The recently announced National Credit Framework will be implemented by all IITs across the country. According to officials, this was determined at the premier institutes' council meeting on Tuesday in Bhubaneswar.

During the meeting, all of the IITs "unanimously adopted" the National Credit Framework (NCrF). The nationwide Credit Accumulation and Transfer System (NCrF) is a nationwide credit accumulation and transfer system in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It enables the integration of vocational education into mainstream education, with students earning credits for various activities throughout their educational journey from elementary school to higher education.

The council, led by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, includes directors from all 23 IITs, governing body members, the chairperson of the University Grants Commission, and ministry officials, among others. The council is the governing body for all administrative and strategic matters at the IITs.

"The IIT council's adoption of a national credit framework will improve the equivalence of credits obtained in general (academic) education, technical education, and skill and vocational education." It would encourage the rest of the higher education system to adopt and implement the framework, resulting in a uniform inclusive meta framework across the country," said Prof M Jagadesh Kumar, head of the University Grants Commission (UGC), during a presentation at the meeting.

According to Kumar, the NCrF is a comprehensive credit framework that includes elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education and training, as well as vocational education and training. It integrates creditisation of learning across multiple dimensions, including academics, vocational skills, and experiential learning, as well as relevant experience and professional levels acquired.

The IITs have been holding regional awareness workshops for school and higher education teachers and administrators. IIT campuses in Delhi (for the north zone), Bhubaneswar (for the east zone), Guwahati (for the northeast zone), Mumbai (for the west zone), and Chennai (for the south zone) hosted the workshops.

The NCrF was established in accordance with NEP 2020, which pushes for "no hard separations" between vocational and academic streams. The policy also specifies that by 2025, at least half of all learners in the school and higher education systems will have had exposure to vocational education.

It will allow students who have dropped out of traditional education to rejoin the educational system. While a credit-based framework is currently in existence in technical and higher education, this is the first time it will be extended to encompass school (beginning with Class 5) and vocational education. Credits will be granted based on learning hours ranging from Class 5 to PhD level.