Parliament Question: Impact of National Education Policy, 2020

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 211 ANSWERED ON 04.08.2025 Impact of National Education Policy, 2020 *211. Dr. Hemant Vishnu Savara: Smt. Mahima Kumari Mewar: Will the Minister of Education be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has conducted/proposes to conduct any independent, region-wise evaluation of the impact of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020; (b) if so, the details thereof; (c) if not, the reasons therefor; (d) whether the Government has assessed the impact of NEP in rural (villages) and tribal dominated areas like Palghar in Maharashtra and UT of Jammu and Kashmir; and (e) if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF EDUCATION (SHRI DHARMENDRA PRADHAN) (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the table of the House. *****STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (A) TO (E) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 211 FOR REPLY ON 04.08.2025 ASKED BY DR. HEMANT VISHNU SAVARA AND SMT. MAHIMA KUMARI MEWAR, HON’BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING IMPACT OF NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY, 2020 (a) to (e): After announcement of the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020), several impactful reforms and initiatives have been taken by various stakeholders and during the course of implementation in last five years, NEP 2020’s impact is visible in policy corridors and classrooms across School Education and Higher Education. Marking five years of NEP 2020, India has witnessed significant transformation in education. NEP has empowered students with flexibility, foundational literacy, and future-readiness, supporting India's vision as a global knowledge superpower. “PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024” was conducted across India including in Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir on 04.12.2024, to understand the baseline performance in development of competencies among the students at the end of the Foundational, Preparatory, and Middle stages (Grades 3, 6, and 9 respectively). Nationwide over 21.15 lakh students and 2.70 lakh teachers from more than 74,000 schools across 781 districts from all States/UTs participated in the survey. In the Sarvekshan 2024, overall 63% of participating students were from rural areas, ensuring strong and inclusive representation of rural and tribal regions in the large-scale assessment. Maharashtra emerged as one of the top-performing states in the PARAKH survey, with over 123,000 students assessed across Grades 3, 6, and 9, while over 44,000 students assessed in these grades from Jammu & Kashmir. National, State and District level report cards for PARAKH Rashtriya Sarvekshan 2024 are available at https://dashboard.parakh.ncert.gov.in/en. According to Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE +), between 2014– 15 and 2023–24, India’s school education system saw measurable improvements across key educational indicators. It has data with nearly 14.72 lakh schools and nearly 24.8 Crore students from Foundational to Secondary level from varied socio-economic backgrounds. The number of teachers increased from 85.6 lakh to 98.07 lakh, with female teachers rising from 40.2 lakh to 52.3 lakh, reflecting a more gender-balanced workforce. The Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) improved across all levels—from 30 to 21 at the primary level, and from 38 to 24 at higher secondary, enhancing classroom attention and learning conditions. Dropout rates declined at the primary level to 1.9%, upper primary to 5.2%, and secondary to 14.1%, indicating better student retention. The mean years of schooling increased from 6.28 to 7.33 years, and the expected years of schooling from 11.75 to 13.36 years, while the youth literacy rate climbed from 94.6% to 97%, showcasing the impact of NEP 2020 reforms on foundational learning and access. In Maharashtra, a total of 2.14 crore students are enrolled in schools with 7.38 lakh teachers in 2023-24 against 7.25 lakh teachers in 2014-15, with girls account for 1.47 crore, making up 49.6% of total enrolment. Scheduled Caste (SC) students are 32.1 lakh (12.5%), while Scheduled Tribe (ST) students are 27.8 lakh (11.2% of the total). In Palghar district, between 2014–15 and 2023–24, the percentage of schools with computers rose from 45% to 75.6%, and internet access from 11% to 50.6%. Basic amenities like drinking water and handwashing facilities now cover nearly 100% of schools, while library access remains above 99%. Accessibility has improved too, with ramps in 90% of schools and handrails in over 80%, up from zero a decade ago—highlighting Palghar’s commitment to inclusive, tech-enabled education.Similarly, in Jammu & Kashmir, a total of 26.3 lakh students were enrolled as per UDISE 2023- 24 data with 1.67 lakh teachers teaching them against 1.64 lakh teachers in 2014-15. Girls make up 49.3%, totaling 12.97 lakh approximately. The state has a significant share of tribal students at 14% (around 3.68 lakh) and SC students at 8.2% (around 2.16 lakh). The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for primary education is 113%, indicating strong participation, and dropout rates have shown a marked decline. In higher education, an annual web based ‘All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE)’ is a comprehensive data source on higher education. AISHE 2022–23 reports a 30% rise in higher education enrolment since 2014–15, reaching 4.46 crore. The enrolment of SC students is 69.13 Lakh in 2022-23 as compared to 46.06 Lakh in 2014-15, reflecting an increase of 50.1%. The enrolment of ST students has increased to 28.72 Lakh in 2022-23 from 16.41 Lakh in 2014-15, which an increase of 75%. Total STEM enrolment stands at 99.76 lakh. Maharashtra saw an enrolment of 48.59 lakh students in 2022-23 against 37. 36 lakh in 2014-15 marking a growth of 30.1%. Female enrolment crossed 22.07 Lakh with a state GER of 36.3 much higher than the national average. Number of SC enrolments increased by 46.9% to 6.22 lakhs while the ST enrolments increased by 49.3% to 2.32 Lakhs. The UT of Jammu and Kashmir saw an enrolment of 3.96 lakh 2022-23 against enrolment of 3.38 lakh in 2014-15 marking a growth of 18.5%. Female enrolment crossed 2.05 Lakh. Number of SC enrolments increased by 48.7% to 26,820 while the ST enrolments increased by 96.9% to 28,962. The transformative reforms in higher education has resulted in more and more HEIs being ranked in international ranking. In QS 2026, 54 Indian HEIs/Universities are ranked as compared to 11 in QS 2014. In QS 2026, there are 10 Indian HEIs in top 500. In QS World University Rankings, Asia 2025 India has second most representation, with 163 universities featured and 7 institutions in the top 100. The QS Subject Rankings for 2025 included 79 Indian HEIs, an increase of 10 from the previous year's 69, reflecting a 14% growth. Indian Institutions were represented across 533 entries, marking 25.7% increased from 424 entries in the previous edition. India has shown remarkable growth in the field of intellectual property, with 92,168 patent applications filed in 2023–24 - an increase of over 115% since 2014-15. A major driver of this growth has been the contribution of educational institutions. The patent filings by domestic educational institutes have more than tripled from 7405 in 2021-22 to 23,306 in 2023-24. Educational institutions are playing an important role in promoting innovation in India. In 2023– 24, they filed 23,306 patent applications, which is 25.28% of all patents filed that year. This shows their strong and growing contribution to research and new ideas. As per WIPO IP Statistics Data Centre India ranked 6th position in number of total patent applications (resident + abroad) in 2023. ⁠India ranks 3rd in terms of number of PhDs awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) as per ‘Research and Development Statistics at a glance 2022-23 of Deptt. Of Science and Technology. India also ranked 3rd in 2022 (from 7th in 2010) in terms of total number of Science and Engineering publications as per the National Science Foundation (NSF) database of the United States. Focus of NEP on research and innovation has propelled India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81 in 2015 to 48 in 2020 and currently being ranked at 39th place in 2024. Sustained efforts for internationalisation of Indian higher education ecosystem under the National Education Policy 2020, has enabled the entry of reputed foreign universities into the Indian education landscape. Letters of Intent have been issued to 11 globally ranked universities from countries such as the UK, Australia, the US, and Italy to establish offshore campuses in India.Notably, the University of Southampton has already operationalised its campus in Gurugram in the current academic year. Two Australian universities—Deakin University and the University of Wollongong—have commenced operations at GIFT City, Gujarat. Additionally, UK-based Queen’s University Belfast and Coventry University have also received approval to set up campuses in GIFT City. Indian institutions like IIT Madras (Zanzibar) and IIT Delhi (Abu Dhabi) are expanding globally. IIMA and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the IIMA Dubai Campus in the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC). ⁠NEP 2020 aims to meet international education levels while staying connected to India’s traditions and local context. It also envisions a paradigm shift in India’s education system, with a series of well-structured reforms aimed at making education more inclusive, holistic, and future-ready. NEP 2020 provides different timelines as well as principles and methodology for its implementation. It also provides that in the decade of 2030-40, the entire policy will be in an operational mode, following which another comprehensive review will be undertaken. ****