The National Policy on Education (NPE) is a policy formulated by the Government of India to promote and regulate education in India. The policy covers primary education to higher education in rural and urban India. The first NPE was announced by the Government of India in 1968 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the second by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1986 and the third by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2020.

Since the country's independence in 1947, the Indian government has sponsored various programs to address illiteracy problems in both rural and urban India. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, India's first education minister, envisioned strong central government control over education across the country with a uniform education system.

The central government set up the University Education Commission (1948–1949), the Secondary Education Commission (1952–1953), the University Grants Commission and the Kothari Commission (1964–66) to develop proposals for modernizing India's education system. The Government of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru adopted the Scientific Policy Resolution.

The Nehru government sponsored the development of high-quality scientific educational institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology. In 1961, the central government established the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as an autonomous body that would advise the central and state governments on formulating and implementing educational policies.