This article is written by Gopi Kanta Mondal and Sneha Nandi, students of Law College Durgapur.

Abstract

Here we aimed to discuss the purpose of adopting the New Education Policy, 2020(NEP) and foresee the legal and social consequences of the policy in the future, as a realist. We compared the policy with the education system of developed countries and the ancient Bharat’s pedagogy. We demonstrated how and why Bharat is pushing herself toward the zenith, but failing again and again. Though NEP is a very commendable policy, but this policy overlooked numbers subtle and vital issues faced by the various classes of the society. In case if the NEP would not implement properly from the grass root level, then the rural and undeveloped regions will be the victim as always. Overall, we conclude that the NEP is the best education policy since our independence, but it is more a dreamer than the visionary one. 

Introduction

‘The Glorified Education System of Bharat’ –I suspect that when you read these bunches of words, your eyebrows came closer. But how can we forget the Nalanda, the Takshashila, the Vikramshila, the Valabhi, the Somapura, the Jagadala such world class universities of ancient Bharat. Sad to mention that nowadays there is not even a single university located in Bharat which falls into top 100 universities of world. Let me remind you, in 1835 britishers introduced the English Education Act, 1835 after Macaulay’s Minute submitted to the council and approved by Lord Bentik. That education system was introduced to manufacture ‘Machine Man’, who will work as instructed, where creativity didn’t found any place. Sadly, that subtle desire to manufacture ‘Machine Man’ continued to exist in our education system even after independence of Bharat, where new ideas and imaginations of students found no validation or comparatively less scopes-where the educational authorities use to provide long list of rules and the teachers played the role of the executors to a great extent. The NEP is a luminous hope to flash out bundles of defaults from our ongoing educational system. 

Reasons for framing the NEP

High dropout rate in Secondary and Higher studies

When anyone tells me- India is a poor country, I oppose. Bharat got the golden treasury of resources, especially the ‘youth resources’. Still what is restraining Bharat from becoming a developed country of the world? Well, this is because under-utilization of resources. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for grades 6-8 is ~90.9%, while for grades 9-10 and 11-12 it is only ~79.3% and ~56.5%, respectively. Dropout rate in secondary studies and higher studies is a threat to future Bharat, not a mere challenge to overcome. The dropouts are unflourished and not properly skilled, so neither they can bring a massive change nor can they follow the instructions of a leader without having conflicts.

Introduction of internet and technology in education

In 21st century, the inclusion of internet touched the education system more than anything else. But, because of our primitive pattern of education there are lots of hurdles to use internet for quality education. Forget about internet, public schools of Bharat don’t even have proper the infrastructure to provide education through electronic devices. So, the NEP is extremely needed for the evolution of Bharat’s education system.

Social Instability

Jeremy Bentham in his ‘Pain and Pleasure Theory’ mentioned pain and pleasure are the final cause of individual action and the efficient cause and means to individual happiness.But if we take a glance at Bharatia society, then we’ll realize that Bharat is no more a civilized country at any point. Crimes against women is higher than ever- in 2019, a total of 4,05,861 cases of crime against women were registered. And when I’m using the word ‘registered’ then you shouldn’t be wondered if I exclaim it as a tip of the iceberg. Many other social and economical problems have their roots attached with current education pattern (Eg. high unemployment, increasing rate of divorce, raise in mental stress and suicidal rate, domestic violence, human trafficking) which can be resolved by the New Education Policy.

Memorization vs. Education

In this ongoing education system competition is focused more than collaboration. A serious student is presumed to be focused on the top position. Where in reality, after the end of the day it doesn’t matter who can memorize the most, but who learned the most and apply the knowledge in the field. If we want our children to participate in PISA assessments and succeed, we have to change the way our students are trained because PISA doesn’t test students on their memory.

Teacher-student relation

Nowadays teaching has become just a way to earn money more than a duty. And when the money comes as the priority, everything else takes a backseat. In every academic year, teachers are concentrating on the completion of syllabus and students are being forced to stick their eyes only on tests. Neither this is the fault of teachers nor the students, but our inadequate education pattern which is intoxicating the teacher-student relation. So, the education system was seeking for a different policy like the NEP to revive the respect among the givers and takers in the system.

How the NEP will resolve the conundrums resulted from current education system:

• Sanctification of current education system-

Through the NEP a paradigm shift is aimed. The NEP will abolish the hard separation among ‘Arts’, ‘Commerce’, ‘Humanities’ and ‘Sciences’ or, between ‘Vocational’ and ‘Academic’ streams. So, the students will have more independency to pick up the subjects as they like and will enjoy studying. In that way Bharat will become a hub of well educated-furnished and intelligent people. 

According to the NEP, a student will get review not only from his/her teachers but also from the peers. It will alleviate the bitterness of negative competitions. This new review system will promote the harmony, acceptance and sense of integrity among the students, which is necessary equipment for good teamwork. And without a single doubt, these characteristics will help the future successful corporate sectors of Bharat. 

• Opportunities for Foreign Universities-

India is the second largest source of international students. According to 2015 Open Doors Report, a record high of 132,888 Bharatia students contributed $3.6B to the US economy; surely that is not an easy amount. In today’s world ‘brain power’ is more important than ‘muscle power’ because of the dominant state of technology. In past decades, Bharat continued to generate talents, but failed to absorb them- which were termed as ‘brain drain’. The NEP seeks to fix these issues, foreign colleges will be permitted to open campus in Bharat, and hence the talented students will be able to continue their higher studies from the motherland. 

How the NEP will purge the Constitutional provisions and Legislations

1. 1. Article 45 of the Constitution of Bharat directs the State to provide free and compulsory education for children. The judgment of Unni Krishnan v. State of A.P. spurred the demand for education, leading to 86th amendment of the Constitution in 2002 and insertion of Art.21A. Thus, Art. 21A of the Constitution and sec.3 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 ensures the right to education of every child of the age of six years to fourteen years. Therefore if a child is unable to receive quality education, it would be a violation of his fundamental right. The NEP envisioned extension of the ambit of the right to education for children from 3-18 years as it proposed realigning the stages of education. So, if the government seeks to the proper implementation of the NEP, then there is a possibility to amend the concerned article and sections.
   2. In the NEP the ‘Three Language Formula’ will be continued, where the mandatory teaching of Bharatia languages will protect and promote our linguistic and cultural diversity. The implementation mother tongue and local language based multilingual education system will pave the way for addressing the pending demands of recognizing many languages like Rajasthani, Bhojpuri and Bhoti among others, under Eighth schedule of the Constitution.

• Remarkable judicial pronouncements where education was remarked as an important part of human life-

In Bandhua Mukti Morcha v. Union of India, the Supreme Court held that while exploitation of the child must be gradually banned; other substitutes to the child should be developed including providing education, health care, nutrient food, shelter and other means of livelihood with self-respect and dignity of person.

 In the case of Miss Mohini Jain v. State of Karnataka, the division bench of the Supreme Court stated that the right to education flows directly from right to life. The right to life under Article 21 and the dignity of an individual are not being assured unless it is accompanied by the right to education. The state is under an obligation to make endeavor to provide educational facilities at all levels to its citizens.

 In Avinash Mehrotra v. Union of India (2009), The Court has protected the lives of children by recommending safety majors to be followed and thus it is a challenge to those private management schools which view education only as a business and hardly care about the lives of innocent children.

Moral, legal and jurisprudential arguments

• Arguments in favor of the NEP-

1. 1. The NEP proposes to dismantle UGC, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and other regulatory bodies which govern all educational institutions. A new governing body named Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be set up as a single overarching umbrella body for entire higher education, excluding legal and medical education. This compilation will help the managements to adopt and implement unique properties of different institutions; as a result, a rapid progress of institutions will begin. This will also play an important role to introduce multidisciplinary system in the universities and colleges.
   2. The NEP is introducing open and distance learning system through the use of technology including online mode. In today’s world students are showing a great interest on online courses. Therefore the top universities of the world provide numbers of online courses (For instance, Harvard University). This facility will frame an aid to the students of rural areas who can’t move to big cities for higher studies because of their economic instability.
   3. In the contemporary world the virtual learning became a new normal. But, NEP is the first policy to rebuild the school system in the world that is trying to teach artificial intelligence from school level, which is from class VI level. And this new platform isn’t a sheer teaching, because it will also have an internship component.
   4. The UGC regulates most of the universities of Bharat. Our universities are overregulated and underfunded. While we know that Bharat is well known for her diversities in language and culture. The students of numerous universities have their different background, at this point common and rigid rules hindered the development of the universities. The NEP put forth that the affiliations of colleges will be phased out and graded autonomy will be given to the colleges. I must call this as a brilliant step forward, because these decisions will boost up the energy of universities to enhance their capacity in their own pace.
   5. The NEP is very welcoming policy because it is designed while the problems faced by the students were kept in mind. It will give the green light to the students to take risk in their education to discover interest in the studies. Multiple entry and exit options would be offered through this policy; therefore if a student thinks that he/she is not fit for a course then he/she may leave the course in varied phases with different certificates. Establishment of an Academic Bank of Credit is proposed which would digitally store academic credits earned from various recognized HEIs so that the degrees from an HEI can be awarded taking into account credits earned.

• Arguments against the NEP-

The National Education Policy, 2020 is a prolific policy prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Bunches of advanced ideas secured their place in the policy. Yet, the policy is loaded with loopholes from the head to tail. Let us discuss few of these loopholes which craves for the attention of the government-

1. Sweden is one of the developed countries of western world and has an identical position for the quality of education. A good education system precedes an elegant, well-behaved, mature people, as we can easily point this in ancient Bharat. Then what was the reason behind the recent violence took place in southern Sweden? Was it only political reason? Obviously no, there must be lack of understanding, acceptability, and tolerance. In Bharat there are no exceptions, as this kind of violence makes front-page heading in Indian newspaper more than often- we remember Riots in Bangalore, Riots in Delhi. The NEP isn’t focusing on these serious problems. As the ancient literature of Bharat, says-

Kaumāra ācaret prājño dharmān bhāgvatān iha (SB. 7.6.1.)

Means, from the tender age of childhood one should practice devotional services. But the NEP don’t aim to teach the students the purpose of life, the meaning of life- what does it aims to teach is the pleasure of life which is incomplete knowledge and don’t form a violence free society. Because when everyone is looking for own pleasure, they don’t care for the society- for the nation.

1. In 1964, the Kothari Commission had recommended a 6% allocation of GDP in education. But, Bharat never spent 6% of its GDP on education since her independence. In the latest education policy the government decided to allocate 6% of GDP on education, which is late but laudable. In the COVID crisis we felt that even if we have the best planning there are undesirable chances when our vision turns hazy and we stood helpless and hapless. So, the question is – when and how these goals will be achieved? The government reduced spending on education in good times, how it can double it in bad times?(In 2020-21 government spent 3.2% GDP on education which is down from 4.14% in 2014-15)
2. Indeed the New Education Policy enshrines different colorful ideas to re-structure the system, but the policy is starting with existing imperfect institutions. Name changing of a ministry does not bring any change in strategies of the ministry. The NEP didn’t lay out any clear roadmap for complete makeover of the policy. This policy proposed the digital education, but how can we forget that National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) is still not completely operational after 8yrs. We should always remember that education is also about discipline, development and a path to breaking the cycle of ignorance. There are many unanswered questions, How to train kids at home to follow digital education? How the equality will be maintained among poor students who can’t avail broadband connectivity and comparatively more financially stable students? 
3. The NEP provides a broad direction which is not mandatory to follow. Education is a subject of concurrent list, the reforms are proposed can be implemented collaboratively by Central and State Government. EVEN IF all State governments accept the policy as it is, private school are not bound to provide education in regional or local language. There are bundle of imperfections in the policy which will create an inevitable class division among students. 
4. Bharat is one of those countries having a serious problem regarding child labour and poverty. It is next impossible to eliminate these two problems in near five decades. In this atmosphere the NEP prepared to provide the training of carpentry, gardening to the students from sixth standard. These training will enable students of 12-13yrs age group to earn money through using their skills. An earning pressure will be expected to the adolescents of poverty stricken family and the students will be compelled to drop out from the school for work. This could affect the goal to double the GER.

Conclusion

Bharat is the mother of countless inventions from the time of sages. While western education was introduced, Bharat’s scientific, technical and moral education was largely ignored. In 1931, during the Round Table conference Gandhi ji said-

“The beautiful tree of education was cut down by you british. Therefore, today, India is far more illiterate than it was 100 years ago.”

Since the independence of Bharat, several steps were taken by the successive government to decolonize our education system; for example, the University Education Commission (1948-49), Secondary Education Commission (1952-53), D. S. Kothari Commission (1964-66) and National Policy on Education (1968). And each one of these moves turned into fiasco. According to NCRB data, since 2000, state prisons have seen a 140 percent growth in the number of graduate convicts and the number of educated undertrials too has substantially increased- by 454 percent. But, the New Education Policy, 2020 is a nectar fruit of long consultations. The NEP is an instrument to mutate the DNAs of our education system. But, that is a complicated and long term process. Both the Central and State Government have to be more responsible to implement the policy from the grass root level. We all dream for our developed nation, but we must keep in mind- 

“Desire is only a thought, an impulse. It is nebulous and ephemeral. It is abstract and of no value, until it has been transformed into its physical counterpart.” –Napoleon Hill