How to Change the Education System in India: What NEP Started and What Still Needs Fixing

Changing India's education system requires three fundamental shifts: from memorisation to understanding, from lecture-only teaching to experiential learning, and from one-size-fits-all classrooms to personalised education. NEP 2020 laid the policy framework for all three. But six years in, implementation at the school level remains uneven.

India educates more students than almost any country on earth. The scale makes change slow and difficult. But that same scale means every improvement, even small ones adopted by a fraction of schools, touches millions of lives.

What Is Actually Wrong With the Current System

Rote Learning Dominates

The most persistent problem in Indian education is that most students memorise rather than understand. This is not because students are lazy or teachers are bad. It is because the system, through its syllabus design, exam patterns, and time pressures, rewards reproduction of information over application of knowledge.

A student who can reproduce the diagram of the human heart from memory scores well. A student who understands how blood actually flows through the chambers but draws an imperfect diagram may not.

Fact check: NEP 2020 identifies this problem directly. Section 4.34 states that assessment "will shift from one that is summative and primarily tests rote memorization skills to one that is more regular and formative, is more competency-based... and tests higher-order skills, such as analysis, critical thinking, and conceptual clarity." Section 4.37 adds that "Board exams will be redesigned to encourage holistic development." Source: Ministry of Education, NEP 2020 (Sections 4.34 and 4.37)

Infrastructure Gaps Are Enormous

According to government data, thousands of schools still lack functional science labs, libraries, and internet connectivity. The gap between urban private schools and rural government schools is vast. A student in a well-funded city school has access to interactive panels, lab equipment, and trained teachers. A student 50 kilometres away may share a room with three other classes and a single teacher.

Teacher Training Is Outdated

Most B.Ed programmes prepare teachers to deliver lectures, manage classrooms, and grade exams. They do not prepare teachers to facilitate inquiry-based learning, use digital tools, or personalise instruction for diverse learners. Until teacher education changes, classroom practice will not change meaningfully.

Assessment Tests Memory, Not Ability

Board exams remain the primary measure of learning. Despite NEP's call for competency-based assessment, most schools still test recall. As long as the exam pattern stays the same, teachers will teach to the pattern, and students will study for it.

What NEP 2020 Got Right

Emphasis on Experiential Learning

NEP 2020 calls for "learning by doing," including hands-on experiments, project-based learning, and real-world problem solving. This is the right direction. The challenge is implementing it in 1.5 million schools with varying resources.

Reducing Curriculum Load

The policy recommends reducing content load and focusing on core competencies. Less content, taught deeply, produces better outcomes than broad coverage taught superficially. Some CBSE textbook revisions have already reflected this approach.

Multilingual Education

Recognising that students learn best in their mother tongue during early years was a significant policy acknowledgment. States that implement this well will see better comprehension and lower dropout rates.

Integration of Technology

NEP envisions technology as a tool for expanding access and improving quality. Platforms like DIKSHA and SWAYAM are steps in this direction. See our analysis of how India's government is architecting AI and VR in education.

What Still Needs Fixing

Implementation at the Ground Level

Policy and practice remain disconnected. NEP says "experiential learning." The school says "finish chapter 12 by Friday." Until assessment patterns, school inspection criteria, and teacher incentives align with the policy's vision, implementation will remain patchy.

Bridging the Infrastructure Gap

Free digital content on DIKSHA is useless in a school without reliable internet. Virtual labs are pointless on a phone with 512 MB of RAM. Change requires not just content but the infrastructure to deliver it. This means electricity, internet, devices, and maintenance budgets.

For how technology works with infrastructure constraints, read digital learning in rural India.

Investing in Teachers

Teachers need:

Ongoing professional development, not one-time training
Competitive salaries that attract and retain talent
Smaller class sizes that allow individual attention
Tools that reduce administrative burden

Redesigning Exams

Until board exams test understanding instead of recall, nothing upstream will change permanently. Competency-based assessment means testing whether a student can apply a concept, not whether they can reproduce a definition.

What Schools Can Do Right Now

Not every change requires policy reform. Individual schools and teachers can act today:

Use free virtual labs like OLabs and PhET to bring experiments into classrooms without physical equipment
Replace one lecture per week with a project or experiment
Ask open-ended questions on tests alongside standard multiple choice
Create teacher peer groups where educators share techniques that work
Adopt 3D and interactive tools that make abstract concepts visual

Where Change Has Limits

Education reform is not only a school problem. Family expectations, coaching culture, parental pressure for marks, and the job market all shape how students approach learning. A school that shifts to experiential learning may face pushback from parents who want traditional exam-focused teaching because that is what they believe leads to college admissions.

Sustainable change requires convincing all stakeholders, not just educators, that understanding produces better long-term outcomes than memorisation.

How VidyaXR Fits

Delivers the experiential, interactive learning that NEP 2020 envisions
3D science simulations that replace rote memorisation with visual understanding
Works on any device, making it accessible to schools with limited infrastructure
AI tutor provides personalised doubt-solving for every student
CBSE-mapped curriculum; expanding to ICSE and state boards
Free 14-day trial, no credit card, then Pro from Rs 449/month

For more on NEP's experiential learning vision, read our guide on the 5 pillars of the National Education Policy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can we change the education system in India? By shifting from memorisation to experiential learning, redesigning exams to test understanding, investing in teacher training, bridging infrastructure gaps, and implementing NEP 2020 at the school level.

What is NEP 2020 trying to change? NEP 2020 aims to move Indian education from rote learning to competency-based, experiential education. It emphasises multilingual instruction, reduced curriculum load, technology integration, and holistic development.

Why is rote learning still dominant in Indian schools? Because board exams test recall, syllabus pressure limits time for deeper learning, teachers are not trained in alternative methods, and the system has been built around this approach for decades.

Can technology alone fix India's education system? No. Technology is a powerful tool but not a solution by itself. It works when combined with good teaching, curriculum reform, appropriate assessment, and infrastructure support.

What can individual teachers do to improve education? Teachers can introduce project-based activities, use free digital resources for visual learning, ask open-ended questions, create peer learning groups, and prioritise understanding over syllabus completion.

Ready to bring experiential learning to your classroom? Start with VidyaXR free for 14 days and let students learn science by doing, not just reading.