NEP 2020 on Technological Integration in Pedagogy

Abstract

National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a paradigm shift in the education system in India. NEP is centered on an integrated strategy to leverage technology for pedagogical purposes. The article critiques provisions of the policy towards technology integration in teaching and learning. NEP 2020 outlines a theoretically well-articulated agenda for building an inclusive, equitable, and personalized learning environment. However, it will mean surmounting India's deep and multi-faceted digital divide and achieving a systemic cultural transformation of pedagogic attitudes in an effort to successfully adopt it. A qualitative examination of the policy report, government documents, and literature, the paper examines the historical context of educational technology in India,. The basic principles of the technology framework of the policy, and the manner in which its vision is aligned with contemporary learning theories such as Constructivism, social constructivism and connectivism are studied in depth. The research uncovers a wide gap between the possibility of improved learning and the daunting barrier of poor infrastructure, digital illiteracy, and poor teacher readiness. The COVID-19 pandemic is presented as an unexpected driver that accelerated technology uptake while laying bare the weakness of the available digital infrastructure. The study concludes with feasible suggestions that seek to treat digital infrastructure as a public utility, adopt a pedagogy-first strategy in teacher training, and state-led, contextualized implementation in order to avoid technology exacerbating current educational disparities.