Setting new benchmarks

National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a truly transformative policy that reimagines what learning in India could feel like. It reclaims something we’ve long overlooked: the joy of discovering who you are through what you learn.

Freedom, flexibility and choices are core to the policy. Students no longer have to pick a path and stay trapped in it. Why shouldn’t someone blend economics with painting or physics with philosophy? It tells students that you are more than your stream. Go ahead, mix, match, explore.

Multidisciplinary learning, flexible entry and exit, accelerated and extended degree programmes and credit banks reflect a deeper trust in students’ agency.

Life is unpredictable; NEP acknowledges that and builds a system where learners can pause, return, shift gears — and not be penalised for living real lives.

embracing multilingualism

Then there’s the huge embrace of multilingualism. In this vision, language is power, identity, and inclusion all rolled into one.

Whether enabling learning in Indian languages or tapping into the cognitive richness of being multilingual, NEP advocates that students should feel at home in their tongues — and that no student should be locked out of learning because of a language barrier.

Quality education isn’t just about infrastructure or curriculum. It’s about access. It’s about who gets to dream — and who is given the tools to chase those dreams. And judging by the past few years, more are being handed those tools than ever.

Between 2014-15 and 2021-22, enrolment among Scheduled Caste students grew by a striking 43.8%, climbing from 46.06 lakh to 66.23 lakh. The growth in female SC enrolment is even sharper, at 50.9%. That’s a silent reshaping of the future for generations of families.

The story is equally heartening among Scheduled Tribes. A 65.2% rise in overall enrolment and an astonishing 80.1% increase among female ST students. The data on OBC students shows that it rose by 44.24%, while female OBC participation surged by 49.3%. What do these numbers mean? They suggest that equity in education is unfolding on the ground. The direction is clear, and the momentum is strong.

Putting teachers in the spotlight

The policy emphasizes that no reform matters if the people at the front of the classroom are unsupported. So, it places teachers at the centre of this ecosystem, underlining professional growth and the freedom to innovate.

India’s higher education system has achieved something remarkable in under a decade — a steady climb to global recognition. Back in 2015, India had 6,241 accredited colleges. Fast forward to 2023 — that number hits 9,558. That’s a 53% jump because more colleges are choosing to meet quality benchmarks. Universities tell another tale with a clean 100% leap. Accreditation is increasingly becoming a badge of pride — and that shift in mindset matters.

Making the world sit up

But quality isn’t just about getting accredited domestically. It’s about how the world sees us. And here’s where the data starts to feel exciting.

In 2015, India could boast of just seven institutions in the QS Top 500. Today? Eleven. The number of Indian institutions in the QS rankings has grown from 9 in 2014 to 46 in 2025. Indian education system stepping out of the shadows.

India’s research and development landscape is growing steadily. In 2015, we published around 1.45 lakh research papers across all disciplines — not a trivial figure. But fast-forward to 2025, and that number is 207,390, an increase of over 40% in a decade. This increase makes India the third-largest producer of scientific publications globally. Indian patents filed rose from 42,763 in 2014-15 to 92,000 in 2023-24, rising by 115%.

The patents granted grew in 2023–24 to 1,03,000, up from 5,978 in 2014–15. This tide indicates India’s increasing emphasis on innovation and intellectual property rights.

new modes of delivery

A decade ago, earning a degree without ever stepping onto a campus felt like an experiment. Today? It’s part of the mainstream education.

Consider this: 80 universities now run 400 online well-structured programmes that span disciplines. And then there are 100 more institutions carrying forward Open and Distance Learning (ODL), providing a lifeline to those for whom traditional classroom education remains out of reach — be it due to geography, responsibilities at home, or financial limitations.

What’s unfolding is not merely a shift in delivery mode. It’s a quiet revolution in access, choice, and autonomy, resonating with NEP 2020.

NEP 2020 dares us to dream of an education system that grows with its students rather than asking them to conform. It moves away from rigidity and toward possibility. And that shift tells an entire generation — you matter, your choices matter, and your learning should feel like yours.

The writer is former Chairman, UGC and former VC, JNU

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