July 29, 2020: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the new National Education Policy (NEP) and renamed the HRD Ministry as Education Ministry.

Making the announcement, Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said there would be a single regulator for all higher education institutions and M Phil would be discontinued.

In higher education, the policy suggests 50 per cent gross enrollment ratio by year 2035.

It also aims to increase the budgetary funding to education.

In school education, a major reform proposed by the NEP includes Universalisation of Early Childhood Care Education or ECCE and National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

The government has said the new policy suggests reduction of school curriculum to core subjects with a vocational integration from Class 6 onwards.

The new NEP has envisaged using technology in education planning, teaching, learning and assessment, administration and management, regulation - self disclosure and minimum human interface.

In a bid to ramp up digital learning, a National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) would be created. Amit Khare, Higher Education Secretary, said “E-courses will be developed in eight regional languages initially and virtual labs will be developed”.