A CRITICAL STUDY ON THE HOLISTIC AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH OF NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL POLICY 2020 (NEP 2020) IN INDIA

: National Education Policy: 2020 is ground-breaking step taken by Indian Government in the field of Education. We are living in the post modern virtual world where the boundary of the education of a country is kaput and enriched with the affluent global thoughts. Indian education has the greatest heritage and glorious past. It has been altering its form according to the passage of time on the demand of the crisis influenced by social, political and economical issues. The present study will focus on the holistic and multidisciplinary dimension of New Education Policy: 2020. The researcher will discuss how holistic attitude of education plays an important role in the field of ‘all round development’ of the child; and the researcher will find out how much multidisciplinary approach is relevant in contemporary education system in the respect of global education. The researcher has gone through the report of the previous education policies, committees and studied related literature closely which are desirable for this study. The findings of this study will help its readers to understand the context to introduce NEP 2020 by Government; the reader will realize the stream of the change of education policy, he/she will aware previous history of education in brief. The researcher has taken philosophical research method to convey philosophy of education and philosophy of life as well. The novelty of this study is to recognize the importance of the approach of holistic education in modern education system and curriculum. And then the readers will be able to distinguish how much multidisciplinary educational approach is significant for survival which is the ultimate aim of all education.


Introduction:
New Education Policy 2020 has been introduced by the Indian government to flourish all human potentials, qualities and possibilities of the child.At the same time the policy makers has balanced between past heritage of Indian education and future possibilities of the student's career in the context of virtual and global education.The policy makers "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all".The policy has been made on the basis of the object so that the child can survive in his/her life after completing minimum education.According to the humanistic study, human being is the source of all possibilities in the world.The quality of the human resource determines the development and prosperity of the country where he belongs.Indian government has changed education policy and introduced several education committee and commission many a times so that the development occurs in all aspects of human possibilities.If we study properly the historical background of the education policy we surely find the reason the change the policy.Besides, Indian education has glorious past history of education.Thousands of years ago when Vedic and Gurukul education was factual truth in ancient Indian civilization then there is doubt if the western world would know how to read or not."India has a long tradition of holistic and multidisciplinary learning, from universities such as Takshashila and Nalanda, to the extensive literatures of India combining subjects across fields".And the rapid change of educational system is seen because the demand and outcomes of education has been changed.An individual nurtures multiple possibility and multiple intelligence in his/her mind.An individual is the mine of every possibility; a wise person can be an artist; a mathematician can be a skilful acrobat; and an Engineer can be a philosopher.The aim of education is to 'manifestation of perfection that already in man.'And this is holistic approach of education: approach to thrive all human possibilities.As the human resource is the wealth of a country naturally he will have an important contribution to the prosperity of his motherland.So multidisciplinary approach and holistic measurement changed the view point of not only Indian contemporary education but loom of global education.The present researcher has gone through the report of NEP 2020 and related literature closely to quench his thirst of knowledge regarding education policy of the past times.According to NEP 2020, 'A holistic and multidisciplinary education would aim to develop all capacities of human beings -intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional, and moral in an integrated manner.'The present study will focus on the importance and relevance of multidisciplinary and holistic approach of education in the respect of global and contemporary education in National Education Policy 2020.The reader will know the rich heritage of Indian education, importance of holistic development, relevance to introduce NEP 2020, need of multidisciplinary approach, nature of contemporary education and direction of global education.

Methodology:
The present researcher has chosen philosophical research method to establish his view point on the holistic and multidisciplinary approach to education of NEP 2020.This is quite different from the socalled method of normative or philosophical research of pure research methodology.Actually, the researcher prefers to take philosophical method to describe the philosophy of life and educational philosophy which are inserted in NEP 2020.Descriptive Method is handy for this study.

Objectives: a.
To know importance of holistic approach to the 'all-round development' of the child.b.
To know the relevance of multidisciplinary approach in contemporary Indian education.c.
To know how much NEP 2020 obeys the heritage and tradition of Ancient Education.d.
To know the modernity of NEP 2020 in the respect global education.

Analysis:
Education is the process which makes human resource from human being.Human resource is the most important wealth for a state.Renaissance humanism in French Revolution also gave importance on the human resource rather than any other else.Human being is the source of every possibility and he can do everything in the world if he is given required education and training.The progress, prosperity, growth and development depend on the quality of the human resource that a country brings into being.And the state is considered to be responsible to ensure the education, training, growth and the development of the child.'According to Lemkow (1990), holistic education aims to bridge the gaps in contemporary civilization that dichotomies mind and body, intellect and emotion, rationality and intuition, science and art, individual and society, humanity and nature.'NEP 2020 states, 'The very idea that all branches of creative human endeavour, including mathematics, science, vocational subjects, professional subjects, and soft skills should be considered 'arts', has distinctly Indian origins.' Holistic education not only helps to develop the child's physical embodiment but enhance the spiritual prosperity and spiritual development.Holistic education makes understand the students to differentiate the disciplines and provide regard and respect for all branch of education.It teaches the child to accept anything good from all branches he is going through which.The holistic education wants to form such kind of curriculum which will assist the learner to acquire the expensive knowledge from different disciplines, develop all possible skills which are within, think critically from maximum aspects; and enrich the soul spiritually to acquaint with everlasting aesthetic pleasure.The aim of NEP 2020 as mentioned 'aim to develop all capacities of human beings -intellectual, aesthetic, social, physical, emotional, and moral in an integrated manner.Such an education will help develop well-rounded individuals that possess critical 21st century capacities in fields across the arts, humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences, and professional, technical, and vocational fields; an ethic of social engagement; soft skills, such as communication, discussion and debate; and rigorous specialization in a chosen field or fields.'In the respect to the global community, the relative position of an individual breaks all the boundary of states, race, religion and culture; then he becomes an active participator of global community.Human being is in the centre of the Nature; and Nature itself is within the human beings.There is inseparable bond between them; there is a harmony between them.Human mind is the internalization of external environment.The spiritual prosperity of the individual coordinates between self-knowing and self-actualization of the person.The self-actualization is the ultimate aim of education.In this way, the holistic education of NEP 2020 will help a person a real human being with all potentiality, regard and prosperity.It will produce a good and ideal citizen for the state.Keeping all these, NEP -2020 have proposed the curriculum which will help in all round development of the child.
In Education, the very word 'discipline' means 'subject'different branch of knowledge.Hence, multidisciplinary means amalgamation of various or different disciplines in single curriculum.The wideness as a discipline, Education is so extensive which has no outskirts.The approach of the subject Education and the nature of learning/education are identical.Education teaches us how to act, how to behave and how to survive with the ever-changing world.There are uncountable possibilities fields and aspects of learning in the life of an individual.Renaissance Humanism has taught us human being is the source of all possibilities, virtues and goodness; he can do everything; and the universe is homocentric.The ultimate intention of education is to thrive all the possibilities and goodness of the human child.And knowledge has no limitation.Hence, the discipline Education has multidisciplinary dimension.According to NEP 2020', "Such an education will help develop well-rounded individuals that possess critical 21st century capacities in fields across the arts, humanities, languages, sciences, social sciences, and professional, technical, and vocational fields; an ethic of social engagement; soft skills, such as communication, discussion and debate; and rigorous specialization in a chosen field or fields."New Education Policy is interdisciplinary also.The policy makers have introduced it for implementation.According to this policy, 'The very idea that all branches of creative human endeavor, including mathematics, science, vocational subjects, professional subjects, and soft skills should be considered 'arts', has distinctly Indian origins.This notion of a 'knowledge of many arts' or what in modern times is often called the 'liberal arts''.The multidisciplinary approach of education allows a student to come and fro among the various streams of knowledge where he can quench his thirst of knowledge and decide future.Multidisciplinary approach of education is holds many benefits and utilities.Multidisciplinary approach teaches the students to understand the thing as a whole or in holistic view.The child can take problem as whole to understand.Any problem, situation, lesson and learning have various dimensions to understand.Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary strategy teaches how to correlate between them.The child can take the lesson from the factual stand point.The approach of the child becomes much more realistic in nature.In this curriculum the child learns many a thing at once.The child develops strong ability to think critically in it that produce a real leader or mentor.The life itself is a big problem which we solve in every moment.Multidisciplinary approach teaches a child how to solve a problem in real life situation.In the class room, the child experiences excellent learning ability.Practical projects attract the noble brains and create interest to unfold new opportunity.In this way, the human child becomes human resource by learning multiple disciplines in single curriculum; developing skills to perform and becomes mature enough to accept a good job.New Education Policy has established a bridge between Ancient Indian Education and Modern Education.NEP says, 'India has a long tradition of holistic and multidisciplinary learning, from universities such as Takshashila and Nalanda, to the extensive literatures of India combining subjects across fields.'India is the one of the oldest civilizations of the world.If we study the history of the Ancient Education of India will feel pride to knowing the glorious past of this blessed country.When the western countries were unaware about education then 'Gurukul' system of education in ancient Vedic civilization was factual truth in India.The students would not only gain the knowledge from Vedas, Upanishads, Purans in their life of 'Bramhachariya' but they would taught every lesson of life so that they can earn their livelihood in 'garhastya' at the end of the education.Their education was life centric.The rich heritage of Indian education is continuing by moderating itself.After the Vedic period, when the Hindu kings were the rulers of India, the fame and the richness of Indian conventional tradition of education spread even in western worlds.Thousands of students would learn arts, science, mathematics, astronomy, astrology and literature in monastery education system in ancient India.The fame of the great institution like Nalanda, Takshashila, Vikramshila, Valabhi, Mithila and Jagaddal surpasses the boundary of this country.We know few names of the people like Hiuen Tsang (630 -645 A.D), Al Beruni (1024 -1030), Marcco Polo (1288 -1292 A.D), and Fa Hien (405 -411) from other countries who came here to gain knowledge.Ancient India was not only prosperous with Natural wealth but also enriched with the knowledge and astuteness.In every field of knowledge like arts, science, mathematics, astrology, chemistry, engineering, medicine, and technology India is always the pioneer of the world.Keeping this point in mind NEP: 2020 states, 'The very idea that all branches of creative human endeavour, including mathematics, science, vocational subjects, professional subjects, and soft skills should be considered 'arts', has distinctly Indian origins.'In this way, NEP 2020 respects the Indian Heritage of education moderates NEP 2020.
The contemporary modern education has global respect to be accepted.The contemporary education has destroyed all the boundaries and limitations.A person with keen interest can gain knowledge and get educational certificates of desired courses from foreign countries.The curriculum of education of any country is formed so that it is accepted world-wide.The curriculum of NEP 2020 has emphasis on physical growth, mental development and spiritual enhancement and at the same time it has given very importance to the out -comes of the education.After taking lesson from this curriculum the child will develop his soft skills, communication skills, technological power and special ability to solve a problem.Then ultimately, he/she will be worthy to get a proper job.We get the reflection of it in NEP 2020 as, 'Assessments of educational approaches in undergraduate education that integrate the humanities and arts with Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) have consistently showed positive learning outcomes, including increased creativity and innovation, critical thinking and higherorder thinking capacities, problem-solving abilities, teamwork, communication skills, more in depth learning and mastery of curricula across fields, increases in social and moral awareness,' India is always modern in its thought.It is enriched with the educational philosophy of great educationist like M.K. Gandhi, Radhakrisnan, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vvekananda, Ramakrishan Paramhansa, Vidyasagar, and Sabitribai Phule after independence beside its heritage.Naturally it shows way to the word.It is not only enriched by itself but also it accepted the noble educational thoughts of Plato, Rousseau, Lock, Kant, Dewey and Monteswari.In this way, NEP 2020 has also a global acceptance.In the context of contemporary education NEP 2020 is pretty much modern.

Findings:
a.The reader will understand the nature of multidisciplinary approach in education.b.
The reader will know the importance of holistic approach in education.c.
The reader will aware of heritage and richness of Indian education.d.
All round development is the aim of all education.e.
NEP 2020 will play very crucial role in the field of education in future.f.
NEP -2020 has respected the tradition and planned the future.g.
NEP 2020 is much more modern in the respect of global education.h.
NEP -2020 teaches how to solve problem in real life situation.i.
NEP -2020 has give emphasis on skill development of the child.j.
The readers will understand the relevance of NEP 2020 in modern education in India.

Conclusion:
New Education Policy 2020 is landmark in Indian education.Though some innovative steps are taken in this policy for the betterment of the education system; it has a correlation with global education.The policy makers planned it according to the demand of the contemporary education.They have measured the crisis of this situation in respect of global education.India is trying to improve the standard and quality of education to the mark of western civilization or international standard.Human brain holds multiple intelligence and capability within.If the skills of the individual are developed the person will fulfill his own demand by himself.All round development of a child will not only improve his personality and family condition but make prosperous his/her motherland.The ignorance, lack, and crisis will be gone away when the person will be self-dependent.The holistic development of the child is very much helpful to understand any problem of life taking as whole or in togetherness.Same as the multidisciplinary approach teaches a student to think critically and correlate something with other discipline.These two approaches of NEP 2020 will produce skillful human resources who are always all set to serve.The reader will understand the nature of holistic education as well as the utility of the multidisciplinary approach to education.This study will help the reader to know the history of education and its heritage.
And at the same time the reader will understand the relevance of NEP 2020 in the context of global education.All these discoveries of this study unfold its utility and aptness.The implementation of NEP 2020 will start a new era in the history of education in India.MANOJIT ROY M.A. (ENG), M.ED.(RKMSM, BELURMATH, HOWRAH) UGC NTA NET (ENG), PH.D RESEARCH SCHOLAR, DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH, S.K.B UNIVERSITY, PURULIA, WEST BENGAL, INDIA