable improvement in our education system, we are still far from meeting the defined targets like universal enrollment, inclusion, quality, and accessibility of education.

Undoubtedly, the Kothari Commission, NEP 1968, 1986, POA 1992, RTE 2009, and NCF 2005 have restructured our education system to a great extent.

But when it comes to delivering the best quality education to all our students, we are still behind the targets.

With 15 crore out-of-school students, only 19% of the schools with internet connectivity, and poor achievement levels of school children, we still have a long way to go!

And with all this already in store, the disruption caused by the global pandemic aggravated the challenges!

As the need for a more resilient system grows, the NEP 2020 comes in as a new ray of hope. Because over decades, our Indian schooling system needs bigger and better reforms to help all students reach their highest potential.

List of all the Education Policies implemented by the Government of India

Let’s take a quick recap of the hits and misses of all the Education Policies implemented in India & Decode why NEP 2020 is a better version of them all!

1. Kothari Commission

Kothari Commission is one of the most important landmarks for educational reforms in independent India. It laid the foundation of the 10+2+3 schooling pattern. And came up with some visionary recommendations for marginalized students, higher education, spending on education, and the use of ICT in learning.

Despite criticism, its three-language formula, scholarships, and remunerations for teachers proved beneficial for our mainstream system. And till date, our education policies in India use its recommendations as a baseline in some form or the other.

Due to the economic condition of the newly independent nation (financial constraints), the recommendations of this commission could not be followed as it is. And this led to certain gaps in the National Education Policy in 1968 which was mostly created on the recommendations of this commission.

Hits of Kothari Commission:

Laid a foundation of structure and the upcoming policies
Touched upon the need to improve higher education for better employability.
Helped in highlighting the importance of the preschool stage for all stakeholders.
Introduced a fair and resilient public examination system that continues till date.
Provided a clear segregation of schools with or without the public exam classes.
Emphasized the need to invest in vocational education to meet the needs of 50% population under the age of 18 years.

Misses of Kothari Commission

While the country struggled with a dismal literacy rate of 28.30% in 1961, the recommendations of this commission could not be cascaded well to the stakeholders.
The ground-level implementation could not meet the targets as the stakeholders failed and needed a more detailed explanation to put these ideas into practice.
The funds required to meet these targets could not be arranged.

The table below shows the trend of India’s literacy levels from 1951 to 2001.

Year	Literacy Rate
1951	18.33%
1961	28.30%
1971	34.45%
1981	43.57%
1991	52.21%
2001	64.84%

2. National Education Policy 1968

The first education policy, NEP 1968 rolled out in the year 1968 is known for fulfilling the directive principle ‘free and compulsory education up to the age of 14 years’. It standardized the recommendations of the Kothari commission through a formal process. And implemented several reforms across the stages of school and vocational education.

Hits of the NPE 1968

Acknowledged the need for teacher’s in-service education and academic freedom.
Proposed the idea of free and compulsory education to make education accessible.
Initiated the three-language formula.
Aimed at connecting the nation through the medium of the mother tongue.
Focused on girls education.

Misses of NPE 1968

Did not focus on the stakeholder participation to implement these steps well.
Ignored the miscellaneous expenses on education other than the tuition fee.
Did not consider the aspects of holistic education well, and the masses lacked the motivation to follow/implement the steps well.
Funds remained a common concern like many other policies.

The next policy in line i.e. NEP 1986 took the reforms to the next level. And once again it filled in the voids of the previous policy and made way for a better educational system.

3. National Education Policy 1986

NEP 1986 was in line with the previous education policies. And it aimed at improving the educational opportunities for the masses. From universal enrollment to the retention of students, this policy covered numerous aspects that needed attention. And it suggested effective ways of introducing incentives to promote the education of the girl child. Operation Blackboard within this policy helped to improve the school infrastructure. And this one also focused more on elementary education and the schooling structure.

Hits of NPE 1986

Acknowledged the need for women’s education to improve literacy levels.
Focused on ‘Minimum Levels of Learning’ at each stage of education.
Promoted inter-regional mobility to improve access to opportunities.
Came up with the idea of pooling resources in areas of research and development.
Launched an incentive system for students under the age of 14 years.
Established IGNOU for remote learning.

Misses of NPE 1986

Not much emphasis on the quality of higher education.
A clear distinction between streams created segregation and bias for certain subject choices.
Less focus on extra-curricular activities.

Later in the year 1992, this education policy was reformulated through a ‘Plan of Action’. And this further helped to improve the areas like adult education, micro-planning, non-formal schooling options to meet the goals of the national education policy.

The next main reform was suggested through a document published by the NCERT. It is also known as the NCF 2005.

4. NCF 2005

As a periodic revision of the curriculum framework, NCF 2005 was launched with the vision of 21^st-century education. It introduced the idea of student-centric learning. And helped in reducing the curriculum load for improved results. It highlighted an instructional delivery that can support the student’s learning beyond the textbooks and rote methods. In addition, this framework also added a dimension of constructivist learning. And focused on the inculcation of new-age skills like critical and creative thinking.

This framework mainly dealt with the curriculum, pedagogies, and instructional delivery. And it did help in bringing more students into the mainstream schooling system.

Hits of NCF 2005

Created awareness about visionary pedagogies like inquiry, mastery, and constructivist approaches.
Focused on burden-free learning.
Promoted a futuristic evaluation system (CCE) to achieve broader goals.
Highlighted the actual aspects of holistic development that were often ignored.

Misses of NCF 2005

Needed strong teacher training/professional development support to put ideas into practice.
Did not consider infrastructure-related challenges that hamper the level of teaching and learning (lack of ICT, and trained teachers in schools).
Impractical at the ground level as there are many stark differences between students, schools, teachers, etc., and not everyone can deliver at superlative levels with a lack of infrastructure.

Despite a series of reforms for decades, the Indian students did not enjoy education as a fundamental right. And finally, in the year 2009, education was made a fundamental right for students between 6 to 14 years of age.

5. Right to Education 2009

RTE 2009 gave a new dimension to the vision of the education policies in India. It made education a fundamental right. And made the government directly responsible for the education of students in the defined age bracket. It streamlined the process of school transfers, infrastructure, amenities. And addressed the issues of quality education for students from weaker sections of society through 25% reservation.

Of late, RTE has been a game-changer for student enrollments. And it helped in standardizing the processes further in the next and most recent education policy, the National Education policy 2020!

Hits of RTE 2009:

Promoted enrollment rates immensely (4% even after the pandemic time in 2022).
Improved accessibility of education with the EWS reservation.
Made elementary education more feasible for all children (made it a right).
Simplified the transfer process within schools to safeguard student’s rights.

Misses of RTE 2009

Focused on the child being in the school as per the age. However, the act missed the learning gaps in case of delayed admission or rejoining, etc.
Less clarity on bridging the cost gaps in schools due to reservation.
Ignored quality aspects.

Since we have already jotted down the striking features of NPE 2020 in this series, let’s jump to it’s recommendations that prove its relevance in the current times.

NPE 2020 and NCF 2023 (Pre-Draft):

By far, we have discovered the striking features and contributions of the various education policies in India. And the most recent addition to this lineup is the NPE 2020. To implement NPE 2020, there will be a new NCF 2023 as well.

This education policy was announced at the time when India was battling against the pandemic. And it did expand the vision of the Indian education system with some futuristic choices and promising educational alternatives. As of now NCF 2023 draft is released for the stakeholders.

Unlike the other policies prior to this one, NPE 2020 standardized early childhood education. And it also focused on improving the gross enrollment ratios for higher grades, which were not given much importance in the previous policies.

What makes NPE 2020 different and better than the previous policies?

For the first time ever, this policy highlighted the need for experiential learning. And it also resolved numerous challenges of our mainstream system through ‘flexible’ learning opportunities.

Online schooling and technological knowledge are also given due importance in this visionary policy. Besides, it has also touched upon a sensitive topic of ‘transfer of teachers’ in great detail like no other previous policy. The introduction of online learning platforms and the ways to deal with the challenges of the digital divide are also some noteworthy features of this recent policy. And last but not least, its suggestion to improve educational alternatives such as virtual schooling platforms is a truly legendary step!

NPE 2020 is an outline for a new education system in India. And it has the potential to address the challenges in our system through the use of technology. It envisions a student-centric schooling system with the unmatched advantages of flexible learning. And in this post-Covid world, this is what most of our Indian students truly need!

Of all the policies till date, NPE 2020 seems to be the most futuristic and promising!

Hits of NPE 2020 (As per the proposed policy) and NCF 2023

Addresses issues in detail with a global perspective.
Focuses on reducing the burden on students with a semester system (at higher secondary level).
Promotes a vision of an elaborate public exam system (twice a year).
Textbook content as per local, global, and other perspectives.
Better and more elaborate subject choices to make the study of disciplines easy at the next stage.
Keen to improve enrollment as well as quality concerns.
Expenditure on education to be raised to 6% of the GDP.
Redesigning education keeping in mind extra-curricular activities, modern-day technologies, and joyous learning opportunities.

It’s too early to discuss the misses of NPE 2020 and NCF 2023 as these are yet to be implemented fully. However, as the ex-Union Education Minister rightly describes it as a focus policy to transform India into a knowledge superpower!

Let’s hope it holds true in the years to come!