National Education Policy 1986 Vs National Education Policy 2020 – A Comparison

Education is continuing its journey since man is on earth. It may be the nature taught man in the yester years, gurukulas in the golden period of many kings, Government Schools and colleges’ post independence era and convents, international schools, deemed universities in the 21st century, its common objective of all these institutions is to educate the human race. Education is not just reading the books and getting a degree from a University, it is the holistic development of an individual physically, mentally, financially and economically. The aim of education is to bring overall development of an individual and make him today a productive citizen, for tomorrow’s nation.

Education is fundamental for achieving full human potential, developing an equitable and just society and promoting national development. Providing universal access to quality education is the key to India’s continued ascent and leadership on the global stage in terms of economic growth, social justice and equality, scientific advancement, national integration and cultural preservation as mentioned in Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties. India’s previous Education Policy was passed and implemented in 1986. After thirty-four years, the National Education Policy (NEP) for India has been updated, revised and approved on 29 July 2020.

The primary goal of the National Education policy of 1986 was to utilize information technology to bring the educational system into the contemporary era. Reforms in areas such as training future educators, child care, women's rights, and adult education were prioritized. There was also the suggestion that increased freedom for academic institutions would lead to better training for students. However, NEP 1986 was unsuccessful in generating research output in the form of patents and scholarly articles and in improving the quality of education by producing graduates with employable skills. NEP 2020 proposes a liberal education to encourage interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary education and research at the undergraduate and graduate levels, making up for the shortcomings of earlier NEPs.

The National Education Policy- 1986 focused on common curriculum framework that contains a common core along with other components that are flexible. Child-centric approach is given prominence in elementary education, followed by secondary education giving prominence to girl child education and SC, ST and BC categories of education. The National Education Policy-2020, which is reformed after 34 years, emphasized more on holistic approach with multi-disciplinary courses and students are facilitated with bucket system of choosing subjects of their interest. This paper focuses on the comparative study on the highlighted aspects of NEP of both 1986 and 2020. 

The priorities of 1986 is on minority education, women education, reducing child drop outs, adult education and vocational training, whereas, the priority of NEP 2020 is majorly given to multidisciplinary courses, vocational courses, bucket system of choosing subjects, music, science and art is given prominence.

In conclusion, The observations and recommendations of NEP 2020 are indeed progressive in nature. It gives a fresh look to the educational system which is inbuilt with flexibility and mark of quality that is capable of moulding India to a vibrant society which matches our rich cultural heritage. The NPE 1986, which created a pool of educational system and trained human resources who contributed to the value chain of development but NEP 2020 aspires of creating human resources who will generate value propositions. With the implementation of the new NEP 2020, the Indian education system is poised to become closer to international standards.