22-03-2017, 04:45 PM
The National Education Policy (NPE) is a policy formulated by the Government of India to promote education among the people of India. The policy covers elementary school education in rural and urban India. The first NPE was enacted in 1968 by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the second by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986.
Since Indian independence in 1947, the Indian government sponsored a variety of programs to address illiteracy problems in rural and urban India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's prime minister of education, envisioned strong central government control over education across the country, with a uniform education system. The Union government established the University Education Commission (1948-1949), the Secondary Education Commission (1952-1953) and the Kothari Commission (1964-68) to develop proposals for modernizing India's educational system. The resolution on science policy was adopted by the government of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister. The Nehru government sponsored the development of high-quality scientific education institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology. In 1961, the Union government formed the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as an autonomous organization that would advise both the Union and state governments on the formulation and implementation of educational policies.