Prof. Raj Shree Dhar
“NEP 2020 will ensure the holistic development of learners. We have to advance our students with 21st-century skills. These 21st Century skills will be: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Curiosity, Communication,” – Narendra Modi.
In the light of any opportunity being presented, we need to be able to have frank, evidence-based discussions about ‘Why?’ followed by close considerations of ‘How?’ with a full slate of options in view. The New Education Policy (NEP)-2020 of India, in keeping with this globally successful approach, expects all institutions to scale up and become multidisciplinary. If the existing top Indian institutions and universities can expand in size and add more disciplines, this will provide them with the scale and disciplinary diversity needed to be included in the world’s top research universities. It may also be possible to merge some of the existing institutions.
India also has a sizable cadre of accomplished academicians and researchers – both within the country and as part of the Diaspora. Creating a productive academic environment for the most talented academics requires careful attention, good organization and adequate funding. The NEP is set to change this. “We are now moving from ‘what to think’ to ‘how to think’ approach in our education system,”. The NEP aims to focus on holistic development of students and to ensure this, it has proposed no hard separation of curricular, extra and co-curricular, arts and science, sports and vocational crafts. It also aims to replace rote learning and mugging for exams with conceptual understanding of the curriculum by introducing transformed pedagogy by 2022 that will promote skill based and digital learning. At a time of unprecedented change, advancement in science and technology has become an important determinant in India’s transformation into an Atma-Nirbhar global leader. With the provision of facilities like clean drinking water, pleasant campuses, vaccination drive, house providing, implementation of New Education Policy is going on a fast pace.
Innovations in evaluation methods are currently taking place at the margins. Despite the practicalities, there is a perception that all students – irrespective of their academic competence – prefer creative assignments and evaluations than the traditional modes. In the future, alternative assessments will take place in real-time and be faster, more frequent and formative. With technologies like AI, supported by academic creativity, alternative methods can be scaled up. But this needs to be a priority in faculty training programmes and within the academic machinery. Used optimally, alternative assessment systems can free educators up from the many administrative routines associated with evaluation and they can ensure better objectivity, comparability and transparency. Just as information sometimes masks true knowledge, exam scores may disguise true student outcomes. Instead of fitting a range of scores into a normal distribution pattern, India can herald in an assessment era in which teachers can save significant time and resources spent on routine grading and instead spend them on meaningful student engagement. An Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) is proposed to be established which will digitally store the academic credits earned by the student at an exit point, that can then be used at re-entry and for a higher award from the same or other institution(s).
The foundation of innovation will be built through the creative efforts of the youth and children, and we must inculcate a scientific and innovative temperament in them and add impetus to ‘vocal for local’. With sweeping changes in policy, a paradigm shift in the processes of learning will be needed as they become more driven by critical thinking and innovation. The NEP has correctly identified this as an area to be developed and has proposed establishing a National Research Foundation which will have significant funds for supporting research in four areas – technology, science, social science and arts and humanities. The NEP also suggests that the different ministries should set aside funds for research, increase investment in research and enhance linkages of universities with the economy and society. Overall, if these measures are implemented well, it will enhance the level of research in universities while making them more relevant for society and more globally competitive.
At first, it seems strange that vocational education should appear under higher education, but the strategy soon becomes clear. It has been estimated that less than 5% of India’s workforce in the 19-24 age group has received formal vocational education, whereas it is 52% in the United States, 74% in Germany and 96% in South Korea. The reason for this is because vocational education is perceived to be inferior to mainstream education and is meant largely for students who have dropped out of early schooling. These students have no future pathways to higher levels of education. The policy, therefore, proposes that vocational education programmes be integrated in a phased manner into mainstream education at all levels, from secondary onwards to higher education. It recommends that by 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education system should have been exposed to vocational education. Higher education institutions are to offer vocational education either on their own or in partnership with industry.
The Government of the Union Territory of J&K aims at nurturing the talents for a self-reliant India, to create a wealth of skilled human capital, structural reforms to upgrade curriculum and infrastructure, pedagogy, professional and qualitative research with a synthesis of three elements-teacher, students, and curriculum, underlining to make teaching-learning a joy rather than a burden, a foundation for quality research, so as to inspire and strengthen the culture of research in universities and transform this into a sort of movement, that guarantees the disadvantaged groups access to quality education, introduction of technology to boost local industry, to preserve local crafts, to revitalize the sectors of handicrafts, horticulture and agriculture, internships and apprenticeships, transparency in regulations governing employments, the pro-active approach of teachers and educationists, on ground implementation and timely intervention in the practical education system to create an employable force of youth, which is the need of the hour to make the union territory prosperous and progressive, as the L.G. of the UT of J&K had also pointed out in a conference involving the UT’s universities and colleges.
The Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is working hard to implement NEP and bring revolutionary changes in the UT’s education system to move ahead to become a role model for the creation of an India of the future. The need is to prepare a road-map for short-term and long-term proposals and monitoring for the next ten years through census based achievement survey to be discussed with stake holders for their opinions and suggestions, the establishment of Jammu and Kashmir Education Commission (JKEC), JK regulatory bodies etc. The task force has to suggest the administrative and financial implications in the implementation of NEP, suggest the changes which will have to be initiated in the existing syllabi and suggest a timeline for the adoption of such changes as part of the implementation of NEP, propose the most appropriate mechanism for incorporating and formalizing implied activities. The faculty should be involved in quality research by publishing in the top 100 journals, attract the students with novel ideas, dedicated cultural, literary and sports festivals for the students, accreditation of all institutes and apt mentoring for the same , e-content of high quality and online courses, promotion of local languages, ‘Manodarpan’ -counselling for physical and emotional well-being, a vibrant campus life with clubs in sports, cultural, eco, community service, scholarships for disadvantaged groups. Teaching practices have to be changed and for this to become effective, institutions & schools need a shared vision, collaborative practices, distributive leadership and a rigorous curriculum and teaching should build skills like communication, research, thinking, creating enquiry, moving from content to concepts or the big ideas, academic excellence, so as to be able to guide and mould children into knowledgeable and optimistic communicators, reflective and inquisitive explorators and curious and confident adults.
“Exploration is the engine that drives innovation. Innovation drives economic growth. So, let’s all go exploring.” -Edith Widder.
(The author is Principal, GDC Jindrah and a member in the taskforce of NEP.)
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