• First education policy of 21st century, replacing the National Policy on Education, 1986 (modified 1992).
• Drafted by a committee chaired by Dr. K. Kasturirangan.
• Built on five guiding pillars: Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability, Accountability.
• Aligned with SDG-4 (Quality Education) and the broader 2030 Agenda, with the long-term vision of turning India into a global knowledge hub through flexible, holistic, multidisciplinary education.

Key Targets under NEP 2020

• Universal access from pre-school to secondary level by 2030.
• Foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) for all children in the early grades by 2025.
• Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER):
  • 100% GER from pre-school to secondary by 2030.
  • 50% GER in higher education by 2035.
• Reintegrate about 2 crore out-of-school children via open schooling and flexible pathways.
• Move towards an inclusive, equitable education system by 2030.
• Gradually raise public spending on education to 6% of GDP.

Major Provisions – School Education

New school structure: 5+3+3+4

• Replaces the old 10+2 design.
  
• Covers ages 3–18 systematically:
  
  • Foundational Stage (5 years):
    3 years pre-school + Classes 1–2 (play-based, activity-based learning).
  • Preparatory Stage (3 years):
    Classes 3–5 (experiential learning, building on basic literacy and numeracy).
  • Middle Stage (3 years):
    Classes 6–8 (subject-wise teaching; introduction of vocational exposure, coding, projects).
  • Secondary Stage (4 years):
    Classes 9–12 (flexible choice of subjects, multidisciplinary combinations).

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN)

• Declares FLN as a non-negotiable national priority.
• Proposes a National Mission on FLN with time-bound goals, teacher training, learning material in local languages, and continuous tracking of outcomes.

Curriculum and pedagogy

• Reduces content load; stresses understanding and application.
• Encourages inquiry, project work, arts integration, sports integration.
• Removes hard boundaries between academic and non-academic areas; co-curricular activities are treated as integral to curriculum.

Teachers

• Teacher education to shift towards a 4-year integrated B.Ed. as the standard qualification.
• A new National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE) to modernise content and pedagogy.
• Stronger focus on continuous professional development, transparent recruitment, and performance-linked career progression.

Language policy

• Preference for mother tongue/ home language/ regional language as the medium of instruction at least up to Class 5, preferably up to Class 8 and beyond, wherever possible.
• Students encouraged to learn three languages, with freedom to choose based on regional context; all Indian languages treated as national resources.
• Sanskrit and other classical/foreign languages to be offered as options.

Assessments and exams

• Board exams to become easier, competency-based, testing core concepts rather than rote memory.
• Creation of a national body PARAKH to set standards for assessment and to guide test design and benchmarking.
• School-based, formative and holistic assessment to carry more weight.

Major Provisions: Higher Education

Multidisciplinary undergraduate education

• UG programmes designed to be broad-based and flexible.
• Multiple entry–exit system with clear certification at each stage: for example,
  • 1 year – certificate,
  • 2 years – diploma,
  • 3–4 years – bachelor’s degree.
• Academic Bank of Credits (ABC) to digitally store and transfer credits across institutions.

Research and innovation

• Setting up of a National Research Foundation (NRF) to fund quality research across disciplines, including in social sciences and humanities, not just STEM.

Regulatory architecture

• Proposal for an umbrella regulator, Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), with different verticals for:
  • regulation,
  • accreditation,
  • funding, and
  • academic standards.
• Medical and legal education remain under separate frameworks.

Technology and online education

• Creation of National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) as a platform for sharing ideas and best practices on ed-tech.
• Expansion of online degree programmes, digital universities, blended learning models, with quality norms.

Indian knowledge systems and languages

• Emphasis on Indian languages, classical texts, and knowledge traditions.
• Proposed Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) and dedicated centres for languages like Pali, Persian, Prakrit, alongside strengthening Sanskrit and modern Indian language departments.

Internationalisation

• High-performing Indian institutions to be encouraged to set up campuses abroad.
• Top global universities allowed to establish campuses in India under transparent regulations.

Criticisms of NEP 2020

• Seen by some as tilting towards privatisation, with concern that increased institutional autonomy and PPPs may lead to higher fees and exclusion of disadvantaged groups.
• Allegations of excess centralisation, as several new bodies and frameworks are steered by the Union government, which may sideline the federal role of states in education (a concurrent subject).
• Implementation roadmap considered vague in parts; state-level capacity and financial burden are not clearly addressed.
• Perceived limited consultation with teachers’ unions, students’ groups and some regional stakeholders during finalisation.
• Potential legal frictions with existing laws like the Right to Education Act, 2009, especially regarding school structure, early childhood care, and neighbourhood school norms.
• Concerns that the mother-tongue medium requirement will be difficult in linguistically diverse states and in urban, mixed-language classrooms.
• Digital divide may worsen inequality if online and tech-heavy measures are adopted without simultaneous investment in connectivity and devices.