SCHOLARLY RESEARCH JOURNAL FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

            Art education plays a crucial role in nurturing creativity, emotional intelligence, and cognitive skills among students. Recognizing its importance, both the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and the Kerala Curriculum Framework (KCF) 2023 have made significant recommendations to integrate art education into mainstream curricula in India. This paper aims to conduct a comparative study of the art education provisions outlined in NEP 2020 and KCF 2023, with a focus on their approaches, objectives, and challenges in implementation. While NEP 2020 promotes a multidisciplinary approach, integrating art into STEM education, and fostering the preservation of India's cultural heritage, KCF 2023 emphasizes a more localized perspective by integrating Kerala’s indigenous art forms, community involvement, and interdisciplinary learning. The study investigates how these frameworks seek to promote creativity and holistic development among students. Additionally, the paper identifies the practical challenges in implementing these policies, such as inadequate infrastructure, teacher training, and community awareness. Finally, it offers recommendations for improving the integration of art education in Indian schools, such as enhancing teacher training, improving school infrastructure, and leveraging digital tools for greater access. By examining these educational policies, this paper contributes valuable insights into the role of art education in shaping a more holistic, culturally enriched, and creative educational system in India.

Education policy 2019 provides for reforms at all levels of education from school to higher education. It seeks to increase the focus on early childhood care, reform the current exam system, strengthen teacher training and restructure the education regulatory framework. It also seeks to set up a National Education Commission, increase public investment in education, strengthen the use of technology and increase focus on vocational and adult education, among others. Key observations and recommendations of the draft Policy include.

The worldwide onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused unparalleled disruption to education systems, forcing them to adapt from centuries-old, entrenched models of face-to-face teaching to digital and remote forms. As new digital portals for education continue to open for both students and educators, reflective learning, which cultivates critical thinking, self-evaluation, and experiential learning, has taken on new relevance. It highlighted systemic structural inequities related to access to digital resources, internet connections, and technological fluency. The transition to online learning platforms presented significant challenges for students from rural, economically marginalized and socially disadvantaged communities. These inequalities also highlighted the critical gap in including digital literacy as part of both students' and teachers' core competencies. Digital literacy is not only about technology; it also teaches critical thinking skills to evaluate information on the Internet, encourages responsible behaviour in cyberspace, and promotes the use of knowledge-creation tools and collaborative work through technology.