National Education Policy 1968: A Milestone in Indian Educational Reform

When India gained independence in 1947, its education system was fragmented, unequal, and largely ill-equipped to serve the needs of a newly sovereign nation. Nearly two decades later, the country took its most decisive step yet toward fixing this – through the National Education Policy (NEP) of 1968. Promulgated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, this was India’s first-ever comprehensive national education policy, and it marked a turning point in how the government thought about schooling, teachers, language, and opportunity. Built directly on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission (1964-66), the policy set out an ambitious vision – one that continues to echo in Indian education to this day.

The foundation: Kothari Commission and its role 🔗

The NEP 1968 did not emerge in isolation. Its backbone was the report of the Education Commission of 1964-66, popularly known as the Kothari Commission after its chairman, Dr. Daulat Singh Kothari, who was then the Chairman of the University Grants Commission. Formed on July 14, 1964, the commission was tasked with examining all aspects of India’s education sector – from primary schooling to higher education – and recommending a coherent national framework.

What made the commission’s work exceptional was its scale. It comprised 17 members including leading educationists from India as well as international experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the Soviet Union. Over two years, it produced a 700-page report that is often called the Magna Carta of Indian education. Its central argument was clear: education must serve nation-building, promote social equity, and drive economic progress. The government’s formal response was the NEP 1968 – India’s commitment to putting these ideas into action.

Free and compulsory education for all children 🔗

One of the most significant planks of the 1968 policy was its insistence on free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14. This was not a new idea – Article 45 of the Constitution of India had already mandated it – but the NEP 1968 gave it renewed force and a national policy framework to back it up. The goal was to eradicate illiteracy by ensuring that no child, regardless of caste, religion, gender, or economic background, was denied access to basic schooling.

The policy specifically recognized that access to education meant more than just opening school gates. It required addressing poverty, child labour, and entrenched social discrimination simultaneously. This commitment laid critical groundwork for what would eventually become the Right to Education Act of 2009, which made free elementary education a legal right for children aged 6 to 14.

Elevating the status of teachers 🔗

The NEP 1968 was unusually direct in recognising that without well-trained, fairly compensated teachers, no educational reform could succeed. The policy boldly asserted that the destiny of India was being shaped in her classrooms – and that teachers deserved both respect and material support proportionate to that responsibility.

What the policy recommended for teachers 🔗

On the question of teacher welfare, the Kothari Commission had recommended a minimum pay structure in a ratio of 1:2:3 for teachers at the primary, secondary, and higher education levels respectively. The NEP 1968 adopted these recommendations and called for substantial salary revision across the board. Beyond salaries, the policy emphasized continuous in-service training – recognising that teaching is not a static skill but one that requires constant updating. Teacher education programs were to be overhauled so that training went beyond rote pedagogy, preparing teachers to handle real classroom challenges. This was among the earliest policy-level efforts to professionalize the teaching profession in India.

The three-language formula 🔗

Perhaps no feature of the NEP 1968 has been more debated – or more consequential – than the three-language formula. In a country with hundreds of languages and deep regional sensitivities, the question of which languages to teach in schools was both educationally complex and politically charged. The 1968 policy offered a structured solution.

How the formula worked 🔗

Under the three-language formula, secondary school students would study three languages: their mother tongue or the regional language of their state, Hindi as a link language, and English as a window to the wider world. Language education was seen as essential to bridge the gap between the educated elite and the general population. The policy also encouraged the learning of Sanskrit, recognising it as a vital part of India’s cultural and intellectual heritage.

The formula was implemented across most of the country, with one notable exception – Tamil Nadu adopted a two-language policy instead. This regional variation persisted even when the 1986 National Policy on Education re-affirmed the three-language formula verbatim. While the formula was conceptually sound, its implementation varied significantly across states, often reflecting local political pressures rather than purely educational considerations.

Equal educational opportunities 🔗

The NEP 1968 was explicit about the need to equalise educational opportunities across India’s deeply unequal social landscape. This was the first attempt of its kind in the nation to establish a nationwide policy aimed at national growth, common citizenship, culture, and strengthened national integration.

The policy paid particular attention to students from rural, tribal, and economically backward communities. It gave special emphasis to the education of girls and called for efforts to reduce the gap between urban and rural schooling. A common school system was proposed so that children from different social and economic backgrounds would study together, reinforcing the values of a democratic and inclusive society. The Kothari Commission report had stated unambiguously that the education of backward classes and tribal communities was a major programme of equalisation – and that no expenditure was too great for this purpose.

Science education and the push for modernisation 🔗

Recognising that India’s development aspirations required a scientifically literate population, the NEP 1968 gave strong emphasis to science education at all levels of schooling. The policy called for investment in laboratories, qualified science teachers, and improved curriculum design to bring science teaching in line with contemporary knowledge.

The policy stressed the importance of advancing science and technology and recommended setting up new institutions of higher learning in specialised fields such as engineering, medicine, and agriculture. This built on an existing tradition – the Nehru government had already invested heavily in institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology – but the 1968 policy extended this vision down to the school level, embedding scientific thinking into mainstream education. The broader aim was to cultivate a scientific temper among Indian students and prepare them for a rapidly modernising economy.

Examination reforms 🔗

The NEP 1968 was also critical of the prevailing examination system, which rewarded rote memorisation over genuine understanding. The policy called for reforms in the examination system to reduce the emphasis on mechanical reproduction of facts and to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills instead.

The shift toward continuous assessment 🔗

Rather than relying solely on high-stakes annual board examinations, the policy advocated for continuous assessment throughout the academic year. It called for evaluating not just factual knowledge but also students’ understanding, application, and creativity. The policy acknowledged the stress and pressure that the existing examination culture placed on students and proposed a more balanced approach that would more accurately reflect a student’s overall learning. These ideas were ahead of their time and have since been revisited in several subsequent national education frameworks.

Vocational education and work experience 🔗

The NEP 1968 recognised that not every student would or should pursue an academic career, and that the education system needed to create pathways for practical, skills-based learning. To this end, the policy promoted vocational education as an equally valid route alongside traditional academic study.

The policy specifically highlighted fields such as agriculture, trade, commerce, arts and crafts, home management, and secretarial training as areas where vocational programs needed to be developed and strengthened. Work experience was to be integrated into general education to bridge the gap between the classroom and the real world of employment. This was not intended to create a two-tier system where vocational education was seen as inferior – rather, the policy envisioned both tracks as equally dignified pathways that would help students contribute meaningfully to India’s economic growth.

Education spending: the 6% target 🔗

One of the most ambitious financial commitments embedded in the NEP 1968 was the recommendation to raise education spending to six percent of national income. At the time, India was spending around 2.9% of its GDP on education – a figure the Kothari Commission considered wholly inadequate for the scale of reform required.

The target was to be achieved by the fiscal year 1985-86. In practice, it was never fully met. However, the recommendation itself was significant – it reframed education not as a cost but as a long-term national investment. The aspiration of 6% has remained a benchmark in Indian education policy discussions ever since, resurfacing in the 1986 NPE and again in the National Education Policy 2020.

Legacy and limitations of the 1968 policy 🔗

The NEP 1968 was, by any measure, a forward-thinking document. It was instrumental in establishing the 10+2+3 structure that standardised India’s school and university education system. It shifted the conversation from state-by-state improvisation to a shared national vision. Many of its core ideas – on teacher welfare, language, science, and equity – were directly carried forward into the 1986 NPE and, decades later, into the National Education Policy 2020.

That said, the 1968 policy also struggled with implementation. Resource constraints, bureaucratic inertia, and socio-economic disparities across states meant that many of its goals remained aspirational rather than achieved. The universalisation of education and the 6% spending target were not realised within the intended timeframe. The three-language formula met with political resistance in some states. Yet these shortfalls do not diminish what the policy attempted – a systematic, equitable, and development-oriented reimagining of Indian education.

The National Education Policy 1968 stands as the first time India looked at its education system not as a collection of isolated concerns but as a unified, nation-shaping enterprise. It connected classroom learning to economic development, teacher welfare to student outcomes, and linguistic policy to national integration – all within a single, coherent framework. Its influence, even where its targets fell short, fundamentally changed how education policy in India is conceived and debated.

What do you think? The NEP 1968 set a spending target of 6% of national income for education – a goal that was never fully achieved even decades later. Does underfunding remain the single biggest obstacle to educational reform in India? And with so much of the 1968 policy’s vision still echoing in the NEP 2020, how much have India’s core educational challenges actually changed in over five decades?

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Policy_on_Education
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kothari_Commission
3. https://gtchooghly.ac.in/pdf/profile/goutam-patra/kothari%20commission.pdf
4. https://theiashub.com/free-resources/post-independence/national-education-policy-1968-education-reforms-india
5. https://www.adda247.com/teaching-jobs-exam/npe-1986/
6. https://journal.iujharkhand.edu.in/Dec-2020/The-Significant-Shift.html
7. https://onlineschoolsindia.in/key-highlights-of-the-national-policy-of-education-1968/