PM calls for max ‘flexibility' in NEP implementation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that “maximum flexibility” has to be shown in implementing the new National Education Policy (NEP) and all questions about it have to be addressed, as he asserted that it is not a government's but the country's education policy.
Addressing the ‘Governors’ Conference on the Role of NEP in Transforming Higher Education’, Modi said it is natural for stakeholders to have questions about the policy and “we are all working to address all these questions”.
The view of every stakeholder is being heard with an open mind, he said, adding that most of the questions about the NEP are related to its implementation. He likened the education policy to defence and foreign policies, saying they belong to the country not government. The education policy is linked to the nation's aspirations, he added.
“We have to collectively address all doubts. The vision of flexibility with which this policy was brought... We will have to show in a similar way maximum flexibility in implementing it,” he told the conference, which was also attended by President Ram Nath Kovind, education ministers from states and Union Territories and vice-chancellors.
Modi urged them to hold virtual conferences before September 25 in universities on the NEP, which, he said, has been widely welcomed.
Highlighting the main features of the policy, first since 1986, he said it attempts to bring all aspects of higher education, be it academic, technical or vocational, out of silos and to cut down on administrative layers while bringing about a better coordination.