PM Modi stresses on hybrid form of education during NEP review meeting. Read here

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high level meeting to review the progress in the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. 

The PM said that in the two years of NEP being implemented, school education has seen a number of changes including special efforts to track out of school children and bring them back into the mainstream, to introduction of multiple entry and exit in higher education. He further pointed out that many transformative reforms have been initiated that will define and lead the progress of the country as we enter the ‘Amrit Kaal’.

The policy has given a big push to online learning with higher education institutions being allowed to run full-fledged online courses and the permissible limit of online content being raised to 40%, PM Modi said. 

PM Modi said the NEP 2020 has seen many initiatives being unrolled to achieve the objectives of access, equity, inclusivity, and quality, as laid down under the policy.

Stress on Hybrid education

“Hybrid system of online and offline learning should be developed to avoid overexposure of technology of school-going children”, PM Modi stressed during the meeting. He observed that a hybrid system of online and offline learning should be developed to avoid overexposure of technology of school-going children.

Other points made during the NEP review meeting

-PM Modi suggested that secondary schools with science labs should engage with farmers in their area for soil testing. Prime Minister was apprised that the work of formulation of National Curriculum Framework, under the guidance of the National Steering Committee, is in progress.

-Modi said the databases maintained by anganwadi centres should be seamlessly integrated with school records as children move there from anganwadis, and called for their regular health check-ups and screening in schools with the help of technology.

-Pitching for emphasis on the use of indigenously developed toys to develop conceptual skills in students, he also suggested that secondary schools with science labs should engage with farmers in their area for soil testing, the statement said.

-In school education, initiatives like quality ECCE in 'Balavatika', NIPUN Bharat, Vidya Pravesh, examination reforms and innovative pedagogies like art-integrated education, toy-based pedagogy are being adopted for better learning outcomes and holistic development of children, the statement said.

-Referring to multi-disciplinarity in higher education, it said he was informed that the guidelines for multiple entry-exit for flexibility and lifelong learning along with the launch of academic bank of credit on digilocker platform will now make it possible for students to study as per their convenience and choice.

-In order to create new possibilities for lifelong learning and centrally involve critical and interdisciplinary thinking in learners, the UGC has published guidelines according to which students can pursue two academic programmes simultaneously.

-The National Higher Education Qualification Framework (NHEQF) is also at an advanced stage of preparation, while the UGC is revising the existing Curriculum Framework and Credit System for Undergraduate Programme in alignment with the NHEQF, it said.

-In order to encourage an ecosystem of Start-up and Innovation, 2,774 Institution’s Innovation Councils have been set up in HEIs in 28 States and 6 UTs. Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievement (ARIIA) aligned with NEP has been launched in December, 2021 for creating a culture of research, incubation and start-ups. 1438 institutions participated in ARIIA. 100 Institutions have been funded by AICTE with industry participation for Idea Development, Evaluation and Application (IDEA) Labs for Experiential learning rather than rote learning.

-Finally Modi also talked about the fact that multi-linguality is being promoted to remove language related hurdles in academic attainment