NEP will help improve employability: Minister

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: An effective implementation of National Education Policy (NEP-2020) will help increase the employability levels of candidates, which is currently around just 20%, said Dr C. N. Ashwath Narayan, the Minister for Higher Education here on Saturday.

In his inaugural address during the state’s first NEP conclave on the theme “Strategising the Future of Higher Education”, he said the future of the country depends on making our students skill ready along with imparting knowledge.

India is a vast country with a mammoth population of over 135 crores and has a majority of youth who have their own aspirations and dreams.

Their dreams can be realized only by acquiring proper knowledge and skill sets, he explained.

“It is a false notion that NEP implementation will lead to commercialization of education. Students from the disadvantaged sections of the society who study mainly in government institutions will be the first beneficiaries of this policy and it will help create equality in the society,” the minister said.

NEP removes the barriers which exist in the current education system and brings both curricular and extracurricular activities into the single fold and thus is very much inclusive. Methodical implementation of NEP will make India a leading education destination in the world in the next 20 years, he said.

The conclave was jointly organized by the state government and International Skill Development Corporation (ISDC).

In his address, Tom M. Joseph, Executive Director, Strategy & Development, ISDC, UK, said, “The recently announced National Education Policy 2020 can lead an orbital shift with its focus on transforming the education sector through investments into various areas of skill development including project-based learning, experiential learning, service-learning, and vocational training.”