New Delhi, June 7 (IANS) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday met the Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and discussed implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, an official said.

In a message on social media platform X, Pradhan said, “Pleased to meet Chief Minister of Goa, @PramodPSawantJi. Had fruitful discussions on strengthening the implementation of #NEP2020 and expanding skilling opportunities for the youth of Goa.”

“Looking forward to our continued collaboration in advancing quality education and developing the human resources of the State effectively,” the Union Education Minister added.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is India’s overarching framework to overhaul the country’s education system. Built on the five pillars of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability, and Accountability, it replaces the 1986 policy by introducing multidisciplinary learning, vocational integration, and structural academic flexibility.

Earlier, Union Minister Pradhan held discussions with Vice-Chancellors of Central Universities to review, assess, and strategise the implementation of NEP 2020 since its inception.

The Union Education’s efforts were aimed at consolidating and mapping the institutional progress of Central universities in promoting the vision of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’.

Addressing the Vice-Chancellors of Central universities, Union Minister Pradhan said in the last decade, India’s higher education ecosystem has undergone a fundamental transformation making it flexible, interdisciplinary, inclusive and innovation driven.

“As a result, total student enrolment has touched 4.46 crore, a 30 per cent increase since 2014–15, female enrolment has grown by 38 per cent, and female Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) now exceeded male GER,” he added.

Union Minister Pradhan said that Ph.D. enrolment has almost doubled, and female Ph.D. scholars have grown by 136 per cent, GER for Scheduled Tribes has increased by 10 percentage points, for Scheduled Castes by more than 8 percentage points.

This indicated the Union government’s commitment to inclusive education and social justice, he said, adding that as a result of positive policy initiatives 1,200-plus universities and more than 46,000 colleges have been established making India of one of the largest systems globally.

–IANS

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