After decades, India, in 2020 welcomed its New Education Policy (“NEP”) which aims to bring a shift in education dispensation, especially higher education. The first NEP was introduced for India in the year 1968, then in 1986 and subsequently in 1992. With the change in society after 1992, the advancement of technology and a transformation in global education, the need for new NEP was felt to change education in India and bring it in parity with the global status.
There are a few objectives of NEP 2020 like – make education accessible to more and more people, give weightage to various languages and use it in education dispensation, make the education globally savvy, common entrance exams, enhance quality of education etc.
The NEP 2020 attempts to give attention to professional education, including legal education in India. Legal education in India is majorly imparted through National Law Universities, state universities or private institutions, offering either a five-year integrated legal course or a three-year post-graduation course. The traditional legal education in India has majorly just been about strict text-book based learning. The NEP shall transform legal education in India beyond rigid structured education to a more flexible and multi-disciplinary mode of learning. This will show an impact on the quality and training of the future lawyers and other stakeholders of the legal profession in India.
