The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 completed three years of its inception on July 29 and has brought dramatic changes in the educational ecosystem, by bringing in multidisciplinarity to implementing multiple entry and exit options. Apart from policy changes in schools and colleges, teacher training has been emphasised to ensure the effective implementation of NEP 2020. Technical education will see a massive facelift with the introduction of a few inclusive initiatives giving a boost to regional language as the medium of learning.
Q1) What were the challenges in implementing NEP 2020 now that it has completed three years?
Ans) The biggest challenge faced by the engineering educational ecosystem under NEP 2020 is the implementation of a Multiple Entry and Exit System (MEES) in the engineering programmes, which needs an implementation plan. Any student cannot be enrolled in an engineering college randomly in between the course. We are also working to find a solution for the re-entry of students mid-way. Another challenge is to find a mechanism to improve the placement system in engineering colleges located in the rural and tribal belt. To ensure this we need to have a strong AICTE placement portal to help the students. This step will give a push to achieve the NEP 2020 objective, especially in the villages and small towns.
Q2) Do you think that NEP 2020 needs modification owing to the changing market demands and Industry 4.0?
Ans) NEP 2020 is very flexible and inclusive as it was designed to cater to the emerging job market. It has a broad sense of principles that include equity and inclusion. The policy has been able to ensure linguistic inclusion, physically challenged students’ inclusion, and emphasises on research and innovation from the school level itself. The Atal Innovation Mission has been instrumental in bringing a culture of innovation to school’s educational institutes. MoE’s Innovation Cell (MIC) at AICTE has launched the Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) programme in all AICTE and other HEIs to systematically foster the culture of innovation and start-up ecosystem in education institutions. MIC will focus on creating ideas generation to pre-incubation, incubation and graduating from the incubator as successful start-ups. Many hackathons have been organised jointly with industry and government.
Q3) How has technical education been impacted by NEP 2020? Which are the key areas of reform in this segment?
Ans) In the last three years as part of implementing the objectives of NEP 2020, engineering education has been made multidisciplinary. The technical curriculum has been revised considering the industry needs. Choice based curriculum now covers subjects from Humanities, Social Science and Liberal Arts to increase diversity. Furthermore, engineering textbooks that have been published in regional languages will help the students who have done schooling in the regional medium. 226 authors have contributed and developed 218 engineering books for the first year UG and diploma students. Other year books are also under development. As many as 39 engineering colleges across eleven states have introduced 41 courses in Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, and Oriya as the medium of instruction in nine different disciplines. AICTE has used advanced digital technologies to translate the course material – a deep learning AI tool called AICTE Anuvadini tool which is an achievement.
Q4) In what way has NEP 2020 brought in an element of multidisciplinarity in Engineering colleges? Has that also changed perceptions about traditional disciplines?
Ans) NEP 2020 has been instrumental in bringing an element of multidisciplinarity which is quite evident from the fact that universal human values are being taught to engineering students. There is a special emphasis to help the students develop soft skills. The universal human values are being taught to engineering students and they can now get a minor degree in Universal human Values.
Q5) How should the teaching faculty be trained for the effective implementation of NEP 2020? Which are some of the key initiatives being undertaken by AICTE for this?
Ans) Teacher training is essential for the successful implementation of the policy. Due to disruptive technologies and new emerging areas, the role of engineering teachers has completely changed. Engineering teachers need to have a lifelong learning approach and update themselves with continuously changing technologies and experiential learning. The course curricula have changed to a great extent with the revision of the curriculum. AI tool such as ChatGPT has made teachers think and change the question pattern for subjects such as Computer Science.
AICTE in its gazette notification has laid down clear guidelines for the appointment of teachers. To upgrade their teaching skills, AICTE has recently created the National Initiative for Technical Teachers Training (NITTT) which consists of eight online modules. Also, AICTE Teaching and Learning Academy (ATAL) has devised many industry-relevant courses for upskilling/reskilling teachers. Any teacher seeking a promotion or regularisation as a permanent employee needs to complete these eight modules. We are also encouraging teachers to acquire training through industry collaborations. AICTE Parakh portal is also evaluating the teachers regularly.
Q6) Do you think that in the last three years, NEP 2020 has been able to fully integrate AI into the educational ecosystem?
Ans) NEP 2020 lays huge stress on integrating AI in engineering education because AI as a stream has been and would continue to play a vital role in all domains of technology such as mining, weaponry, satellites, medicine, and IT among others. Engineering education is constantly evolving to keep up with the latest tech developments and meet the changing needs of the industry. AI would replace humans with better efficiency and it is a boon for engineering education and will transform the job market. AI is at the top of our agenda and the curriculum is being redesigned accordingly. Full-fledged courses related to Block Chain, Cyber Security, Robotics, Internet of Things (IoT), Data Science, 3D printing, and Design are being included in the Engineering curriculum. AICTE has taken extra steps to update the core engineering subjects including civil, mechanical, electrical and electronic courses. We have no plans to discard any core engineering subjects, which is the foundation of all technologies.