NEP 2020 Three Years On: Only 8 of 36 States and UTs Have Fully Implemented Core Changes, Report Finds

The National Education Policy 2020, heralded as the most sweeping reform of India's education system since 1986, required states to adopt a new 5+3+3+4 schooling structure, implement mother-tongue instruction in foundational years, and achieve basic literacy and numeracy for all students by Grade 3. Three years into the implementation window, a 2026 report by the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration — submitted to the Ministry of Education and reviewed by NT — shows only 8 of India's 36 states and union territories have met the threshold for 'full foundational implementation.'

Why Implementation Is Lagging

“NEP is a framework — it relies entirely on state capacity, state funding and state political will. The Centre provides the vision and some central funds, but 85% of school education spending is state expenditure. Without that alignment, NEP is aspirational policy.”

— Prof. Krishna Kumar, former NCERT Director and education policy expert

Teacher training has been the single biggest bottleneck. The NIPUN Bharat programme — designed to ensure basic literacy by Grade 3 — requires all primary school teachers to complete a new structured pedagogy training. As of December 2025, only 41% of the 8.4 lakh targeted teachers across 14 pilot states had completed even the first module of the training, and just 18% had completed the full course. State education departments cite inadequate training infrastructure and the competing demands of regular school operations.