On Thursday, Union minister Jitendra Singh said that the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) focuses on de-linking degree from education and livelihood opportunities. While addressing students and the youth at Krishna Mahavidyalaya at Thakurdwar here, he said the policy also supplements start-up ecosystem with the promise to open new career and entrepreneurship opportunities for youngsters in the country. Mr Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, said the NEP 2020 introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will re-build India’s education policy as per global benchmarks.
Describing it as the biggest path-breaking reform in India since independence, the minister said the new policy is not only progressive and visionary, but is also in keeping with the emerging needs and requirements of 21st century India. He said it gives due priorities to the inherent talent, knowledge, skill and aptitude of the students, rather than focusing only on degrees. “National Education Policy (NEP 2020) aims at de-linking degree from education and livelihood opportunities,” Mr Singh was quoted as having said in a statement issued by the Personnel Ministry.
He said linking degrees with education has taken a heavy toll on our education system and society as well and one of the fallouts has been an increasing number of educated unemployed. The minister said NEP-2020 is having the provision of multiple entry/exit option thus providing academic flexibility to the students. He said this will have a positive impact on the students related to availing of different career opportunities at different times, depending upon their intrinsic learning and inherent aptitude.
Mr Singh also urged the students and the youth to explore livelihood opportunities in the booming start-up sector in the country. He informed the gathering that only in August this year, the Uttar Pradesh government injected Rs 4,000 crore into the state’s start-up corpus for employment generation and economic activity. The fresh infusion of capital has been made to constitute the maiden ‘UP Innovation Fund’ that will be mandated to provide seed capital to start-ups, the minister said.
Mr Singh noted with satisfaction that the Uttar Pradesh government plans to have at least one incubator in every district by 2023. As of now, there are 47 incubators in 20 districts, the statement said. He told the youth of Moradabad that Uttar Pradesh is catching up fast in start-up race and there are more than 6,500 start-ups already registered in the state.
The government has also decided to set up two centres of excellence in the state, with one coming up in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur for promotion of drone technology, the minister said. Mr Singh said Noida has turned to be the most preferred destination for start-ups followed by Ghaziabad, Agra, Lucknow and Gorakhpur in Purvanchal region, and now is the time for the innovative minds of the western UP to take a lead in start-up movement. He said the green and farm rich belt of western region can be a fertile ground for agri-tech and dairy start-ups. The minister promised all support from the Ministry of Science and Technology to support the start-up ecosystem.
