Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday expressed confidence that the New Education Policy (NEP), 2020 would facilitate India to fully realise the demographic dividend and make the country a knowledge and an innovation hub in the 21st century.

NEP, 2020 was the first education policy of the 21st century which was announced after 34 years of the previous National Policy on Education, 1986. NEP, 2020 was directed towards initiating major reforms at the school and higher education level.

Noting that the policy reflects the ideals of Swami Vivekananda, Naidu said he had seen an imminent need to re-imagine, reinvent and re-engineer India's entire education system to effectively meet the many formidable challenges of the 21st century. "Reminding one and all of the demographic dividend that lay before India, the leader asserted that the nation must not fail to leverage this great competitive advantage."

Emphasising excellence as an integral part of the education system in India, on Thursday, Naidu added, the pursuit of excellence must be ingrained in the culture of educational institutions.

He was virtually addressing the 21st Foundation Day celebrations of Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence (VIHE), Ramakrishna Math Hyderabad from the national Capital. The Vice-President said excellence was imperative and mediocrity was no longer an option at this critical juncture in our journey as a nation.

He opined that India "need many more educational institutions that will take the universal teachings of giants like Swami Vivekananda and Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and their interpretations closer to the common man".

Defining education as the relentless pursuit of truth and the constant endeavor to improve the human condition, Naidu said true education must empower our children to become responsible, concerned, engaged citizens, not only of India but of the world.

He opined that education must help our youth develop critical thinking faculties, clearly identify the problems that plague humanity and come up with definitive solutions.

Education must also encourage our children to take great pride in our ancient cultural heritage and prepare them to be global ambassadors of our age-old values and morals, the Vice-President added. He also called for teaching children in their mother tongue during the initial years of schooling.