Libraries @ national education policy (NEP 2020) in India

Introduction

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) was launched by Ministry of Education in India on 29 July 2020. The new policy replaces the previous National Policy on Education, 1986. The policy is providing proper guidance document for elementary education to higher education including vocational training in Indian subcontinent. The policy aims at transformation of India's education system. The nature of NEP 2020 is kind of advisory and it is up to the states, institutions, and schools to decide its implementation. The National Education Policy 2020 outlines the vision of India's new education system as under:

“National Education Policy 2020 envisions an India-centric education system that contributes directly to transforming our nation sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society by providing high-quality education to all.”^[1], ^[2], ^[3]

This article discusses the importance of Libraries in teaching and learning and highlights the role of libraries for all levels of education. Now a day the Libraries support 24x7 hours access to its resources for the growth of knowledge and skills of the users. The Library resources are for use by the readers and hence are as important as food for human life. In rapidly transforming our education system, the library resources and users have undergone drastic changes. Today’s Libraries store knowledge and information in digital form for all age group people like the students, teacher, scientist, politician and general public of transforming society throughout the world. The role of Libraries as per New Education Policy of India will increase many folds.

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study are as follows:

To increase awareness about the New Education Policy 2020;

To highlight the role of library in education system;

To discuss changing landscape of learning and education;

To develop adequate Library resources.

Research Methodology

This article has been brought out on the basis of evaluation of recent literature published on the internet and other relevant sources and is kind of descriptive study. There is a short of previous similar studies observed on the scope and opportunities of library as per New Education Policy in India, it is an attempt being made to understand and evaluate the use of Libraries as an integral part of our education system.

Highlights of New Education Policy-2020

The New Education Policy advocates school and college level education equally. This article mainly focuses on NEP 2020, its highlights and impact on our Education system. The knowledge is growing dramatically with scientific and technological advances, such as the rise of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence etc., therefore, skilled manpower will be needed to make India as a developed country as well as top largest economy in the world.

The Government of India is willing to promote the reading habit among the people of the country for maximum usage of Library resources. The new education policy brings some fundamental changes to the current system, and the key highlights are as multidisciplinary universities and colleges, with at least one in or near every district, revamping student curricula, pedagogy, evaluation, and support for enhanced knowledge of students, active learning experience, establishing a National Research Foundation to support excellent peer-reviewed research work and effective study at universities and colleges.^[3]

The highlights of NEP 2020 are as under:-

Universal Access to education at All Levels of schooling from pre-primary school to Grade 12;

Compulsory education for all children between 3-6 years;

Curricular development and new Pedagogical Pattern (5+3+3+4);

Establishment of National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy;

The medium of instruction up to Grade 8 and beyond, will be the home language/mother tongue/local language/regional language;

Yearly Assessment - Board exams to held twice in a year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired;

Setting up of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development);

Equitable and inclusive education - Special emphasis given on Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs);

A separate Gender Inclusion fund and Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups;

Robust and transparent processes for recruitment of teachers and merit based performance;

Establishment school complexes and clusters for sharing of all resources;

Setting up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA);

Exposure of vocational education in school and higher education system;

Holistic Multidisciplinary Education system with multiple entry/exit options;

NTA to offer Common Entrance Exam for Admission to HEIs;

Establishment of Academic Bank of Credit;

Setting up of Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities(MERUs);

National Research Foundation(NRF) for research and development;

Setting up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI)-with independent bodies for standard setting- the General Education Council; funding-Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC); accreditation- National Accreditation Council (NAC); and regulation- National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC);

Expansion of centre for open and distance learning;

Internationalization of Education;

Professional Education will be an integral part of the higher education system. Stand-alone technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities, or institutions in these or other fields, will aim to become multi-disciplinary institutions;

Four-year degree of integrated Teacher Education - Bachelor of Education;

Establishing a National Mission for Mentoring;

Creation of the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) as a platform for the free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to enhance overall teaching and learning;

Preventive measures to stop the commercialization of higher education;

Standardization of all learning institution of audit and disclosure

Joint cooperation of the Centre and the States to work together to increase the public investment in Education sector;

Strengthening of the Central Advisory Board of Education to ensure coordination to bring overall focus on quality education;^[2]

Libraries as Per New Education Policy 2020

In accordance with the National Education Policy 2020, ^[4], ^[5], ^[6]

NEP 2020 emphasize on the certain library features which are discussed in the[Table 1].

Conclusion

The National Education Policy 2020 reflects remarkable changes over the current scenario of education system and the prospects including future planning ensuring the quality education in India. The NEP, 2020 is providing a philosophical guidance for changing the learning landscape, making education holistic and roadmap for building strong base for the self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat). This is the first education policy of the 21st century that has superseded the thirty-four year old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986. NEP 2020 is paved by the way of transformative reform and it is built on the five interdependent foundational pillars namely Access, Equity, Quality, and Affordability. This study pointed out the development of library as centre of excellent educational resources. This article is also bringing ideas of Library innovation and education system together for better understanding the need and purpose of the policy of the Government of India NEP 2020.

Source of Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.