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- Recently,Dr K. Kasturirangan Committee has submitted the Draft National Educational Policy to the Ministry of Human Resource Development((MHRD).
- The Draft Policy has recommended extension of Right to Education Act 2009 to cover children of ages 3 to 18 which currently applies to the age group of 6-14.It has also proposed to rename MHRD as Ministry of Education (MoE).
- The draft policy also proposes a 5+3+3+4 curricular and pedagogical structure based on cognitive and socio-emotional developmental stages of children which are (a)Foundational Stage (ages 3-8 yrs): 3 years of pre-primary plus Grades 1-2 (b)Preparatory Stage (8-11 years): Grades 3-5 (c)Middle Stage (11-14 years): Grades 6-8 and (d)Secondary Stage (14-18 years): Grades 9-12.
- The draft policy also proposes the Establishment of a Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (National Education Commission) as a constitutional body with the Prime Minister as its Chairperson.Further,Rajya Shiksha Ayog/State Education Commissions may be constituted in each state.
- The draft policy has proposed the restructuring of higher education institutions with three types of higher education institutions (a)Type 1: Focused on world-class research and high quality teaching (b)Type 2: Focused on high quality teaching across disciplines with significant contribution to research and (c)Type 3: High quality teaching focused on undergraduate education.
- The policy has proposed the establishment of National Research Foundation which will be an apex body for creating a strong research culture and building research capacity across higher education.
- It has also proposed the four functions of Standard setting, Funding, Accreditation and Regulation to be separated and conducted by independent bodies (a)National Higher Education Regulatory Authority as the only regulator for all higher education including professional education (b)Creation of accreditation eco-system led by revamped NAAC (c)Professional Standard Setting Bodies for each area of professional education and (d)UGC to transform to Higher Education Grants Commission (HEGC).