October 25, 2020

National Education Policy – an overview

National Education Policy 2020-

National Education Policy 2020- On 29th July, Wednesday, Ministry of Human Resource Development implemented a New Education Policy, replacing 34 year old National Policy On Education, wherein the government took many revolutionary steps-

  1. There will be no board exams in the 10th Class, instead the Board Exam will be held in 12th Class only
  2. Now students can learn through their mother language, ie if they are in Rajasthan then their education will be in Rajasthani Language. The trend of imposition of English on schools has been dislodged. The language English will be taught separately just like earlier Hindi was being taught.
  3. The Ministry mainly focused on making the students understand the concept instead of making them to learn.
  4. The Draft also suggests that students even from 6th class will be able to join internship in the field of their choice.
  5. After eliminating the form of 12+2, the New Policy places the 5+3+3+4 system in the schools.

Role of Educators starting from Primary Classes to the Senior Most one In National Education Policy-

While the country still grapples with a pandemic and the school-going children sitting at home , some learning online and others not being able to afford it, India welcomed the National Education Policy in July 2020. One of the major problems that formal education in India faces is the Quantity and Quality of Teachers. When the National Education Policy made bold changes in school education, it has also kept in mind the teachers and strives to make their lives less miserable.

The current situation of the teachers, both in private and public schools is to complete the curriculum and prepare the student to score well.Even the RTE Act of 2009 mentions in Sub-Section 1 of Section 24 that the teachers should complete the syllabus. This might shift the focus of the teachers from teaching concepts for the child to understand rushing through the syllabus to complete it.

In light of this prevalent situation, NEP suggests how teachers would now be focusing on teaching subjects in the curriculum and teaching subjects in the curriculum and teaching competencies that facilitate holistic development, learning, involving an understanding of sociology, philosophy , education and the like, which is why stand- alone teacher education institutes will not have to convert into multidisciplinary institutes that would give teachers a better perspective of a learner and the curriculum. Multidisciplinary higher education institutes that would teachers a Multidisciplinary Higher Education institutes would also have faculty from a range of domains to be able to give a multidisciplinary understanding to the teachers.

The degree could be a pre- requisite as one would also have to take exams for various specific subjects subjects by the National Testing Agency (NTA) as well . Once done with that , the candidate will have to undergo an interview that the policy assumes will help the recruiters understand the teacher better with blending the theoretical and the pragmatic aspects better. Indians obsess over IITs and IIMs for how rigorous they are, this way they could also come to realise the hard work that puts into becoming a teacher.

Rote Learning Solution in National Education Policy

Students are made to memorise information through the method of regular repetition referred to as the rote learning method. They are never introduced to its evils, throughout their lives. The curriculum itself is designed in a way that stuck the students ability to learn on their own.

With the introduction of NEP , multiple Changes will be brought in the currently suffering system.

The most significant of all the changes is the extension of the Right To Education from age 14 to 18. This will reduce atrocities that children of the said age group face in the form of child labor and child marriage . This will help bring help the overall literacy rate in India up.

NEP would make it compulsory for the schools to engage students in active learning to engage students in active learning through class participation by focusing more on dialogue exchange , case studies and practical on and off campus experience that will make learning fun and meaningful.

To discourage the idea of one size fits all and to work towards personalising education, NEP has introduced the Holistic Report Card for students which will not only inform them about the marks obtained by them in subject but also their skills and other important points. Apart from the teachers, the teachers , the report card will also be reviewed by students

National Education Policy Tackling Preparation of Education in Remote Areas

The purpose of the National Education Policy for Rural and Remote Areas is to-

  1. Provide a framework for the development of nationally agreed policies and support services.
  2. Promote consistency in the delivery of high quality education services to rural and remote students and their families
  3. Provide preference points and guidance for Non-Government providers of services and support for education in rural and remote areas.
  4. Facilitate partnership building between government providers and non-governments providers of services and support related to the provision of education in regional, rural and remote location factors

Important Factors of Policy- Place of local commitment and ownership of programs that met locally specific needs. Function of collaborative action between industry, civic and education partners. Need for predictable and sustained funding. Role of infrastructure that enabled development.

National Education Policy Solving Multifold Problems

Inclusion is the theme of the policy beyond technology as well. The National Education Policy emphasises universal access to schools and aims to bring two crore out-of-school children back into the the educational mainstream. It also aims to double the gross enrolment ratio in higher education including vocational education from 26.3% in 2018 to 50% by 2035 with an additional 3.5 crore new seats. In order to achieve all this , public financing of education by states and centre must grow the current 4.43% of GDP to 6%. This will reduce gender wide gap in the country.

The National Education Policy 2020 envisions an India- Centric Education system that contributes directly to transforming our nation sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledgeable society by providing high-quality education to all which will surely help in the holistic development of the society. If everyone would receive the benefit of education where there will be no gender inequality, crime rates will be low because everyone would be literate and will have the good amount of knowledge of criminal acts and their consequences which they will commit in the society.

There will be respect for women where there will low crime rates against the women and no women would get raped , molested etc when there will be a literate society and no income inequality will be there because education policy has been framed to constitute and solve the problems of all the sections of the society. It includes even the smallest issues which can be solved through everyone’s active participation and hence National Education Policy includes every guidelines of the society which can be solved through a literate population.

Languages in National Education Policy

The policy raises the importance of mother tongue and regional languages. Medium of instruction until class 5 and preferably beyond should be in these languages. Sanskrit and Foreign Languages will also be given emphasis . The Policy also states that no language will be imposed on the students.

Shortly, after the release of the policy, the government clarified that the language policy in NEP is a broad guideline, and it was up to states. But the education policy of 1986 and the right to education act 2009 promoted usage of the mother tongue as an advisory guideline.

According to me , it’s a good initiative taken by the government because an infant learns the new concepts, skills both written as well as spoken better in his/her mother tongue and what else do we want where a student is learning and grasping the concepts faster and taking interest in his subject without any confusion and problem basically in a state language from grade 1st to 5th .

Though there was a criticism regarding the inclusion of Hindi Language in Southern Indian States but the government has clearly clarified that there will be no imposition of any language on any student. It’s up to their choice. We can expect a bright and a holistic development of a student only when he can grasps every concepts easily in his own mother tongue and thus this is the great initiative taken by the government.

Conclusion

So the final conclusion that can be drawn is that the government has taken into consideration the overall problems that the students are generally facing in their school curriculum due to the current flawed system of the education, how the students have to bear the brunt of tensions and constant fear regarding completion of assignments, marks, parents and teachers taunts and most importantly how the current system of the education affects their social, mental and emotional health and how they can become victim of the current flawed education system in the country.

Further, there was no practical as well as social sphere in the rot learning education system in India and how students find education system boring and were always seems to be disinterested regarding studies. So the New Education Policy 2020 was a need of an hour and hence the initiative taken by the government was acknowledged by larger sections of the society which includes even the lowest sections of the country. So, let’s hope of a brighter future and good execution of this education policy which will create brighter minds and increase their skills and knowledge which will help them in an overall growth and making their lives smoother.

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