The Union Education Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, addressed the stakeholders’ consultation on the draft National Credit Framework (NCrF) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Delhi) on Monday, November 21.

Pradhan said that the NCrF will be instrumental in enhancing the economic convertibility of education by bringing a vast majority of the population under the fold of formal education and skilling, achieving GER targets and accelerating India’s march towards becoming a $5 trillion economy. NCrF is an umbrella framework for skilling, re-skilling, up-skilling, accreditation and evaluation in educational and skilling institutions.

He also asserted that National Education Policy 2020 envisages universalization of credit framework for removing barriers between knowledge, skill and employability.

He further said that to reap a demographic dividend we have to provide a level playing field and equal opportunities to all. This can only be achieved by recognizing, accounting and formalizing all kinds of conventional, unconventional and experiential knowledge repositories.

The Credits Framework aims to democratize education by enabling learners to earn credits not just through academic education or classroom learning but through co-curricular, extracurriculars, vocational learning, online or distance learning, recognition of prior learning, and informal learning.

It also proposes the alignment of notional learning hours—the number of hours a student will spend to achieve a particular learning outcome across academic classes including preschool, school and higher education.

The NCrF has been jointly developed by the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, National Council for Vocational Education and Training, National Institute of Open Schooling, Central Board of Secondary Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Ministry of Education (MoE), Directorate General of Training, and Ministry of Skill Development.

The MoE had last year approved the formation of a high-level committee to develop a National Credit Accumulation and Transfer Framework for both vocational and general education. The 11-member committee is headed by Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi, chairperson of the National Council for Vocational Education and Training.

Image source: PIB