The Ministry of Education on August 10, 2026, notified on Implementation of National Education Policy in HEIs.
Since the announcement of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, extensive reforms have been undertaken across school and higher education, involving collaboration between the Central Government, State Governments, and regulatory bodies (UGC, AICTE, NCTE, NCERT, CBSE), given education's status as a concurrent subject.
School Education Initiatives:
Key programs include PM SHRI (school upgradation), Samagra Shiksha (inclusive quality education), NIPUN Bharat (foundational literacy/numeracy by Grade 3), Vidya-Pravesh (play-based school preparation), PM e-VIDYA (unified digital education access), NCF for Foundational Stage with Jadui Pitara learning materials, NISHTHA (teacher training), Vidya Samiksha Kendra, NDEAR (digital infrastructure), and ULLAS/New India Literacy Programme for non-literates aged 15+.
Higher Education Initiatives:
Major reforms include the National Credit Framework (NCrF) and NHEQF, Multiple Entry/Exit provisions, multidisciplinary HEI transformation, APAAR ID (lifelong academic identity), PM-Vidyalaxmi (collateral-free education loans), revised ODL/online education norms, Malaviya Mission (teacher training), up to 40% credits via SWAYAM, the new SWAYAM Plus portal, SAMARTH (end-to-end digital administration), Professor of Practice guidelines, supernumerary seats for foreign students, and provisions for foreign HEIs to establish Indian campuses and twinning/dual-degree collaborations.
Digital Education Push:
DIKSHA provides a "One Nation, One Digital" e-content platform with QR-coded Energised Textbooks (offline-accessible); BharatNet (Budget 2025) will extend broadband to rural government secondary schools; higher education benefits from SWAYAM, SWAYAM Prabha, e-PG Pathshala, and the UGC e-resource portal (integrated with Digital Seva Portal for rural/regional-language access). Currently, 126 HEIs offer ~802 online programmes and 121 HEIs offer ~1,699 ODL programmes.
Skill Integration:
NEP 2020 emphasizes merging skill/vocational education with mainstream academics. Schools offer NSQF-aligned skill courses (Classes IX-XII) and pre-vocational exposure via Bagless Days (Classes VI-VIII). Higher education features the NHEQF-NCrF alignment, Academic Bank of Credits (ABC), and AEDP (Apprenticeship Embedded Degree Programmes). AICTE embeds skills through industry MoUs and Industry 4.0 exposure. SWAYAM Plus has 500+ courses from 89 industry partners with 6+ lakh registrations. NATS and MSDE schemes (PMKVY, JSS, NAPS) and DGT's CTS/CITS (via 13,856+ ITIs) further strengthen the skilling ecosystem.
Infrastructure & Access Schemes:
Samagra Shiksha supports school infrastructure (classrooms, labs, ICT, sanitation); PM-USHA (₹12,926.10 crore, launched June 2023 as RUSA's third phase) strengthens higher education infrastructure in underserved areas; BBPS (Budget 2025-26) will provide digital educational content in 22 Indian languages; and Budget 2026-27 announced a girls' hostel in every district to boost STEM enrolment among girls.
[Release ID: 2297131]
