Col Balwant Singh (Retd)
The new national education policy recently annou-nced by the union Government was a much awaited move to bring about a much needed change in the existing system of education keeping in view the fast moving technological advancements especially the information technology proliferation and its impacts in almost all walks of modern life. Education is the basic tool for holistic development of a society and vis-à-vis the nation. The Ministry of Education coming in to being again will shift the main focus on educational development and incorporating the necessary changes for a continuous improvement at regular intervals and to meet this end, constitution of Rashtriya Shiksha Ayog has been suggested in the draft NEP to act as an umbrella agency to regulate the national education policy by issuing guidelines for the same. The draft report proposes overhauling the education structure by improving the quality of educators through multiple multidisciplinary training programs for teachers, extending right to education (RTE) to class 12 among the age group from 3 to 18 years. The fundamentals of education has been kept in mind to achieve the full human potential by replacing the previous 1964 Kothari commission created academic structure of 10+2 by a new pedagogical and curricular restructuring of 5+3+3+4. A strong personality development foundation through early child hood care and education (ECCE) through a flexible, multifaceted, multilevel play based, activity based and inquiry based learning upto the age of 8 where child will complete pre schooling upto the age of 6 and class 1 & 2 in 7th and 8th year of the age to ensure cumulative brain development. The preparatory stage for grades 3-5 covering ages 8-11 years will mainly focus on activity based learning and discovery through interactive class room sessions to exploit the full potential of the child and also begin to incorporate light text books and concept of more formal learning including reading, writing, speaking, physical education, art, languages, science and mathematics. The middle stage will comprise of 3 years of schooling for classes 6-8 for the age group 11-14 with the introduction of subject teachers for learning and discussion of more abstract concepts to encourage conceptual understanding of any subject like mathematics, arts, social sciences, sciences and humanities with a main focus on experimental learning and explanation of relations among different subjects. The secondary stage will comprise of 4 years of multidisciplinary study from grades 9-12 for the age group 14-18 on a subject oriented style of middle stage but with greater depth, greater critical thinking, greater flexibility and choice of subjects to meet the life aspirations. The NEP proposes no hard separation of learning areas in terms of curricular, co-curricular or extra-curricular areas with holding of school examinations only for three levels, classes 3, 5 and 8 and assessment will shift to a formative style which encourages higher thinking skills, critical thinking and conceptual clarity. The NEP emphasises on ethics and human and constitutional values like empathy, respect for others, cleanliness, courtesy, democratic spirit, spirit of service, respect for public property, scientific temper, liberty, responsibility, equality and justice. The extensive use of technology in teaching and learning and greater access to Divyangs students. The medium of instruction upto grade 5, and preferably till grade 8 and beyond will be home language/ mother tongue/local language. The board examinations will continue but will have less stakes and overall assessment will be on holistic development of the child. To meet the objective a new national assessment centre PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of knowledge for holistic development) will be established. The Bachelor’s degree will be of 4 years with a 1 year exit option with the award of a Certificate and 2 years exit option with a Diploma whereas mid term drop outs will be given the option to complete the degree after a break. The Bachelor’s degree will be multidisciplinary in nature with no rigid separation between arts and sciences. NEP proposes facilitation to top 100 world universities to operate in India and also proposes greater autonomy and power to colleges to grant degrees. The M. Phill degree to be discontinued and the deemed university status to end. The concept of 10 bag-less days has been proposed during which students will be taught a vocation of their choice with an aim to produce skilled manpower on a large scale.
The new education policy envisions an education system rooted in Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming India into a vibrant knowledge society by providing high quality education to all and thereby making India a golobal knowledge super power. The way forward to put the well structured education system into practice according to policy objectives will need careful planning to counter the numerous challenges at each level of implementation. The building of infrastructure especially in the countryside will be a major challenge. The existing infrastructure is quite inadequate and many schools in rural areas are operating from a single kachha room with negligible teaching facilities whatsoever. A large number of children perforce walk over a longer distance to reach School. The new education policy talks of exploitation of technology to ensure undisrupted education even in the adverse situations like today’s pandemic but in some of inaccessible rural areas students have no access to even the basic computing, learning gadgets or smartphones. Enough funds will be needed to enhance the infrastructure at the grass root level. The new education policy envisages on compulsory education from 3 to 18 years of age but implementation of this aspect on ground will need hard and sustainable efforts on the part of policy implementing authorities as well as forthcoming support from local public including elected representatives and there will be a need to educate the parents on the aspect of compulsory education to all children. The next challenge to encounter is to reduce the drop out rates. The drop out rates at the middle and the secondary level are very high. Most of the students leave the school at the age 6-14 and this aspect has become the basic hurdle in the holistic development of our nation due to which a large chunk of population is still living below the poverty line. To reduce and subsequently check the dropping out of the students and bringing back to the schools the dropped out students will be the major achievement of the policy implementors if taken on war footings through guidance and counselling not only to the students but also to the concerned parents . Another major challenges is imparting of inclusive education. There are large number of Divyangs who perforce stay at the mercy of others in the family or in Divyang homes and have no access to education due to lack of travel facilities to the school and also due to non availability of the trained teachers and special infrastructure needed to teach Divyangs. Many of the Divyangs can be trained by creating skill development centres for them to make them self dependent. The more emphasis on maintaining good physical and mental health of students through the provision of nutritious food and compulsory participation in games and sports has to be laid and improvement in mid day meal scheme has to be improved to a larger extent at the implementation level with the provision of funds well in advance.
The New Education policy contains all important ingredients for holistic national development and giving rise to well educated, patriotic and ethically upright Indian society. A well planned strategy, will power and sustainable efforts on the part policy implementors can convert the new vision into reality
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