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Index

S. Name of the Chapters Page No.

No.
1. National Education Policy 2020 3

2. Vaccine Diplomacy 9

3. Gender Rights 11

4. Right to Privacy and LGBTQ 13

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National Education Policy 2020

Introduction-
In June 2017, Ministry of HRD constituted a Committee headed by Dr. K. Kasturirangan to draft a
national policy to address the challenges of-
• Access
• Equity
• Quality
• Affordability
• Accountability

The Committee submitted the Draft NEP in 2019.

The Policy tries to-
• Provides for reform at all levels of education from school to higher education
• Increase the focus on early childhood care
• Reform current exam system
• Strengthen teacher training
• Restructure the education regulatory framework.

Shortcomings found by Committee in current education system-

• Technical
o Currently sole focus is on rote learning of facts and procedures
o Curriculum does not meet the developmental needs of children
o deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes
o the total investment on research and innovation in India has declined from 0.84% of GDP
in 2008 to 0.69% in 2014
o poor service conditions and heavy teaching loads at higher education institutions have
resulted in low faculty motivation
o curricula remain rigid, narrow, and archaic
o observed operational problems and leakages in disbursement of funds
• Human Resource
o Lack of qualified and trained teachers
o Less than 5% of the workforce in the age-group of 19-24 receives vocational education
in India.
• Structural
o Standard pedagogy
o current board examinations:
▪ force students to concentrate only on a few subjects,

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▪ do not test learning in a formative manner, and

▪ cause stress among students
o Identified lack of access as a major reason behind low intake of higher education in the
country.
o current higher education system has multiple regulators with overlapping mandates
o lack of autonomy and no clear career progression system are also major impediments to
faculty motivation

Fundamental Principles recognized-

• Structural
o Flexibility, the ability to choose their learning trajectories and programmes
o No hard separations between arts & science, curriculum & non-curriculum activities and
vocational & academic streams, etc.
o Respect for diversity and respect for the local context in all curriculums
o Ensuring full equity and inclusion
o Synergy in curriculum across all levels of education
o Substantial investment
• Human Resource
o Recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each student
o Teachers and faculty as the heart of the learning process
• Technical
o Multidisciplinarity and a holistic education system
o Emphasis on conceptual understanding
o Encourage creativity and critical thinking
o Imparting ethics and human and Constitutional values
o Promoting multilingualism
o Life skills like communication, teamwork, etc.
o Focus on regular formative assessment for learning
o Extensive use of technology
o Knowing India- a rootedness and pride in India
• Regulatory
o Achieving Fundamental Literacy and Numeracy by all students by Grade 3
o Light but tight regulatory framework- ensuring integrity, transparency and resource
efficiency through autonomy, good governance and empowerment
o Outstanding research
o Continues review of progress
o Education is a public service, right of every child

What are the provisions?-

• School Education-
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▪ Universal access to education at all levels-

o Proposed ways- infrastructure support, innovative education centres to bring back
dropouts into the mainstream, tracking of students and their learning levels, facilitating
multiple pathways to learning involving both formal and non-formal education modes,
association of counselors or well-trained social workers with schools, open learning for
classes 3,5 and 8 through NIOS and State Open Schools, secondary education programs
equivalent to Grades 10 & 12, vocational courses, adult literacy and life-enrichment
programs.
▪ Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE)-
o Replacing 10+2 structure of school curricula by a 5+3+3+4 design comprising:
 5 years of foundational stage (three years of pre-primary school and classes one and
two),
 3 years of preparatory stage (classes three to five),
 3 years of middle stage (classes six to eight), and
 4 years of secondary stage (classes nine to 12)
o The new system will have 12 years of schooling with 3 years of Anganwadi/ pre schooling
o National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and
Education (NCPFECCE) by NCERT for children upto the age of 8
o ECCE through Anganwadis and pre schools
▪ Attaining Foundational Literacy and Numeracy-
o Setting up a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by MHRD
o Attaining universal foundational literacy and numeracy in all primary schools for all
learners by grade 3 by 2025
o A national repository of high-quality resources on foundational literacy and numeracy will
be made available on the Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing (DIKSHA)
o Formulation of a National Book Promotion Policy
▪ Reforms in curricula and pedagogy-
o Aim for holistic development of learners, reduction in curricular content to enhance
essential learning and critical thinking and greater focus on experiential learning
o Increased flexibility to Students for choice of subject
o Vocational education in schools from 6th grade and will include the internships
o NCERT will develop a National Curricular Framework for School Education
(NCFSE) 2020-21
o Introduction of contemporary subjects such as Artificial Intelligence, Design Thinking,
Holistic Health, Organic Living, Environmental Education, Global Citizenship Education
(GCED), etc. at relevant stages
▪ Multilingualism and power of language-
o Emphasise over mother tongue/ local language/ regional language as the medium of
instruction at least till Grade 5, but preferably till Grade 8 and beyond

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o Sanskrit to be offered at all levels of school and higher education as an option for students,
including in the three-language formula
o Availability of other classical languages and literatures of India as option
o Every student in the country will participate in a fun project/activity on ‘The Languages of
India’, sometime in Grades 6-8, such as, under the ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ initiative.
o No imposition of any language
o Several foreign languages will also be offered at the secondary level.
o Standardisation of Indian Sign Language (ISL) across the country
o Development of National and State curriculum materials for use by students with hearing
impairment
▪ Assessment reforms-
o Envisage as shift from summative assessment to regular and formative assessment
o All students will take school examinations in Grades 3, 5 and 8 conducted by appropriate
authority.
o Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will be continued but redesigned.
o Setup of a new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment,
Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) as standard-setting
body
▪ Equitable and Inclusive Education-
o Special emphasis on Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs)
which include gender, socio-cultural, and geographical identities and disabilities
o Setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund and Special Education Zones for disadvantaged
regions and groups
o Every state/ district will be encouraged to establish “Bal Bhavans” as a special daytime
boarding school
o Free school infrastructure can be used as Samajik Chetna Kendras
▪ Teacher recruitment-
o Recruitment through robust, transparent processes
o Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) will be strengthened
o Promotions will be merit-based
o National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), by 2022, to develop a common National
Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST)
▪ School Governance-
o To organize schools into complexes or clusters which will be the basic unit of
governance
▪ Standard-setting and Accreditation-
o States/UTs will setup independent State School Standards Authority (SSSA)
o SCERT will develop a School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework
(SQAAF)
• Higher Education-

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▪ Aims to improve Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education including vocational
education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2035
▪ The M.Phil. programme shall be discontinued.
▪ Holistic Multidisciplinary Education-
o Flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education
and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification
o UG education can be 3 or 4 years with multiple exit options and appropriate
certification within this period
o Academic Bank of Credit to be established
o Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs) to be set up at par
with IITs & IIMs
o Creation of National Research Foundation as an apex body for fostering research
▪ Regulation-
o Setting up Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) as a single umbrella body
for entire higher education excluding medical and legal education
o HECI to have four independent verticals-
 National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) for regulation
 General Education Council (GEC) for standard setting
 Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC) for funding
 National Accreditation Council (NAC) for accreditation
o Functioning of HECI through faceless intervention through technology, have powers to
penalize HEIs not conforming to norms and standards
o Public and Private HEIs to be governed by same set of norms for regulation, accreditation
and academic standards
▪ The Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) will be revised for instilling innovation and
flexibility.
▪ India will be promoted as a global study destination providing premium education at
affordable costs.
▪ Rationalised Institutional Architecture-
o The definition of university → Research-intensive universities to Teaching-intensive
universities and Autonomous degree-granting Colleges
o Affiliation of colleges to be phased out in 15 years
o Stage-wise mechanism for granting autonomy to colleges
▪ Teacher education-
o National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE) 2021 by NCTE in
consultation with NCERT
o By 2030, minimum degree qualification for teaching- 4-year integrated B.Ed. degree
o The HEI offering the 4-year integrated B.Ed. may also run a 2-year B.Ed., for students
who have already received a Bachelor’s degree in a specialized subject.

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o A 1-year B.Ed. may also be offered for candidates who have received a 4-year
undergraduate degree in a specialized subject.
▪ Mentoring Mission-
o Establishment of a National Mission for Mentoring, to provide mentoring/ professional
support to university/ college teachers
▪ Vocational education-
o By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system shall
have exposure to vocational education.
o MHRD will constitute a National Committee for the Integration of Vocational
Education (NCIVE)
▪ Financial support for Students-
o Expanding National Scholarship Portal
▪ Online Education and Digital Education-
o A dedicated unit → building digital infrastructure, digital content and capacity building →
within MHRD
▪ Technology in education-
o National Educational Technology Forum (NETF) to be created as an autonomous body
▪ Promotion of Indian Languages-
o Setting up Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI), National Institute
for Pali, Persian and Prakrit
• Adult education-
▪ Policy aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy
• Financing Education-
▪ To increase public investment in Education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest
• Strengthening Central Advisory Board of Education
• Renaming MHRD as Ministry of Education (MoE)

Issues raised-
• Reservation- no reference in the policy about reservation in the academic institutions
• Tribal education- what will be taught in ashramshalas
• Specific time frame missing of achieving various targets
• Lack of focus on Agricultural education.
• Issue with 3-language formula implementation.
• Lacks the secular values.
• Neglected the importance of English while promoting regional languages.
• Basic infrastructure including computers, boards, benches, etc. are not available and the timeline
provided is expected to be missed.
• No deadline is set for making schools physically accessible to learners in PwD category.

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Vaccine Diplomacy
Introduction-
As countries scramble to secure supplies in the face of "vaccine apartheid," India has enhanced its
global standing by making vaccines that are readily available in the world's poorest countries.
At a time when global cooperation in sharing vaccines is minimal, and the World Health Organization’s
vaccine-distribution plans were yet to get off the ground, India had taken a different tack, quietly
pursuing “vaccine diplomacy.”
Today, “vaccine diplomacy” is used to describe the global diplomatic efforts to achieve efficient and fair
distributions of Covid-19 vaccines around the world, especially to low- and lower-middle-income
countries. In contrast, “vaccine nationalism” has been used to criticise countries, especially in the
developed West, for hoarding vaccines for their own citizens.
Its “Vaccine Maitri” (Vaccine Friendship) campaign has shipped hundreds of thousands of Indian-made
Covishield vaccines, manufactured under license from Oxford-AstraZeneca, to some 60 countries.
However, it temporarily suspended the vaccine export for two-months after the surge in the domestic
COVID cases and also kicking off the vaccination drive for 45+ and then for 18+ from May 1.
India is a global pharmaceutical powerhouse, manufacturing some 20% of all generic medicines and
accounting for as much as 62% of global vaccine production, so it was quick off the mark when the
pandemic struck.
Issues or Criticism or Challenges-
• Not anticipating situation in India
• Lack of awareness of the problem
• Not leveraging the strength of pharma supplies and exporting oxygen and pharmaceuticals
• The vaccine export and local campaign began at same time
• Competing with China
Impact and Way Forward-
• First, the current has put India firmly on the map of global health politics.
• In its vaccine diplomacy, India confirmed that it remains focused on its region – with neighbors
receiving the largest donations – and does not have the resources to deeply engage in distant
regions.
• Third, should such steps continue, we may yet see India benefit politically.
• Fourth, advantage over the Chinese
• Disrupting vaccine nationalism
• Greater say in International forum
• Making India global supply major
• Boosting Pharma-sector export

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Conclusion-
There is an argument that India exported what could have been used for a month of vaccinations
domestically.
The counterpoint to this is the data: India donated over 10 million doses of vaccines to other countries,
while it administered 187 million doses to its own citizens (both numbers as of May 21). The number of
Indians vaccinated with at least once dose is certainly small, given the country’s population of 1.4 billion,
but the gifted doses would not have changed the overall picture.

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Gender Rights
Introduction-
Wherever they live in India girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every
day – in textbooks, in movies, in the media and among the men and women who provide their care and
support.
India has made substantial progress to improve child nutrition, immunisation rates and education
enrolment rates, as well as to achieve broad economic growth. Yet, gender disparities persist against a
backdrop of rapid economic growth: rates of violence against women are still high, women’s
participation in government is low, and discriminatory dowry and inheritance practices continue.
Stats-
• As per the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index 2019-20, India has slipped to
the 112th position among the 153 economies that were sampled.
o India ranks an abysmal 150th out of 153 countries in the health and survival parameter.
Lega and Constitutional rights-
• The Constitution grants equality to women, ensures equality before the law, and prohibits
discrimination against any citizen on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
• The Hindu Succession Act of 2005 grants Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain women equal
inheritance rights to ancestral and jointly owned property.
• National Mission for Empowerment of Women (NMEW) in 2010
• According to the provisions listed under the Equal Remuneration Act, one cannot be
discriminated on the basis of sex when it comes to salary, pay or wages.
• In an event that the accused is a woman, any medical examination procedure on her must be
performed by -- or in the presence of -- another woman.
• The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act gives a female the right to file a
complaint against any kind of sexual harassment at her place of work.
• Protection against Domestic Violence
• To ensure that her privacy is protected, a woman who has been sexually assaulted may record her
statement alone before the district magistrate when the case is under trial, or in the presence of
a female police officer.
• Under the Legal Services Authorities Act, female rape victims have the right to get free legal aid
or help from the Legal Services Authority who has to arrange a lawyer for her.
• Unless there is an exceptional case on the orders of a first class magistrate, a woman cannot be
arrested after sunset and before sunrise.
• The law gives women the provision for filing virtual complaints via e-mail, or writing her
complaint and sending it to a police station from a registered postal address.

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• Depiction of a woman's figure (her form or any body part) in any manner that is indecent,
derogatory, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals, is a punishable
offence.
• Section 354D of the IPC makes way for legal action to be taken against an offender if he/she
follows a woman, tries to contact her to foster personal interaction repeatedly despite a clear
indication of disinterest; or monitor the use by a woman of the internet, email or any other form of
electronic communication.
• An FIR that can be filed at any police station irrespective of the location where the incident
occurred or a specific jurisdiction it comes under, the Zero FIR can later be moved to
the Police Station in whose jurisdiction the case falls under.
Issues-

What can be done? –

Conclusion-
Every child deserves to reach her or his full potential, but gender inequalities in their lives and in the lives
of those who care for them hinder this reality.
Gender based discrimination across India can only be checked when girls are not denied their chance to
learn and grow in life. Girls like boys should get a great start in life in terms of education opportunities.
This will help them attain economic independence and will also help them to be rightly equipped to make
a contribution towards their upliftment as well as that of the society they are part of.
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Right to Privacy and LGBTQ Community

Introduction-
The Supreme Court of India has observed that “Sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy.
Discrimination against an individual on the basis of sexual orientation is deeply offensive to the dignity
and self-worth of the individual. Equality demands that the sexual orientation of each individual in
society must be protected on an even platform. The right to privacy and the protection of sexual
orientation lie at the core of fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.”
Supreme Court verdict-
• Supreme Court in Puttuswamy v. Union of India (2017) has declared right to privacy as
Fundamental Right under Article 21.
• Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar and Ors. V. Union of India (2018) held that Right to
privacy can’t be denied ‘even if a small fraction of population is affected’.
▪ The Court struck down parts of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which
criminalised sexual intercourse against the order of nature.
▪ The Supreme Court, effectively, allowed sexual intercourse between consenting adult
members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") community.
▪ The primary grounds, referred by the SC, under the Constitution were-
o Right to Equality under Article 14
o Right against Discrimination under Article 15
o Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under Article 19
o Right to Privacy under Article 21
Implications-
• Protection to sexual minorities against discrimination and arbitrary action
• Now the distinction must be based on ‘intelligible differentia’, and must have a rational nexus
with the object sought to be achieved.
• Now the grounds mentioned in Article 15 are not the only grounds for discrimination and now
any ground of discrimination, whether direct or indirect, which is founded on a particular
understanding of the role of the sex, constitutes discrimination under Article 15.
Way forward-
• Awareness among the masses about the rights of sexual minorities.
• Sensitizing people about the problems faced by such communities.
• Recognising rights of such section of the society.
• Providing social assistance in case of discrimination and negligence and discard.
• Security from life threats from orthodoxy.
• Improve access to welfare services.
• Proper medical facilities to prevent spread of any disease like HIV/AIDS

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