Shillong, June 1: Rakkam A Sangma, the Minister in-charge of Education, has stated that several schools and colleges in the state are facing difficulties in implementing the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for various reasons.

During a media interaction, Sangma revealed that the education department has conducted multiple meetings with heads of educational institutions across the state in the past week. These institutions have submitted a petition expressing their inability to implement the NEP 2020 during the current academic year 2023-2024.

Sangma highlighted that after a series of meetings with institutions like the North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) and the state’s Principal Council, a collective decision was made not to implement the NEP 2020 at this time.

While acknowledging the importance of the NEP 2020 and its goal of raising the standard of education in the country to a global level, Sangma emphasized that several challenges exist, particularly regarding the introduction of multidisciplinary courses by all colleges before 2030.

The Education Minister added that issues related to faculty and infrastructure pose additional hurdles to the immediate implementation of the NEP 2020. The department is actively engaging with all educational institutions to address these concerns.

“We want to implement the NEP 2020 at the earliest but since most institutions have petitioned to the government that they cannot implement the NEP at this current academic year, they have also expressed that by the 2022-2025 session but let us wait for a few days,” Sangma explained.

Responding to queries, Sangma stated, “By 2024-2025, there should not be any reasons why we are not able to implement the NEP 2020. By next week we will be able to shed more light on the issues and concerns faced by educational institutions of the State.”