National Education Policy 2020

the teaching of cutting-edge pedagogy, the teacher education will include grounding in sociology,
history, science, psychology, early childhood care and education, foundational literacy and numeracy,
knowledge of India and its values/ethos/art/traditions, and more. The HEI offering the 4-year
integrated [Link]. may also run a 2-year [Link]., for students who have already received a Bachelor’s
degree in a specialized subject. A 1-year [Link]. may also be offered for candidates who have received
a 4-year undergraduate degree in a specialized subject. Scholarships for meritorious students will be
established for the purpose of attracting outstanding candidates to the 4-year, 2-year, and 1-year
[Link]. programmes.

15.6. HEIs offering teacher education programmes will ensure the availability of a range of experts in
education and related disciplines as well as specialized subjects. Each higher education institution
will have a network of government and private schools to work closely with, where potential teachers
will student-teach along with participating in other activities such as community service, adult and
vocational education, etc.

15.7. In order to maintain uniform standards for teacher education, the admission to pre-service
teacher preparation programmes shall be through suitable subject and aptitude tests conducted by the
National Testing Agency, and shall be standardized keeping in view the linguistic and cultural
diversity of the country.

15.8. The faculty profile in Departments of Education will necessarily aim to be diverse and but
teaching/field/research experience will be highly valued. Faculty with training in areas of social
sciences that are directly relevant to school education e.g., psychology, child development,
linguistics, sociology, philosophy, economics, and political science as well as from science education,
mathematics education, social science education, and language education programmes will be
attracted and retained in teacher education institutions, to strengthen multidisciplinary education of
teachers and provide rigour in conceptual development.

15.9. All fresh Ph.D. entrants, irrespective of discipline, will be required to take credit-based courses
in teaching/education/pedagogy/writing related to their chosen Ph.D subject during their doctoral
training period. Exposure to pedagogical practices, designing curriculum, credible evaluation
systems, communication, and so on will be ensured since many research scholars will go on to
become faculty or public representatives/communicators of their chosen disciplines. Ph.D students
will also have a minimum number of hours of actual teaching experience gathered through teaching
assistantships and other means. Ph.D. programmes at universities around the country will be re-
oriented for this purpose.

15.10. In-service continuous professional development for college and university teachers will
continue through the existing institutional arrangements and ongoing initiatives; these will be
strengthened and substantially expanded to meet the needs of enriched teaching-learning processes
for quality education. The use of technology platforms such as SWAYAM/DIKSHA for online
training of teachers will be encouraged, so that standardized training programmes can be
administered to large numbers of teachers within a short span of time.

15.11. A National Mission for Mentoring shall be established, with a large pool of outstanding
senior/retired faculty – including those with the ability to teach in Indian languages – who would be
willing to provide short and long-term mentoring/professional support to university/college teachers.

16. Reimagining Vocational Education

16.1. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–2017) estimated that only a very small percentage of the Indian
workforce in the age group of 19–24 (less than 5%) received formal vocational education Whereas in
countries such as the USA the number is 52%, in Germany 75%, and South Korea it is as high as
96%. These numbers only underline the urgency of the need to hasten the spread of vocational
education in India.

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16.2. One of the primary reasons for the small numbers of students receiving vocational education is
the fact that vocational education has in the past focused largely on Grades 11–12 and on dropouts in
Grade 8 and upwards. Moreover, students passing out from Grades 11–12 with vocational subjects
often did not have well-defined pathways to continue with their chosen vocations in higher education.
The admission criteria for general higher education were also not designed to provide openings to
students who had vocational education qualifications, leaving them at a disadvantage relative to their
compatriots from ‘mainstream’ or ‘academic’ education. This led to a complete lack of vertical
mobility for students from the vocational education stream, an issue that has only been addressed
recently through the announcement of the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) in 2013.

16.3. Vocational education is perceived to be inferior to mainstream education and meant largely for
students who are unable to cope with the latter. This is a perception that affects the choices students
make. It is a serious concern that can only be dealt with by a complete re-imagination of how
vocational education is offered to students in the future.

16.4. This policy aims to overcome the social status hierarchy associated with vocational education
and requires integration of vocational education programmes into mainstream education in all
education institutions in a phased manner. Beginning with vocational exposure at early ages in
middle and secondary school, quality vocational education will be integrated smoothly into higher
education. It will ensure that every child learns at least one vocation and is exposed to several more.
This would lead to emphasizing the dignity of labour and importance of various vocations involving
/Indian arts and artisanship.

16.5. By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall have
exposure to vocational education, for which a clear action plan with targets and timelines will be
developed. This is in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal 4.4 and will help to realize the
full potential of India’s demographic dividend. The number of students in vocational education will
be considered while arriving at the GER targets. The development of vocational capacities will go
hand-in-hand with the development of ‘academic’ or other capacities. Vocational education will be
integrated in the educational offerings of all secondary schools in a phased manner over the next
decade. Towards this, secondary schools will also collaborate with ITIs, polytechnics, local industry,
etc. Skill labs will also be set up and created in the schools in a hub and spoke model which will
allow other schools to use the facility. Higher education institutions will offer vocational education
either on their own or in partnership with industry and NGOs. The [Link]. degrees introduced in 2013
will continue to exist, but vocational courses will also be available to students enrolled in all other
Bachelor’s degree programmes, including the 4-year multidisciplinary Bachelor’s programmes. HEIs
will also be allowed to conduct short-term certificate courses in various skills including soft skills.
‘Lok Vidya’, i.e., important vocational knowledge developed in India, will be made accessible to
students through integration into vocational education courses. The possibility of offering vocational
courses through ODL mode will also be explored.

16.6. Vocational education will be integrated into all school and higher education institutions in a
phased manner over the next decade. Focus areas for vocational education will be chosen based on
skills gap analysis and mapping of local opportunities. MHRD will constitute a National Committee
for the Integration of Vocational Education (NCIVE), consisting of experts in vocational education
and representatives from across Ministries, in collaboration with industry, to oversee this effort.

16.7. Individual institutions that are early adopters must innovate to find models and practices that
work and then share these with other institutions through mechanisms set up by NCIVE, so as to help
extend the reach of vocational education. Different models of vocational education, and
apprenticeships, will also be experimented by higher education institutions. Incubation centres will be
set up in higher education institutions in partnership with industries.

16.8. The National Skills Qualifications Framework will be detailed further for each discipline
vocation and profession. Further, Indian standards will be aligned with the International Standard
Classification of Occupations maintained by the International Labour Organization. This Framework
will provide the basis for Recognition of Prior Learning. Through this, dropouts from the formal
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system will be reintegrated by aligning their practical experience with the relevant level of the
Framework. The credit-based Framework will also facilitate mobility across ‘general’ and vocational
education.

17. Catalysing Quality Academic Research in All Fields through a new National
Research Foundation

17.1. Knowledge creation and research are critical in growing and sustaining a large and vibrant
economy, uplifting society, and continuously inspiring a nation to achieve even greater heights.
Indeed, some of the most prosperous civilizations (such as India, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece)
to the modern era (such as the United States, Germany, Israel, South Korea, and Japan), were/are
strong knowledge societies that attained intellectual and material wealth in large part through
celebrated and fundamental contributions to new knowledge in the realm of science as well as art,
language, and culture that enhanced and uplifted not only their own civilizations but others around
the globe.

17.2. A robust ecosystem of research is perhaps more important than ever with the rapid changes
occurring in the world today, e.g., in the realm of climate change, population dynamics and
management, biotechnology, an expanding digital marketplace, and the rise of machine learning and
artificial intelligence. If India is to become a leader in these disparate areas, and truly achieve the
potential of its vast talent pool to again become a leading knowledge society in the coming years and
decades, the nation will require a significant expansion of its research capabilities and output across
disciplines. Today, the criticality of research is more than ever before, for the economic, intellectual,
societal, environmental, and technological health and progress of a nation.

17.3. Despite this critical importance of research, the research and innovation investment in India is,
at the current time, only 0.69% of GDP as compared to 2.8% in the United States of America, 4.3%
in Israel and 4.2% in South Korea.

17.4. The societal challenges that India needs to address today, such as access for all its citizens to
clean drinking water and sanitation, quality education and healthcare, improved transportation, air
quality, energy, and infrastructure, will require the implementation of approaches and solutions that
are not only informed by top-notch science and technology but are also rooted in a deep
understanding of the social sciences and humanities and the various socio-cultural and environmental
dimensions of the nation. Facing and addressing these challenges will require high-quality
interdisciplinary research across fields that must be done in India and cannot simply be imported; the
ability to conduct one’s own research also enables a country to much more easily import and adapt
relevant research from abroad.

17.5. Furthermore, in addition to their value in solutions to societal problems, any country's identity,
upliftment, spiritual/intellectual satisfaction and creativity is also attained in a major way through its
history, art, language, and culture. Research in the arts and humanities, along with innovations in the
sciences and social sciences, are, therefore, extremely important for the progress and enlightened
nature of a nation.

17.6. Research and innovation at education institutions in India, particularly those that are engaged in
higher education, is critical. Evidence from the world’s best universities throughout history shows
that the best teaching and learning processes at the higher education level occur in environments
where there is also a strong culture of research and knowledge creation; conversely, much of the very
best research in the world has occurred in multidisciplinary university settings.

17.7. India has a long historical tradition of research and knowledge creation, in disciplines ranging
from science and mathematics to art and literature to phonetics and languages to medicine and
agriculture. This needs to be further strengthened to make India lead research and innovation in the

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21st century, as a strong and enlightened knowledge society and one of the three largest economies in
the world.

17.8. Thus, this Policy envisions a comprehensive approach to transforming the quality and quantity
of research in India. This includes definitive shifts in school education to a more play and discovery-
based style of learning with emphasis on the scientific method and critical thinking. This includes
career counselling in schools towards identifying student interests and talents, promoting research in
universities, the multidisciplinary nature of all HEIs and the emphasis on holistic education, the
inclusion of research and internships in the undergraduate curriculum, faculty career management
systems that give due weightage to research, and the governance and regulatory changes that
encourage an environment of research and innovation. All of these aspects are extremely critical for
developing a research mindset in the country.

17.9. To build on these various elements in a synergistic manner, and to thereby truly grow and
catalyze quality research in the nation, this policy envisions the establishment of a National Research
Foundation (NRF). The overarching goal of the NRF will be to enable a culture of research to
permeate through our universities. In particular, the NRF will provide a reliable base of merit-based
but equitable peer-reviewed research funding, helping to develop a culture of research in the country
through suitable incentives for and recognition of outstanding research, and by undertaking major
initiatives to seed and grow research at State Universities and other public institutions where research
capability is currently limited. The NRF will competitively fund research in all disciplines.
Successful research will be recognized, and where relevant, implemented through close linkages with
governmental agencies as well as with industry and private/philanthropic organizations.

17.10. Institutions that currently fund research at some level, such as the Department of Science and
Technology (DST), Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Department of Bio-Technology (DBT),
Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Indian
Council of Historical Research (ICHR), and University Grants Commission (UGC), as well as
various private and philanthropic organizations, will continue to independently fund research
according to their priorities and needs. However, NRF will carefully coordinate with other funding
agencies and will work with science, engineering, and other academies to ensure synergy of purpose
and avoid duplication of efforts. The NRF will be governed, independently of the government, by a
rotating Board of Governors consisting of the very best researchers and innovators across fields.

17.11. The primary activities of the NRF will be to:

(a) fund competitive, peer-reviewed grant proposals of all types and across all disciplines;
(b) seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions, particularly at universities and
colleges where research is currently in a nascent stage, through mentoring of such
institutions;
(c) act as a liaison between researchers and relevant branches of government as well as industry,
so that research scholars are constantly made aware of the most urgent national research
issues, and so that policymakers are constantly made aware of the latest research
breakthroughs; so as to allow breakthroughs to be optimally brought into policy and/or
implementation; and
(d) recognise outstanding research and progress

18. Transforming the Regulatory System of Higher Education

18.1. Regulation of higher education has been too heavy-handed for decades; too much has been
attempted to be regulated with too little effect. The mechanistic and disempowering nature of the
regulatory system has been rife with very basic problems, such as heavy concentrations of power
within a few bodies, conflicts of interest among these bodies, and a resulting lack of accountability.
The regulatory system is in need of a complete overhaul in order to re-energize the higher education
sector and enable it to thrive.

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18.2. To address the above-mentioned issues, the regulatory system of higher education will ensure
that the distinct functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard setting will be
performed by distinct, independent, and empowered bodies. This is considered essential to create
checks-and-balances in the system, minimize conflicts of interest, and eliminate concentrations of
power. To ensure that the four institutional structures carrying out these four essential functions work
independently yet at the same time and work in synergy towards common goals. These four
structures will be set up as four independent verticals within one umbrella institution, the Higher
Education Commission of India (HECI).

18.3. The first vertical of HECI will be the National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC).
It will function as the common, single point regulator for the higher education sector including
teacher education and excluding medical and legal education, thus eliminating the duplication and
disjunction of regulatory efforts by the multiple regulatory agencies that exist at the current time. It
will require a relook and repealing of existing Acts and restructuring of various existing regulatory
bodies to enable this single point regulation. NHERC will be set up to regulate in a ‘light but tight’
and facilitative manner, meaning that a few important matters particularly financial probity, good
governance, and the full online and offline public self-disclosure of all finances, audits, procedures,
infrastructure, faculty/staff, courses, and educational outcomes will be very effectively regulated.
This information will have to be made available and kept updated and accurate by all higher
education institutions on a public website maintained by NHERC and on the institutions’ websites.
Any complaints or grievances from stakeholders and others arising out of the information placed in
public domain shall be adjudicated by NHERC. Feedback from randomly selected students including
differently-abled students at each HEI will be solicited online to ensure valuable input at regular
intervals.

18.4. The primary mechanism to enable such regulation will be accreditation. The second vertical of
HECI will, therefore, be a ‘meta-accrediting body’, called the National Accreditation Council (NAC).
Accreditation of institutions will be based primarily on basic norms, public self-disclosure, good
governance, and outcomes, and it will be carried out by an independent ecosystem of accrediting
institutions supervised and overseen by NAC. The task to function as a recognized accreditor shall be
awarded to an appropriate number of institutions by NAC. In the short term, a robust system of
graded accreditation shall be established, which will specify phased benchmarks for all HEIs to
achieve set levels of quality, self-governance, and autonomy. In turn, all HEIs will aim, through their
Institutional Development Plans (IDPs), to attain the highest level of accreditation over the next 15
years, and thereby eventually aim to function as self-governing degree-granting institutions/clusters.
In the long run, accreditation will become a binary process, as per the extant global practice.

18.5. The third vertical of HECI will be the Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC), which will
carry out funding and financing of higher education based on transparent criteria, including the IDPs
prepared by the institutions and the progress made on their implementation. HEGC will be entrusted
with the disbursement of scholarships and developmental funds for launching new focus areas and
expanding quality programme offerings at HEIs across disciplines and fields.

18.6. The fourth vertical of HECI will be the General Education Council (GEC), which will frame
expected learning outcomes for higher education programmes, also referred to as ‘graduate
attributes’. A National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) will be formulated by
the GEC and it shall be in sync with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) to ease
the integration of vocational education into higher education. Higher education qualifications leading
to a degree/diploma/certificate shall be described by the NHEQF in terms of such learning outcomes.
In addition, the GEC shall set up facilitative norms for issues, such as credit transfer, equivalence,
etc., through the NHEQF. The GEC will be mandated to identify specific skills that students must
acquire during their academic programmes, with the aim of preparing well-rounded learners with 21st
century skills.

18.7. The professional councils, such as the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR),
Veterinary Council of India (VCI), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Council of
Architecture (CoA), National Council for Vocational Education and Training (NCVET) etc., will act
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as Professional Standard Setting Bodies (PSSBs). They will play a key role in the higher education
system and will be invited to be members of the GEC. These bodies, after restructuring as PSSBs,
will continue to draw the curricula, lay down academic standards and coordinate between teaching,
research and extension of their domain/discipline, as members of the GEC. As members of the GEC,
they would help in specifying the curriculum framework, within which HEIs may prepare their own
curricula. Thus, PSSBs would also set the standards or expectations in particular fields of learning
and practice while having no regulatory role. All HEIs will decide how their educational programmes
respond to these standards, among other considerations, and would also be able to reach out for
support from these standard-setting bodies or PSSBs, if needed.

18.8. Such a system architecture will ensure the principle of functional separation by eliminating
conflicts of interests between different roles. It will also aim to empower HEIs, while ensuring that
the few key essential matters are given due attention. Responsibility and accountability shall devolve
to the HEIs concomitantly. No distinction in such expectations shall be made between public and
private HEIs.

18.9. Such a transformation will require existing structures and institutions to reinvent themselves
and undergo an evolution of sorts. The separation of functions would mean that each vertical within
HECI would take on a new, single role which is relevant, meaningful, and important in the new
regulatory scheme.

18.10. The functioning of all the independent verticals for Regulation (NHERC), Accreditation
(NAC), Funding (HEGC), and Academic Standard Setting (GEC) and the overarching autonomous
umbrella body (HECI) itself will be based on transparent public disclosure, and use technology
extensively to reduce human interface to ensure efficiency and transparency in their work. The
underlying principle will be that of a faceless and transparent regulatory intervention using
technology. Strict compliance measures with stringent action, including penalties for false disclosure
of mandated information, will be ensured so that Higher Education Institutions are conforming to the
basic minimum norms and standards. HECI itself will be resolving disputes among the four verticals.
Each vertical in HECI will be an independent body consisting of persons having high expertise in the
relevant areas along with integrity, commitment, and a demonstrated track record of public service.
HECI itself will be a small, independent body of eminent public-spirited experts in higher education,
which will oversee and monitor the integrity and effective functioning of HECI. Suitable mechanisms
will be created within HECI to carry out its functions, including adjudication.

18.11. Setting up new quality HEIs will also be made far easier by the regulatory regime, while
ensuring with great effectiveness that these are set up with the spirit of public service and with due
financial backing for long-term stability. HEIs performing exceptionally well will be helped by
Central and State governments to expand their institutions, and thereby attain larger numbers of
students and faculty as well as disciplines and programmes. Public Philanthropic Partnership models
for HEIs may also be piloted with the aim to further expand access to high-quality higher education.

Curbing Commercialization of Education

18.12. Multiple mechanisms with checks and balances will combat and stop the commercialization of
higher education. This will be a key priority of the regulatory system. All education institutions will
be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a ‘not for profit’ entity. Surpluses, if any, will
be reinvested in the educational sector. There will be transparent public disclosure of all these
financial matters with recourse to grievance-handling mechanisms to the general public. The
accreditation system developed by NAC will provide a complementary check on this system, and
NHERC will consider this as one of the key dimensions of its regulatory objective.

18.13. All HEIs - public and private - shall be treated on par within this regulatory regime. The
regulatory regime shall encourage private philanthropic efforts in education. There will be common
national guidelines for all legislative Acts that will form private HEIs. These common minimal
guidelines will enable all such Acts to establish private HEIs, thus enabling common standards for

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private and public HEIs. These common guidelines will cover Good Governance, Financial Stability
& Security, Educational Outcomes, and Transparency of Disclosures.

18.14. Private HEIs having a philanthropic and public-spirited intent will be encouraged through a
progressive regime of fees determination. Transparent mechanisms for fixing of fees with an upper
limit, for different types of institutions depending on their accreditation, will be developed so that
individual institutions are not adversely affected. This will empower private HEIs to set fees for their
programmes independently, though within the laid-out norms and the broad applicable regulatory
mechanism. Private HEIs will be encouraged to offer freeships and scholarships in significant
numbers to their students. All fees and charges set by private HEIs will be transparently and fully
disclosed, and there shall be no arbitrary increases in these fees/charges during the period of
enrolment of any student. This fee determining mechanism will ensure reasonable recovery of cost
while ensuring that HEIs discharge their social obligations.

19. Effective Governance and Leadership for Higher Education Institutions

19.1. It is effective governance and leadership that enables the creation of a culture of excellence and
innovation in higher education institutions. The common feature of all world-class institutions
globally including India has indeed been the existence of strong self-governance and outstanding
merit-based appointments of institutional leaders.

19.2. Through a suitable system of graded accreditation and graded autonomy, and in a phased
manner over a period of 15 years, all HEIs in India will aim to become independent self-governing
institutions pursuing innovation and excellence. Measures will be taken at all HEIs to ensure
leadership of the highest quality and promote an institutional culture of excellence. Upon receiving
the appropriate graded accreditations that deem the institution ready for such a move, a Board of
Governors (BoG) shall be established consisting of a group of highly qualified, competent, and
dedicated individuals having proven capabilities and a strong sense of commitment to the institution.
The BoG of an institution will be empowered to govern the institution free of any external
interference, make all appointments including that of head of the institution, and take all decisions
regarding governance. There shall be overarching legislation that will supersede any contravening
provisions of other earlier legislation and would provide for constitution, appointment, modalities of
functioning, rules and regulations, and the roles and responsibilities of the BoG. New members of the
Board shall be identified by an expert committee appointed by the Board; and the selection of new
members shall be carried out by the BoG itself. Equity considerations will also be taken care of while
selecting the members. It is envisaged that all HEIs will be incentivized, supported, and mentored
during this process, and shall aim to become autonomous and have such an empowered BoG by 2035.

19.3. The BoG shall be responsible and accountable to the stakeholders through transparent self-
disclosures of all relevant records. It will be responsible for meeting all regulatory guidelines
mandated by HECI through the National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC).

19.4. All leadership positions and Heads of institutions will be offered to persons with high academic
qualifications and demonstrated administrative and leadership capabilities along with abilities to
manage complex situations. Leaders of an HEI will demonstrate strong alignment to Constitutional
values and the overall vision of the institution, along with attributes such as a strong social
commitment, belief in teamwork, pluralism, ability to work with diverse people, and a positive
outlook. The selection shall be carried out by the BoG through a rigorous, impartial, merit-based, and
competency-based process led by an Eminent Expert Committee (EEC) constituted by the BoG.
While stability of tenure is important to ensure the development of a suitable culture, at the same time
leadership succession will be planned with care to ensure that good practices that define an
institution’s processes do not end due to a change in leadership; leadership changes will come with
sufficient overlaps, and not remain vacant, in order to ensure smooth transitions. Outstanding leaders
will be identified and developed early, working their way through a ladder of leadership positions.

19.5. While being provided with adequate funding, legislative enablement, and autonomy in a phased
manner, all HEIs, in turn, will display commitment to institutional excellence, engagement with their
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local communities, and the highest standards of financial probity and accountability. Each institution
will make a strategic Institutional Development Plan on the basis of which institutions will develop
initiatives, assess their own progress, and reach the goals set therein, which could then become the
basis for further public funding. The IDP shall be prepared with the joint participation of Board
members, institutional leaders, faculty, students, and staff.

Part III. OTHER KEY AREAS OF FOCUS

20. Professional Education

20.1. Preparation of professionals must involve an education in the ethic and importance of public
purpose, an education in the discipline, and an education for practice. It must centrally involve critical
and interdisciplinary thinking, discussion, debate, research, and innovation. For this to be achieved,
professional education should not take place in the isolation of one's specialty.

20.2. Professional education thus becomes an integral part of the overall higher education system.
Stand-alone agricultural universities, legal universities, health science universities, technical
universities, and stand-alone institutions in other fields, shall aim to become multidisciplinary
institutions offering holistic and multidisciplinary education. All institutions offering either
professional or general education will aim to organically evolve into institutions/clusters offering
both seamlessly, and in an integrated manner by 2030.

20.3. Agricultural education with allied disciplines will be revived. Although Agricultural
Universities comprise approximately 9% of all universities in the country, enrolment in agriculture
and allied sciences is less than 1% of all enrolment in higher education. Both capacity and quality of
agriculture and allied disciplines must be improved in order to increase agricultural productivity
through better skilled graduates and technicians, innovative research, and market-based extension
linked to technologies and practices. The preparation of professionals in agriculture and veterinary
sciences through programmes integrated with general education will be increased sharply. The design
of agricultural education will shift towards developing professionals with the ability to understand
and use local knowledge, traditional knowledge, and emerging technologies while being cognizant of
critical issues such as declining land productivity, climate change, food sufficiency for our growing
population, etc. Institutions offering agricultural education must benefit the local community directly;
one approach could be to set up Agricultural Technology Parks to promote technology incubation and
dissemination and promote sustainable methodologies.

20.4. Legal education needs to be competitive globally, adopting best practices and embracing new
technologies for wider access to and timely delivery of justice. At the same time, it must be informed
and illuminated with Constitutional values of Justice - Social, Economic, and Political - and directed
towards national reconstruction through instrumentation of democracy, rule of law, and human rights.
The curricula for legal studies must reflect socio-cultural contexts along with, in an evidence-based
manner, the history of legal thinking, principles of justice, the practice of jurisprudence, and other
related content appropriately and adequately. State institutions offering law education must consider
offering bilingual education for future lawyers and judges - in English and in the language of the
State in which the institution is situated.

20.5. Healthcare education needs to be re-envisioned so that the duration, structure, and design of the
educational programmes need to match the role requirements that graduates will play. Students will
be assessed at regular intervals on well-defined parameters primarily required for working in primary
care and in secondary hospitals. Given that people exercise pluralistic choices in healthcare, our
healthcare education system must be integrative meaning thereby that all students of allopathic
medical education must have a basic understanding of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani,
Siddha, and Homeopathy (AYUSH), and vice versa. There shall also be a much greater emphasis on
preventive healthcare and community medicine in all forms of healthcare education.

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20.6. Technical education includes degree and diploma programmes in, engineering, technology,
management, architecture, town planning, pharmacy, hotel management, catering technology etc.,
which are critical to India’s overall development. There will not only be a greater demand for well-
qualified manpower in these sectors, it will also require closer collaborations between industry and
higher education institutions to drive innovation and research in these fields. Furthermore, influence
of technology on human endeavours is expected to erode the silos between technical education and
other disciplines too. Technical education will, thus, also aim to be offered within multidisciplinary
education institutions and programmes and have a renewed focus on opportunities to engage deeply
with other disciplines. India must also take the lead in preparing professionals in cutting-edge areas
that are fast gaining prominence, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3-D machining, big data
analysis, and machine learning, in addition to genomic studies, biotechnology, nanotechnology,
neuroscience, with important applications to health, environment, and sustainable living that will be
woven into undergraduate education for enhancing the employability of the youth.

21. Adult Education and Lifelong Learning

21.1. The opportunity to attain foundational literacy, obtain an education, and pursue a livelihood
must be viewed as basic rights of every citizen. Literacy and basic education open up whole new
worlds of personal, civic, economic, and lifelong-learning opportunities for individuals that enable
them to progress personally and professionally. At the level of society and the nation, literacy and
basic education are powerful force multipliers which greatly enhance the success of all other
developmental efforts. Worldwide data on nations indicate extremely high correlations between
literacy rates and per capita GDP.

21.2. Meanwhile, being a non-literate member of a community, has innumerable disadvantages,

including the inability to: carry out basic financial transactions; compare the quality/quantity of goods
purchased against the price charged; fill out forms to apply for jobs, loans, services, etc.; comprehend
public circulars and articles in the news media; use conventional and electronic mail to communicate
and conduct business; make use of the internet and other technology to improve one’s life and
profession; comprehend directions and safety directives on the street, on medicines, etc.; help
children with their education; be aware of one’s basic rights and responsibilities as a citizen of India;
appreciate works of literature; and pursue employment in medium or high-productivity sectors that
require literacy. The abilities listed here are an illustrative list of outcomes to be achieved through
adoption of innovative measures for Adult Education.

21.3. Extensive field studies and analyses, both in India and across the world, clearly demonstrate
that volunteerism and community involvement and mobilization are key success factors of adult
literacy programmes, in conjunction with political will, organizational structure, proper planning,
adequate financial support, and high-quality capacity building of educators and volunteers.
Successful literacy programmes result not only in the growth of literacy among adults, but also result
in increased demand for education for all children in the community, as well as greater community
contribution to positive social change. The National Literacy Mission, when it was launched in 1988,
was largely based on the voluntary involvement and support of the people, and resulted in significant
increases in national literacy during the period of 1991–2011, including among women, and also
initiated dialogue and discussions on pertinent social issues of the day.

21.4. Strong and innovative government initiatives for adult education - in particular, to facilitate
community involvement and the smooth and beneficial integration of technology - will be affected as
soon as possible to expedite this all-important aim of achieving 100% literacy.

21.5. First, an outstanding adult education curriculum framework will be developed by a new and
well-supported constituent body of the NCERT that is dedicated to adult education, so as to develop
synergy with and build upon NCERT’s existing expertise in establishing outstanding curricula for
literacy, numeracy, basic education, vocational skills, and beyond. The curriculum framework for
adult education will include at least five types of programmes, each with clearly defined outcomes:
(a) foundational literacy and numeracy; (b) critical life skills (including financial literacy, digital
literacy, commercial skills, health care and awareness, child care and education, and family welfare);
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(c) vocational skills development (with a view towards obtaining local employment); (d) basic
education (including preparatory, middle, and secondary stage equivalency); and (e) continuing
education (including engaging holistic adult education courses in arts, sciences, technology, culture,
sports, and recreation, as well as other topics of interest or use to local learners, such as more
advanced material on critical life skills). The framework would keep in mind that adults in many
cases will require rather different teaching-learning methods and materials than those designed for
children.

21.6. Second, suitable infrastructure will be ensured so that all interested adults will have access to
adult education and lifelong learning. A key initiative in this direction will be to use schools/ school
complexes after school hours and on weekends and public library spaces for adult education courses
which will be ICT-equipped when possible and for other community engagement and enrichment
activities. The sharing of infrastructure for school, higher, adult, and vocational education, and for
other community and volunteer activities, will be critical for ensuring efficient use of both physical
and human resources as well as for creating synergy among these five types of education and beyond.
For these reasons, Adult Education Centres (AECs) could also be included within other public
institutions such as HEIs, vocational training centres, etc.

21.7. Third, the instructors/educators will be required to deliver the curriculum framework to mature
learners for all five types of adult education as described in the Adult Education Curriculum
Framework. These instructors will be trained by the National, State, and district level resource
support institutions to organize and lead learning activities at Adult Education Centres, as well as
coordinate with volunteer instructors. Qualified community members including from HEIs as part of
each HEI’s mission to engage with their local communities will be encouraged and welcomed to take
a short training course and volunteer, as adult literacy instructors, or to serve as one-on-one volunteer
tutors, and will be recognized for their critical service to the nation. States will also work with NGOs
and other community organizations to enhance efforts towards literacy and adult education.

21.8. Fourth, all efforts will be undertaken to ensure the participation of community members in adult
education. Social workers/counsellors travelling through their communities to track and ensure
participation of non-enrolled students and dropouts will also be requested, during their travels, to
gather data of parents, adolescents, and others interested in adult education opportunities both as
learners and as teachers/tutors. The social workers/counsellors will then connect them with local
Adult Education Centres (AECs). Opportunities for adult education will also be widely publicized,
through advertisements and announcements and through events and initiatives of NGOs and other
local organizations.

21.9. Fifth, improving the availability and accessibility of books is essential to inculcating the habit of
reading within our communities and educational institutions. This Policy recommends that all
communities and educational institutions - schools, colleges, universities and public libraries - will be
strengthened and modernized to ensure an adequate supply of books that cater to the needs and
interests of all students, including persons with disabilities and other differently-abled persons. The
Central and State governments will take steps to ensure that books are made accessible and affordable
to all across the country including socio-economically disadvantaged areas as well as those living in
rural and remote areas. Both public and private sector agencies/institutions will devise strategies to
improve the quality and attractiveness of books published in all Indian languages. Steps will be taken
to enhance online accessibility of library books and further broad basing of digital libraries. For
ensuring vibrant libraries in communities and educational institutions, it will be imperative to make
available adequate library staff and also devise appropriate career pathways and CPD for them. Other
steps will include strengthening all existing libraries, setting up rural libraries and reading rooms in
disadvantaged regions, making widely available reading material in Indian languages, opening
children’s libraries and mobile libraries, establishing social book clubs across India and across
subjects, and fostering greater collaborations between education institutions and libraries.

21.10. Finally, technology will be leveraged to strengthen and even undertake the above initiatives.
Quality technology-based options for adult learning such as apps, online courses/modules, satellite-
based TV channels, online books, and ICT-equipped libraries and Adult Education Centres, etc. will
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be developed, through government and philanthropic initiatives as well as through crowd sourcing
and competitions. In many cases, quality adult education could thereby be conducted in an online or
blended mode.

22. Promotion of Indian Languages, Arts, and Culture

22.1. India is a treasure trove of culture, developed over thousands of years and manifested in the
form of arts, works of literature, customs, traditions, linguistic expressions, artefacts, heritage sites,
and more. Crores of people from around the world partake in, enjoy, and benefit from this cultural
wealth daily, in the form of visiting India for tourism, experiencing Indian hospitality, purchasing
India’s handicrafts and handmade textiles, reading the classical literature of India, practicing yoga
and meditation, being inspired by Indian philosophy, participating in India’s unique festivals,
appreciating India’s diverse music and art, and watching Indian films, amongst many other aspects. It
is this cultural and natural wealth that truly makes India, “Incredible !ndia”, as per India’s tourism
slogan. The preservation and promotion of India’s cultural wealth must be considered a high priority
for the country, as it is truly important for the nation’s identity as well as for its economy.

22.2. The promotion of Indian arts and culture is important not only for the nation but also for the
individual. Cultural awareness and expression are among the major competencies considered
important to develop in children, in order to provide them with a sense of identity, belonging, as well
as an appreciation of other cultures and identities. It is through the development of a strong sense and
knowledge of their own cultural history, arts, languages, and traditions that children can build a
positive cultural identity and self-esteem. Thus, cultural awareness and expression are important
contributors both to individual as well as societal well-being.

22.3. The arts form a major medium for imparting culture. The arts - besides strengthening cultural
identity, awareness, and uplifting societies - are well known to enhance cognitive and creative
abilities in individuals and increase individual happiness. The happiness/well-being, cognitive
development, and cultural identity of individuals are important reasons that Indian arts of all kinds
must be offered to students at all levels of education, starting with early childhood care and
education.

22.4. Language, of course, is inextricably linked to art and culture. Different languages ‘see’ the
world differently, and the structure of a language, therefore, determines a native speaker’s perception
of experience. In particular, languages influence the way people of a given culture speak with others,
including with family members, authority figures, peers, and strangers, and influence the tone of
conversation. The tone, perception of experience, and familiarity/‘apnapan’ inherent in
conversations among speakers of a common language are a reflection and record of a culture. Culture
is, thus, encased in our languages. Art, in the form of literature, plays, music, film, etc. cannot be
fully appreciated without language. In order to preserve and promote culture, one must preserve and
promote a culture’s languages.

22.5. Unfortunately, Indian languages have not received their due attention and care, with the country
losing over 220 languages in the last 50 years alone. UNESCO has declared 197 Indian languages as
‘endangered’. Various unscripted languages are particularly in danger of becoming extinct. When
senior member(s) of a tribe or community that speak such languages pass away, these languages often
perish with them; too often, no concerted actions or measures are taken to preserve or record these
rich languages/expressions of culture.

22.6. Moreover, even those languages of India that are not officially on such endangered lists, such as
the 22 languages of Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, are facing serious difficulties on
many fronts. Teaching and learning of Indian languages need to be integrated with school and higher
education at every level. For languages to remain relevant and vibrant, there must be a steady stream
of high-quality learning and print materials in these languages including textbooks, workbooks,
videos, plays, poems, novels, magazines, etc. Languages must also have consistent official updates to
their vocabularies and dictionaries, widely disseminated, so that the most current issues and concepts
can be effectively discussed in these languages. Enabling such learning materials, print materials, and
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translations of important materials from world languages, and constantly updating vocabularies, are
carried out by countries around the world for languages such as English, French, German, Hebrew,
Korean, and Japanese. However, India has remained quite slow in producing such learning and print
materials and dictionaries to help keep its languages optimally vibrant and current with integrity.

22.7. Additionally, there has been a severe scarcity of skilled language teachers in India, despite
various measures being taken. Language-teaching too must be improved to be more experiential and
to focus on the ability to converse and interact in the language and not just on the literature,
vocabulary, and grammar of the language. Languages must be used more extensively for
conversation and for teaching-learning.

22.8. A number of initiatives to foster languages, arts, and culture in school children have been
discussed in Chapter 4, which include a greater emphasis on music, arts, and crafts throughout all
levels of school; early implementation of the three-language formula to promote multilingualism;
teaching in the home/local language wherever possible; conducting more experiential language
learning; the hiring of outstanding local artists, writers, craftspersons, and other experts as master
instructors in various subjects of local expertise; accurate inclusion of traditional Indian knowledge
including tribal and other local knowledge throughout into the curriculum, across humanities,
sciences, arts, crafts, and sports, whenever relevant; and a much greater flexibility in the curriculum,
especially in secondary schools and in higher education, so that students can choose the ideal balance
among courses for themselves to develop their own creative, artistic, cultural, and academic paths.

22.9. To enable the key latter initiatives, a number of further actions will be taken in tandem at the
higher education level and beyond. First, to develop and teach many of the courses of the type
mentioned above, an excellent team of teachers and faculty will have to be developed. Strong
departments and programmes in Indian languages, comparative literature, creative writing, arts,
music, philosophy, etc. will be launched and developed across the country, and degrees including 4-
year [Link]. dual degrees will be developed in these subjects. These departments and programmes will,
in particular help to develop a large cadre of high-quality language teachers - as well as teachers of
art, music, philosophy and writing - who will be needed around the country to carry out this Policy.
The NRF will fund quality research in all these areas. Outstanding local artists and craftspersons will
be hired as guest faculty to promote local music, art, languages, and handicraft, and to ensure that
students are aware of the culture and local knowledge where they study. Every higher education
institution and even every school or school complex will aim to have Artist(s)-in-Residence to expose
students to art, creativity, and the rich treasures of the region/country.

22.10. More HEIs, and more programmes in higher education, will use the mother tongue/local
language as a medium of instruction, and/or offer programmes bilingually, in order to increase access
and GER and also to promote the strength, usage, and vibrancy of all Indian languages. Private HEIs
too will be encouraged and incentivized to use Indian languages as medium of instruction and/or
offer bilingual programmes. Four-year [Link]. dual degree programmes offered bilingually will also
help, e.g. in training cadres of science and mathematics teachers to teach science bilingually at
schools across the country.

22.11. High-quality programmes and degrees in Translation and Interpretation, Art and Museum
Administration, Archaeology, Artefact Conservation, Graphic Design, and Web Design within the
higher education system will also be created. In order to preserve and promote its art and culture,
develop high-quality materials in various Indian languages, conserve artefacts, develop highly
qualified individuals to curate and run museums and heritage or tourist sites, thereby also vastly
strengthening the tourism industry.

22.12. The Policy recognizes that the knowledge of the rich diversity of India should be imbibed first
hand by learners. This would mean including simple activities, like touring by students to different
parts of the country, which will not only give a boost to tourism but will also lead to an understanding
and appreciation of diversity, culture, traditions and knowledge of different parts of India. Towards
this direction under ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’, 100 tourist destinations in the country will be
identified where educational institutions will send students to study these destinations and their
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history, scientific contributions, traditions, indigenous literature and knowledge, etc., as a part of
augmenting their knowledge about these areas.

22.13. Creating such programmes and degrees in higher education, across the arts, languages, and
humanities, will also come with expanded high-quality opportunities for employment that can make
effective use of these qualifications. There are already hundreds of Academies, museums, art
galleries, and heritage sites in dire need of qualified individuals for their effective functioning. As
positions are filled with suitably qualified candidates, and further artefacts are procured and
conserved, additional museums, including virtual museums/e-museums, galleries, and heritage sites
may contribute to the conservation of our heritage as well as to India’s tourism industry.

22.14. India will also urgently expand its translation and interpretation efforts in order to make high-
quality learning materials and other important written and spoken material available to the public in
various Indian and foreign languages. For this, an Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation
(IITI) will be established. Such an institute would provide a truly important service for the country, as
well as employ numerous multilingual language and subject experts, and experts in translation and
interpretation, which will help to promote all Indian languages. The IITI shall also make extensive
use of technology to aid in its translation and interpretation efforts. The IITI could naturally grow
with time, and be housed in multiple locations including in HEIs to facilitate collaborations with
other research departments as demand and the number of qualified candidates grows.

22.15. Due to its vast and significant contributions and literature across genres and subjects, its
cultural significance, and its scientific nature, rather than being restricted to single-stream Sanskrit
Pathshalas and Universities, Sanskrit will be mainstreamed with strong offerings in school - including
as one of the language options in the three-language formula - as well as in higher education. It will
be taught not in isolation, but in interesting and innovative ways, and connected to other
contemporary and relevant subjects such as mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, linguistics,
dramatics, yoga, etc. Thus, in consonance with the rest of this policy, Sanskrit Universities too will
move towards becoming large multidisciplinary institutions of higher learning. Departments of
Sanskrit that conduct teaching and outstanding interdisciplinary research on Sanskrit and Sanskrit
Knowledge Systems will be established/strengthened across the new multidisciplinary higher
education system. Sanskrit will become a natural part of a holistic multidisciplinary higher education
if a student so chooses. Sanskrit teachers in large numbers will be professionalized across the
country in mission mode through the offering of 4-year integrated multidisciplinary [Link]. dual
degrees in education and Sanskrit.

22.16. India will similarly expand its institutes and universities studying all classical languages and
literature, with strong efforts to collect, preserve, translate, and study the tens of thousands of
manuscripts that have not yet received their due attention. Sanskrit and all Indian language institutes
and departments across the country will be significantly strengthened, with adequate training given to
large new batches of students to study, in particular, the large numbers of manuscripts and their
interrelations with other subjects. Classical language institutes will aim to be merged with
universities, while maintaining their autonomy, so that faculty may work, and students too may be
trained as part of robust and rigorous multidisciplinary programmes. Universities dedicated to
languages will become multidisciplinary, towards the same end; where relevant, they may then also
offer [Link]. dual degrees in education and a language, to develop outstanding language teachers in
that language. Further, it is also proposed that a new institution for Languages will be established.
National Institute (or Institutes) for Pali, Persian and Prakrit will also be set up within a university
campus. Similar initiatives will be carried out for institutes and universities studying Indian arts, art
history, and Indology. Research for outstanding work in all these areas will be supported by the NRF.

22.17. Efforts to preserve and promote all Indian languages including classical, tribal and endangered
languages will be taken on with new vigour. Technology and crowdsourcing, with extensive
participation of the people, will play a crucial role in these efforts.

22.18. For each of the languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India,
Academies will be established consisting of some of the greatest scholars and native speakers to
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