PM's address on NEP anniversary: Narendra Modi launches Academic Bank of Credit, says engineering courses to be taught in regional languages

As the new **National Education Policy (NEP)** completes one year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched Vidya Pravesh  — a curriculum created by NCERT  — a three-month school preparation module for Class 1 students, and multiple initiatives in the education sector. The prime minister also launched the Academic Bank of Credit, which will provide multiple entry and exit options for students in higher education. “Multiple entry/exit will help students break away from the shackles of sticking to one stream. One can select their course and can exit if they are not interested. This is a revolutionary change,” said Modi in a virtual address. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan tweeted:

#TransformingEducation, realising goals envisaged under NEP, 2020. https://t.co/4njmiDi98Y

— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) July 29, 2021

In July 2020, the the Union Cabinet headed by Modi, gave its assent to the National Education Policy. Consequently, the Human Resource Development Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Education.

This is the Centre’s first education policy of the 21st Century and replaces the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.  “We are entering the 75th year of independence. In a way, implementation of NEP is become a vital part of this occasion. This will play a key role in creating a new-India and future-ready youth,” Modi said. The prime minister added that the DIKSHA portal (government’s e-learning platform) sees 5 crore hits per day and has registered over 23 crore hits in the past year of the pandemic. The platform offers teachers, students and parents learning material. Students can download the DIKSHA application and scan the textbook QR codes for accessing study materials. Other initiatives the PM launched today:

• First-year engineering programmes in regional languages. “All over India, there are 14 engineering colleges in eight states that will offer courses in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali. This will benefit those from economically disadvantaged families,” said Modi.

• Guidelines for the internationalisation of higher education. This could include the study in India scheme and other incentives to foreign institutes setting up campuses in the country. “Office of international education has been set up at **250 plus universities** and this will enable attract foreign education,” said the prime minister.

• Indian sign language as a subject at secondary level. “Indian sign language has been designated as a subject now. Students can opt to study this. It will promote Indian sign language and will help the differently-abled,” said Modi.

• NISHTHA 2.0, an integrated programme of teacher training designed by the NCERT. It aims to build competencies among all the teachers and school principals at the elementary stage.

• SAFAL (structured assessment for analysing learning levels), a competency based assessment framework for Classes 3, 5 and 8 in CBSE schools

• The prime minister also launched launched ‘AI For All’ initiative, which is an online course aimed at offering a basic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) for every citizen in the country. Under the programme, the government aims to train 1 million citizens in its first year.

• National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and National Education Technology Forum (NETF) were among the key initiatives of the NEP 2020 to be launched.

PM announces 27% reservation for OBC, 10% for EWS all-India medical admissions The Government of India further approved 27 percent reservation to students belonging to OBC and 10 percent to EWS in the all India quota seats for undergraduate and postgraduate medical, dental courses (MBBS/MD/MS/Diploma/BDS/MDS) from the current academic year 2021-22 onwards. “Our government has taken a landmark decision for providing 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for economically weaker section in the All India Quota Scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses from the current academic year,” tweeted Modi. The decision to provide reservations will benefit around 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgraduation and also around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in postgraduation every year.