New Delhi, May 26: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan underscored the critical role of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in India’s journey toward becoming a developed nation during a Letter of Intent (LOI) handover ceremony with the University of Liverpool. The event marked a significant step in strengthening global academic partnerships.
Addressing the gathering, Pradhan highlighted the vast scale of India's education system and the ambitious goals outlined under NEP 2020. “India currently has over 300 million students, with 40 million pursuing higher education. We have more than 1,200 universities and 50,000 colleges. Yet, our Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education is only around 26-27%. The NEP aims to increase this to 50% in the next five years,” he stated.
Linking educational reform to national progress, Pradhan said, “India is now the world’s fourth-largest economy. As we work towards the goal set by Prime Minister Modi to become a developed nation by 2047, implementing NEP in letter and spirit is essential. We must think globally and move beyond conventional boundaries. Isolation is not an option.”
The National Education Policy, approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29, 2020, replaced the 1986 policy and introduced sweeping reforms in the Indian education system. One of its major innovations is the flexibility it offers in language learning, allowing students to choose languages based on their interests, eliminating the compulsion to learn a specific language.
