'NEP 2020 will restore India's glory as great centre of learning,' says President Kovind

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday, September 19, asserted that the effective implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 will restore India's glory as a great centre of learning, noting that it aims to reorient the country's educational system towards meeting needs of the 21st century. He also said that NEP 2020 sets a vision to implement an 'equitable and vibrant' knowledge society by providing quality education to all.

"The National Education Policy (NEP) aims to reorient our educational system towards meeting the needs of the 21st century. It sets the vision of developing an equitable and vibrant knowledge society by providing quality education to all. It achieves twin objectives of inclusion & excellence,"  President said while addressing the Visitor's Conference on 'Implementation of National Education Policy 2020: Higher Education.

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'NEP seeks to discourage rote learning'

The President further said that the NEP would discourage the habit of rote learning among the students and overemphasis on marks or grades that causes stress among students. "The NEP seeks to discourage rote learning and overemphasis on marks or grades. It seeks to encourage critical thinking and a spirit of enquiry, the President added.

While praising the new education policy, the President said, more than two lakh suggestions have been taken into consideration thus, the policy reflects a ground-level understanding of the challenges, aspirations and solutions of the education system. He further asserted that the role of the Centre should not be limited to 'setting norms' through agencies like the University Grants Commission adding that higher education institutions under the centre must set quality benchmarks.

"The Centre's role must not be limited to setting norms by the agencies like the University Grants Commission or the proposed Higher Education Commission of India. There should be a clear focus on quality--higher education institutes under the Centre must set quality benchmarks," he said further.

Adding further, the President said that universities and institutes of higher education should be centres of innovation. They should provide innovative solutions to national and local problems. Community participation and the use of local resources should be encouraged for providing solutions to local problems.

READ | NEP 2020 encourages privatisation, hurts spirit of cooperative federalism: J'khand CM

'ABC is a major shift in the policy'

Speaking about the Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), President Kovind called it a major shift in the policy and said that it will help the students a lot. He further said that it will digitally store academic credits earned from various higher education institutions so that degrees can be awarded, taking into account credits earned by students.

"ABC will allow students to take courses as per their vocational, professional or intellectual requirements. It will also allow them suitable exit and re-entry points. This flexibility will be very useful for the students," President said.

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(With inputs from ANI)