According to the New Education Policy, 2020, who among the following must be…

Concept — A reform framework has to decide where its centre of gravity lies — which actor's capability decides whether its other provisions actually reach the learner. The National Education Policy 2020 states that choice explicitly in its chapter on Teachers: the teacher must be at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system, and the policy must help re-establish teachers at all levels as the most respected and essential members of society.

Applying it here — The stem asks whom the policy itself places at that centre. In NEP 2020's own wording the named actor is the teacher, and the policy then builds its whole reform chain around restoring that position:

• recruitment and deployment through merit-based, transparent processes;

• a service environment and culture in which a teacher can actually teach;

• continuous professional development, with at least 50 hours of such opportunities expected every year;

• career management and progression on merit, with the 4-year integrated B.Ed. as the minimum degree qualification by 2030.

Cross-check with the other roles named in the policy —

• Policy makers frame and approve the policy — NEP 2020 was drafted by the committee chaired by Dr. K. Kasturirangan and approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2020 — so the policy treats them as the authors of the framework, not as the actor it places at the centre of reform.

• Industry leaders enter NEP 2020 through vocational and skill education — exposure from Class 6 with bagless days, internships with local industry and craftspersons, and participation in designing professional programmes — which is a partnership role rather than the centre of systemic reform.

• Administrators enter through governance restructuring — school complexes and clusters, graded autonomy for higher-education institutions, and the Higher Education Commission of India — machinery meant to support good teaching rather than to occupy the centre of reform.

Result — The New Education Policy 2020 places teachers at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system.