Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Saturday said the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 would be the medium to implement Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to move India’s new generation out of the “Macaulay mentality”.

Speaking to PTI Videos during a programme here, Pradhan said the NEP, now in its sixth year, would bring a paradigm shift in the country’s education system. Announced on July 29, 2020, the policy proposes reforms across school, higher and technical education.

“The Prime Minister has said the country needs to come out of the Macaulay mentality. The NEP 2020 will be the medium to bring the new generation of the country out of this mindset,” Pradhan said.

He said India, being a youth-driven nation, must prepare future generations through education in the mother tongue, competency-based learning and skill-based studies. He also stressed the need for holistic assessment, entrepreneurship and innovation, adding that students should be encouraged to become job creators and not only job seekers.

Pradhan said the NEP was aligned with these objectives.

Delivering the sixth Ramnath Goenka Lecture in New Delhi on November 17, Prime Minister Modi had urged citizens to pledge to rid the nation of what he described as the mindset of slavery imposed by Thomas Macaulay. He said 200 years would be completed in 2035 since Macaulay’s role in shaping India’s colonial education system.

Later in the day, Pradhan visited the Dr Hedgewar Smruti Mandir in Reshimbagh and paid tribute at the memorial of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder K B Hedgewar. He also visited Deekshabhoomi, the memorial of B R Ambedkar, and paid his respects.

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