Silos To Symphonies: The Liberal Arts Revival and NEP 2020

Abstract

India’s National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 opens the doors to multidisciplinary higher education by moving beyond the compartmentalised, siloed approaches of the past. This paper explores the crucial role English and Literary Studies can play in this transition, arguing that the discipline can serve as a connecting, intersecting, and integrative pedagogical domain where language, literature, culture, translation, interpretation, and critical thought converge. Rather than treating English merely as a specialised field, the paper reads its future through the liberal arts vision articulated by NEP 2020, with particular attention to the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP), Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS), multidisciplinary learning, and the renewed significance of translation studies. English can function as a critical connector while also serving as a bridge through which Indian literatures and languages enter wider national and global conversations. Furthermore, a multidisciplinary approach to English can help dismantle siloed structures in higher education and contribute to a more connected, dialogic, and intellectually integrated educational landscape