Published Paper Details:

ABSTRACT The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has set a transformative agenda for the Indian education system, which emphasizes critical thinking and application-based learning over the traditional rote memorization process that has long been embedded in Indian education. The Open Book Exams (OBEs) have emerged as a key tool in achieving these goals by allowing students to utilize resources such as textbooks and notebooks during the exams, thus shifting the focus from traditional learning to comprehensive and application-based learning, enhancing the students' spirit. Thus, this paper explores the effectiveness of OBEs and its critical thinking among the students by focusing on the objectives of NEP 2020. An empirical study has been conducted among 200 sample students from Andhra university, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The study explores different perceptions of OBEs regarding critical thinking and application of knowledge. The findings suggest that OBEs are effective in promoting high cognitive skills, with 55 percent of respondents supporting them as very effective in nature. Remaining 45 percent of respondents believed that OBEs improve the application of knowledge, which is a core goal of NEP 2020. This study contributes to the ongoing research on educational reforms in India, which offers empirical evidence on OBEs potentiality to promote critical thinking and supports NEP 2020's vision, which offers a more holistic and application-based education system. This research paper further recommends improving the implementation of OBEs to address various educational and student-oriented challenges related to fairness and equity in education.