NEP focuses on making job creators, not job seekers: PM

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 1

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, had been framed keeping in mind the aspirations of the youth of the 21st century. Besides, the reforms would help explore students’ potential, he added. The old education system created a mass of graduates, who could not put their knowledge to practical use, the PM said. The new policy would produce job creators instead of job seekers.

“With NEP, 2020, we are shifting from the burden of the school bag, which does not last beyond school to the boon of learning that helps for life, from simply memorising to critical thinking,” he said, hailing the Indian youth for offering a range of solutions, including Aarogya Setu application and face shields during Covid times.

Addressing students at Smart India Hackathon, in which students are competing to find solutions to a set of problems posed to them by the government and industry, the PM said even today many students felt they were being judged on the basis of one subject in which they did not even have interest.

“The policy emphasises on inter-disciplinary study. This concept has been gaining popularity because one size does not fit all and one subject does not define who you are,” Modi said, adding that students could now learn math with music.