A Promissory Draft

A glance at the NEP report, that promises radical changes

- Siddhartha Mishra

THE New Education Policy draft arrived with a bang, its ‘three-language formula’ proposal immediately sparking offa nationwide debate on that old bugbear—the imposition of Hindi. Taking stock of the discontent, the government quickly revised the policy draft. Now that that’s settled, let’s move on to what entails the draft. The 484-page tome begins with a section titled ‘Drawing from India’s Heritage’ and a quote from the PM’s favourite, Swami Vivekananda. As a balancing act, the section ends with an Einstein quote; treading the fine line between politics and policy.

In all, in keeping with the government’s focus, the draft pushes for the strengthening of anganwadis and a new 5+3+3+4 system instead of the 10+2 formula in use since 1968. The Right to Education Act has been extended while the ‘school complex’ idea has been included.