NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY-2020

Equity and Inclusion in Higher Education

Dr.M.Prabavathy
Centre for Differently Abled Persons
Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli,
Tamil Nadu
cdapraba@bdu.ac.in
 What is the need of NEP-2020
The famous statement of Nelson Mandela is displayed at the
entrance of the University of South Africa thus:

• "Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic

bombs or the use of long-range missiles. It only requires
lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the
examinations by the students."
IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION
 What is inclusion?
Inclusion is about transforming systems to be inclusive of
everyone and not about inserting disadvantaged
population into existing structures
(UNICEF, 2009).
6 ES OF
INCLUSIVE
EDUCATIO
N

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• Educational equity is when educators provide all students
with the high-quality instruction and support they need to
reach and exceed a common standard.
• Equity focuses on outcomes for students.
Equity in education demands that we provide the same
high expectations for all students, regardless of their
• gender,
• Ability/disability ,
• ethnicity, and
• socio-economic background.
•Equality suggests providing every student with the
same experience.
•Equity means working to overcome the historical
legacy of discrimination, marginalization, and
underinvestment that disadvantages specific groups of
people, especially students with disabilties.
•Equity requires providing support tailored to the
specific needs of students.
Children Who Learn Together Learn To Live
Together

03-11-2023 15
EQUITABLE AND INCLUSIVE EDUCATIOn

Means
All for Learners

If the mission is

16
 NEP Emphasizes:

EQUITABLE AND ◾ Every citizen has the opportunity to

INCLUSIVE dream, thrive and contribute to the
Nation
EDUCATION:
LEARNING FOR ALL ◾ Based on:
Human Rights Approach
NEP 2020
◾ Aims at:
Creating an inclusive culture
Achieving an inclusive society

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 1.What does Education Policy mean?
Education policy refers to the collection of laws
and rules that govern the operation of education systems.

2.Why is it important to study education policy?

Policies are important because they help a school/college to
establish rules and procedures and create standards of quality
for learning and safety, as well as expectations and
accountability.
Without EDUCATION POLICY, educational institute would lack the
structure and unable to meet the needs of students.
3.What is the role of policy in education?
Policies are important because they help a school/college to establish rules and
procedures in order to function effectively and ensure everyone is
connected.
Schools/Colleges create standards of quality for learning and safety, as well as
expectations and accountability
4. What are the features of educational policy?
The main characteristics reviewed are problems caused by the intangibility of
many educational goals, the inconsistency of educational goals; priority ordering
of goals and weighting of educational goals; and the cost of goals.
 Two notable observations from the Honourable
Supreme court of India
“The present education system has failed to reform
human behavior “
“With increase in literacy level , There is decline in
human values in the society”

Hence call for transformation in education system

The Union cabinet in July 2020 approved the New
Education Policy (NEP)
 By prioritizing
u cat ion fo r A ll without
Quality Ed holistic development and
n
any discriminatio
embracing technology-driven
learning methods,

•Empower students with the necessary NEP seeks to nurture

skills and knowledge to thrive in a rapidly well-rounded individuals
changing global landscape
who are equipped to tackle the

•Approachable challenges of the future and

•Accessible contribute meaningfully to the
•Affordable
progress of our nation. .
 HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NEP 2020
• The new policy aims for universalization of education
from pre-school to secondary level with 100 per cent
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in school education by
2030 and aims to raise GER in higher education to 50
per cent by 2025.
• NEP 2020 will bring two crore out of school children
back into the main stream.
• The 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced
by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages
3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
• It will include 12 years of schooling and three of
Anganwadi and pre-schooling.
National Education Policy-2020
Reinventing the education system

Age 8-11 (3) Age 11-14(3)

Age 3-8 (5)

Age 14-18 (4)

Curtailing Dropout Rates and Ensuring Universal Access to
Education at All Levels

• One of the primary goals of the schooling system must be to

ensure that children are enrolled in and are attending school.
India has made remarkable strides in recent years in
attaining near-universal enrolment in elementary education.
• However, the data for later grades indicates some serious
issues in retaining children in the schooling system. The
GER for Grades 6-8 was 90.9%, while for Grades 9-10 and
11-12 it was only 79.3% and 56.5%, respectively - indicating
that a significant proportion of enrolled students drop out
after Grade 5 and especially after Grade 8.
 It will be a top priority to bring these children back into the educational
fold as early as possible, and to prevent further students from dropping
out, with a goal to achieve 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio in preschool
to secondary level by 2030.

CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY IN SCHOOLS:

• Learning Should be Holistic, Integrated, Enjoyable, and Engaging
Restructuring school curriculum and pedagogy in a new 5+3+3+4
design for cognitive development of the children.
 Overall thrust of curriculum
and pedagogy reform

learning how to learn

Rote learning

Building character and creating holistic and

well-rounded individuals equipped with the key
21st century skills

not only be cognitive

development INTEGRATION AND INCORPORATION OF
SPECIFIC SKILLS AND VALUES

Holistic development of learners

Reduce curriculum content to enhance essential learning and critical
thinking

• Curriculum content will be reduced in each subject to its

core essentials, to make space for critical thinking and more
holistic, inquiry-based, discovery-based, discussion-based,
and analysis based learning.
• The mandated content will focus on key concepts, ideas,
applications, and problem solving.

• Teaching and learning will be conducted in a more

interactive manner; questions will be encouraged, and
classroom sessions will regularly contain more fun, creative,
collaborative, and exploratory activities for students for
deeper and more experiential learning.
Empower students through flexibility in course choices

• Students will be given increased flexibility and choice of subjects to

study, particularly in secondary school - including subjects in physical
education, the arts and crafts, and vocational skills – so that they can
design their own paths of study and life plans.
• Holistic development and a wide choice of subjects and courses year to
year will be the new distinguishing feature of secondary school
education.
• There will be no hard separation among ‘curricular’, ‘extracurricular ’,
or ‘co-curricular’, among ‘arts’, ‘humanities’, and ‘sciences’, or
between ‘vocational’ or ‘academic’ streams.

• Subjects such as physical education, the arts and crafts, and vocational
skills, in addition to science, humanities, and mathematics, will be
incorporated throughout the school curriculum, with a consideration for
what is interesting and safe at each age.
NEP 2020
Student Diversity and Inclusive
Education
• India's Higher education (HE) sector has
experienced massive expansion to become
the second-largest system in the world. The
growth is accompanied by increasing student
diversity in the industry. Student diversity is
reflected in terms of an increasing share of
students from socially and economically
disadvantaged groups. According to MoE
(2022), nearly 61 percent of students come
from disadvantaged groups.
Understanding Diversity and Promoting Inclusive
Higher Education
• creating a welcoming and equitable learning environment for all
students
• recognizing and valuing the unique experiences, perspectives, and
identities that individuals bring to the educational setting.
• By embracing diversity, institutions can foster a sense of belonging
and empower students from various backgrounds to thrive
academically and personally.
• Additionally, inclusive higher education promotes social justice by
challenging systemic barriers and promoting equal opportunities for
all students to succeed.
Inclusion and diversity
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 also envisages that education
is the foremost primary measure to achieve
✔ economic and social mobility,
✔ inclusion, and equality.

It highlights the inclusive practices by making corresponding changes in

✔ curriculum,
✔ pedagogies,
✔ continuous assessment, and
✔ student support systems to ensure quality education.
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• Inclusivity In Higher Education
 Inclusivity In Higher Education
• Equitable Education for All
• Access to Quality Education
• Learner Centric Ecosystem
• Inclusivity In Higher Education
• Societal Engagement
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
• Teachers' Capacity Enhancement
 Diversity and Linking it to Inclusion
• Celebrating diversity
• Enabling Diversity to Flourish
• Access of Quality
• Education for all
• Cultural, Regional &
• Linguistic Sensitivity
• Mutual Hand Holding
• Holistic Approach
 Diversity
While the Indian education system and successive government policies have made steady progress towards bridging gender and
social category gaps in all levels large disparities still remain particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged groups that
have been historically underrepresented in education.
Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs) can be broadly categorized based on
gender identities (particularly female and transgender individuals),
socio-cultural identities (such as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and
minorities), geographical identities (such as students from villages, small towns, and
aspirational districts),
disabilities (including learning disabilities), and
socio-economic conditions (such as migrant communities, low income households, children
in vulnerable situations,
victims of or children of victims of trafficking
orphans including child beggars in urban areas, and the urban poor).

• While overall enrolments in schools decline steadily from Grade 1 to Grade 12, this decline in enrolments is significantly more
pronounced for many of these SEDGs, with even greater declines for female students within each of these SEDGs and often
even steeper in higher education. A brief status overview of the SEDGs that come within socio-cultural identities is given in
following subsections.
Effort for inclusive environment in
NEP 2020
• Technology Enabled Learning
• Blended Learning
• Student ABC(Academic Bank of Credit)
Opportunity in Skill Enhancement,
Vocational Education,
• Entrepreneurship, Self-sustainability
 Sub-theme I
• Understanding Diversity
• LEARNER-CENTERED PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES
• Pedagogy - Teacher Centric vs. Learner Centric
Methods - Learner Centric Methods; Discussions,
Group Work, Tutorials, Practical Exercises, Project
Work, and Field Experiences.
 Sub-theme II
• Linking Diversity to Inclusion
• DEVELOPING ANALYTICAL SKILLS AMONG STUDENTS
• Information and Knowledge - Information Procession
- Knowledge Transmission vs. Knowledge
Construction - Inculcating Critical and Analytical
Thinking Skills - Developing Creativity.
Scaffolding
technique
using Bloom’ s
taxonomy
 Sub-theme III
• Teacher Competencies towards Diversity & Inclusion
• MINIMIZING ACHIEVEMENT GAPS AMONG STUDENTS
• Individual Differences; Physical, Cognitive, Social and
Emotional Development - Diversified Needs of Students -
Inclusive Education.
• Session III Technological Tools for Supporting Teachers &
Students
 Sub-theme IV
• Technological Tools for Supporting Teachers & Students
• TECHNOLOGICAL PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
• Education 4.0 - Pedagogical Content Knowledge -
Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge.
• Session V: Supporting Individual Students
Knowledge Transmission VS Knowledge Construction
Knowledge Construction Knowledge Construction
Pros Pros
• Efficiency • Critical Thinking
Breadth of Content • Empathy and Perspective-Taking
• Clarity • Complexity Acknowledgment

Cons
Cons
• Limited Engagement Time-Intensive
• Stereotyping • Varied Learning Paces
• Lack of Critical Thinking • Instructor Expertise
 Sub-theme V
• Supporting Individual Students
• MENTORING OF STUDENTS
• Mentor-Mentee System - Mentor-Mentee Rapport -
Remedial Teaching - Positive Attitudinal
Development.
Learner-centered Instructional Methods
Some of the major problems currently faced by the higher
education system in India include

• (a) a severely fragmented higher educational ecosystem;

• (b) less emphasis on the development of cognitive skills and
learning outcomes;
• (c) a rigid separation of disciplines, with early specialization
and streaming of students into narrow areas of study;
• (d) limited access particularly in socio-economically
disadvantaged areas, with few HEIs that teach in local
languages
• (e) limited teacher and institutional autonomy.
• (f) inadequate mechanisms for merit-based career
management and progression of faculty and institutional
leaders.
• (g) lesser emphasis on research at most universities and
colleges, and lack of competitive peer reviewed research
funding across disciplines;
• (h) suboptimal governance and leadership of HEIs
• (i) an ineffective regulatory system; and
• (j) large affiliating universities resulting in low standards of
undergraduate education.
The policy’s vision includes the following key changes to the
current system:

• (a) moving towards a higher educational system consisting of

large, multidisciplinary universities and colleges, with at least one
in or near every district, and with more HEIs across India that
offer medium of instruction or programms in local/Indian
languages;
• (b) moving towards a more multidisciplinary undergraduate
education;
• (c) moving towards faculty and institutional autonomy;
• (d) revamping curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and student
support for enhanced student experiences;
• (e) reaffirming the integrity of faculty and institutional leadership
positions through merit appointments and career progression
based on teaching, research, and service;
• (f) Establishment of a National Research Foundation to fund
outstanding peer-reviewed research and to actively seed research
in universities and colleges;
• (g) governance of HEIs by high qualified independent boards
having academic and administrative autonomy;
• (h) “light but tight” regulation by a single regulator for higher
education;
• (i) increased access, equity, and inclusion through a range of
measures, including greater opportunities for outstanding public
education; scholarships by private/philanthropic universities for
disadvantaged and underprivileged students; online education,
and Open Distance Learning (ODL); and all infrastructure and
learning materials accessible and available to learners with
disabilities
THANK YOU !