NEP Aims to Shift Focus from "What to Think" to "How to Think": PM Modi The National Education Policy has laid emphasis on inquiry-based, discovery-based, discussion-based and analysis-based learning methods

Addressing the Conclave on Transformational Reforms in Higher Education under National Education Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will lay foundation for 21^st century India—"new India'.

"The objective is that the education system of the country should keep its current and future generations future-ready," he said. The conclave, held through video-conferencing, was organised by the education ministry along with University Grant Commission (UGC) and attended by education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal.

India's education system has remained unchanged over the years, which resulted in rat race in our society instead of promoting curiosity and imagination, PM Modi said. The NEP is set to change this. "We are now moving from "what to think' to "how to think' approach in our education system," he said.

The NEP aims to focus on holistic development of students and to ensure this it has proposed no hard separation of curricular, extra and co-curricular, arts and science, sports and vocational crafts. It also aims to replace rot-based learning and mugging for exams with conceptual understanding curriculum by introducing transformed pedagogy by 2022 that will promote skill based learning. As part of this, examination in class 1 to 8 will be focused on assessment of core concepts and knowledge, higher-order skills and its application in real-life situations instead of just learning facts.

Also Read: National Education Policy 2020 Aims to Replace Rote-Learning With Skill Development

Now on, focus will be on inquiry-based, discovery-based, discussion-based and analysis-based learning methods, PM Modi said in his inaugural address. "The NEP has attempted to prune necessity of lengthy syllabus and several multiple books."

As per the PM, while forming the NEP guidelines, two important questions were kept in mind—does our education system motivate the country's youth for a creative-, curiosity- and commitment-driven life and whether does it empower the youth.

"With changing times, a new global standard is being set. Accordingly, India's education system also needed to be reformed," PM Modi said.

In line with the global standards, the NEP will introduce 5+3+3+4 curriculum in schools in place of the existing 10+2 curriculum.

Commenting on the significance of mother tongue/regional language as the medium of instruction at least till grade 5, PM Modi said that if the same language spoken at a child's home is implemented as the medium of instruction at school, it escalates their learning power.