The Internal Quality Assurance Cell of St Agnes College (Autonomous), Mangaluru organised a webinar on Insight on New Education Policy- Prospects and Challenges on 7 september 2020. The two Resource persons were Dr Chetan B Singai, Member, Technical Secretariat, committee for drafting the National Education Policy and Associate Professor, Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, Bengaluru and Dr Adelaide Vaz, Former principal, St Xavier’s College of Education, Mumbai. in relation to the perspectives of New Education Policy 2020 which has recently been released by the Government of India.

Speaking on the topic, ‘Transforming Regulatory System and Institutional Governance” Dr Chetan spoke on the process how the National education policy came into being in its present form. He spoke of the 11 challenges that were identified. Some of them are the fragmentation of higher education institutes, less emphasis on the development of cognitive skills and learning outcomes, a rigid separation of disciplines and limited teacher and institutional autonomy. He said though there were islands of excellence in a sea of mediocrity we need to bring all institutions on par with each other. He said four independent autonomous verticals are proposed. He also explained the new roadmap for teachers.

Dr Adelaide Vaz (former principal, St Xavier’s College of Education, Mumbai) said, NEP 2020 is the first education policy of 21st century in India.

Speaking on the topic, ‘School education- Prospects and concerns. She said it envisions an education system enrooted in Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming India into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society. In this regard it aims at providing high quality education to all children and thereby making India a global knowledge superpower.

The fundamental principles of the NEP 2020 insist on recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each student and promoting their creativity, critical thinking, ethics, and power of language, teamwork and constitutional values. The new NEP would focus on the core essentials-inquiry, discovery, critical thinking and discussion.

This was followed by an interactive question and answer session.

Sr Dr M Venissa A.C, Principal gave her message, Dr Vishala B K, Chief Librarian welcomed the gathering and Dr Ita D’Souza proposed the vote of thanks. Mrs Marina Pinto anchored and facilitated interaction between the participants and resource persons.