Consider the following statements concerning the National Education Policy, 2020: 1. At least 50 percent of the learners through school and higher education system to get exposure to vocational education by 2025. 2. Secondary schools should collaborate with ITIs, Polytechnics and local industries. 3. Vocational education to be exclusively provided by NGOs. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)1 only
- (b)1 and 2 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Correct — B, 1 and 2 only. Statement 1 reproduces the policy almost word for word: paragraph 16.5 of the National Education Policy 2020 says that by 2025 at least 50 per cent of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education, a target the policy ties to Sustainable Development Goal 4.4 and to India's demographic dividend. Statement 2 is the very next provision — vocational education is to be integrated into all secondary schools in phases over the decade, and towards this, in the policy's own words, secondary schools will also collaborate with ITIs, polytechnics, local industry and the like, with skill labs set up on a hub-and-spoke model so neighbouring schools can share the facility. Statement 3 is what fails. The policy says higher education institutions will offer vocational education either on their own or in partnership with industry and non-governmental organisations — a partnership option, not an exclusive delegation. Nothing in the policy hands vocational education over to NGOs alone.
- (a)1 only — Drops statement 2, which is a direct quotation of the policy's provision on secondary schools collaborating with ITIs, polytechnics and local industry.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Keeps the false statement and throws out a correct one. The 50 per cent exposure target by 2025 is stated in the policy text; the exclusive-NGO claim is not.
- (d)1, 2 and 3 — The all-of-them trap. It fails on statement 3 alone — the policy makes NGOs one possible partner for higher education institutions, alongside industry, and never the sole provider.
Vocational education is chapter 16 of the National Education Policy 2020, and its guiding aim is to end the social separation between vocational and academic streams. The instruments are integration into all secondary schools over a decade, shared skill labs on a hub-and-spoke model, credit-bearing vocational courses inside ordinary degree programmes, and the continuation of the B.Voc. degree introduced in 2013. The policy also brings 'Lok Vidya' — vocational knowledge developed in India — into the course structure.
Statements items on a policy document are won by noticing which claim is absolute. Statements 1 and 2 are quantified and specific, and both read like something lifted from a policy paragraph. Statement 3 says 'exclusively', and a national policy almost never hands a whole domain to one kind of provider — that word alone should raise the flag, and the text confirms it, since NGOs appear only as one option for partnership alongside industry. One number worth separating from another: the 50 per cent in statement 1 is vocational exposure by 2025, while a different 50 per cent in the policy is the higher education gross enrolment ratio target for 2035, up from 26.3 per cent in 2018. Papers do mix the two. A present-day note: the 2025 date in statement 1 has now passed, so read it as the target the policy set rather than as an achieved figure.
- NEP 2020 paragraph 16.5 sets the aim that by 2025 at least 50 per cent of learners through the school and higher education system shall have exposure to vocational education.
- The policy links this target to Sustainable Development Goal 4.4.
- Vocational education is to be integrated into all secondary schools in a phased manner over the decade, with schools collaborating with ITIs, polytechnics and local industry.
- Skill labs are to be created in schools on a hub-and-spoke model so that other schools can use the facility.
- Higher education institutions may offer vocational education on their own or in partnership with industry and NGOs; the B.Voc. degree introduced in 2013 continues.
Two of the three statements quote the policy; the third inserts an exclusivity the document never claims.
- Confusing the 50 per cent vocational-exposure target for 2025 with the 50 per cent higher-education enrolment target for 2035.
- Accepting an absolute word such as 'exclusively' in a statement about a national policy.
- Assuming the policy shifts vocational delivery out of schools; it does the opposite, integrating it into every secondary school over a decade.
As a statements item quoting two real provisions against one invented one, or as a direct question on a single NEP target and its year.
With reference to 'National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF)', which of the statements given below is/are correct? 1. Under NSQF, a learner can acquire the certification for competency only through formal learning. 2. An outcome expected from the implementation of NSQF is alignment of Indian qualifications with international qualifications.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
The skilling framework that NEP 2020's vocational chapter builds on. Both items turn on the same instinct — reject the statement that makes an exclusive claim, whether it is certification only through formal learning or vocational education only through NGOs.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the National Education Policy 2020, exposure to vocational education for at least 50 per cent of learners was targeted by which year?
- (a)2022
- (b)2025
- (c)2030
- (d)2035
Answer(b) 2025 — paragraph 16.5 sets this target for learners through the school and higher education system, and links it to Sustainable Development Goal 4.4.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The National Education Policy 2020 proposes that skill labs in schools be set up on which one of the following models?
- (a)One lab per district run by the State government
- (b)A hub-and-spoke model allowing other schools to use the facility
- (c)Mobile labs operated by private contractors
- (d)Residential skill centres attached to universities
Answer(b) A hub-and-spoke model allowing other schools to use the facility — the policy pairs this with secondary schools collaborating with ITIs, polytechnics and local industry.