The National Education Policy 2020 will lay a stronger foundation for India, education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday at the Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam 2023, where he presided over the signing of 106 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with various organisations and institutions.

The event celebrated the third anniversary of the policy. The MoUs involve partnership with both public and private entities to promote innovation and R&D in a range of areas, which would usher in a new era of collaboration in academia and industry- academia relations, Pradhan said, who also holds the skill development and entrepreneurship portfolio.

“New Education Policy is making its way to every part of the county. The NEP aims to make India the torchbearer of providing and receiving quality education in the world in the 21st century. To be future ready, one has to think about skilling in Indian language,” Pradhan said while addressing the valedictory session of the education meet. Junior education ministers Subhash Sarkar, Annapurna Devi and Rajkumar Ranjan Singh were also present at the signing.

Under the Central Board of Secondary Education, 15 MoUs were signed with institutes and skill providers to focus on skill development and education, promoting skill assessment and capacity building. The partners include Atal Innovation Mission, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and various sectoral skill councils, according to an official statement.

Under the government’s eVidya initiative, the National Council of Educational Research and Training signed 20 MoUs with departments of school education from various states. Additionally, an MoU was signed between Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti and IBM to accelerate activities conducted for effective implementation of Vigyan Jyoti programme in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, the statement said. Vigyan Jyoti aims to encourage girls to study science and foster gender parity in science education.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Samagam at the Bharat Mandapam in Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. He also delivered the inaugural address at the event and released the first instalment of funds under the PM SHRI scheme. PM Shri, or PM Schools for Rising India, will showcase the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020.

The schools under this scheme would nurture students in a way that they become engaged, productive and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive and plural society, the statement said.