Dr. Tapan Misra : Sr. Adviser at ISRO. 12th. August, 2020. National Education Policy 2020 was announced very recently, on the last day of July. NEP 2020 looks to have been broadly accepted across political and ideological spectrum, except a few muted criticisms here and there. Certain salient points of NEP 2020 are:
• Investment in education is proposed to be hiked to 6% from 4% of GDP
• Emphasis on e-content, as the realisation has dawned that dominance of books as medium of knowledge, since the days of Nalanda, Taxila, Alexandria, is fading. New media like mobiles, pads, computers have ushered in App based tuition and education. They have already started defining knowledge medium.
• Strict boundaries of knowledge streams are proposed to be blurred. Science students need to learn soft contents of arts and vice versa.
• Sanskrit is proposed to be given right ful place. Our collective civilisational ethos are being carried in our most modern yet ancient language. Somehow, as a nation we were on the path of harakiri by wilfully ignoring our civilisation’s blood flow.
• Education is aimed to be made holistic with assessment of all round qualities. Shackle of examination is there but is proposed to be softened and far paced. I wish the bane of tution classes should go into oblivion with time.
• Learning is sought to be cotraveller with education.
• It is heartening to see that nutrition is sought to be given pride pedestal in our educational system. Long before our educationists, a self educated political wise man, Late Kamraj in early sixties, and film star turned politician, Late MGR, in early eighties, realised importance of nutrition in education. They were first implementers of Mid Day Meal scheme. Inclusion of concept of nutrition as integral part of education, in NEP, is a tribute to these visionaries.
• NEP accepts that coding languages are going to be part of our early learning of our natural languages.
• In higher education, a flexible exit and entry scheme is a welcome step. We are not going to brand a student “failed” after struggling for years.
• Mother tongue is sought to be given a pride of place in early schooling. At the same time three language formula has been reintroduced in higher schooling.
• Inclusion of Vocational training and internship on different levels of education is designed to relate knowledge with practical world.
• Education is aimed to make India, a knowledge super power by 2035. More importantly, India has decided on a national goal, which was missing in our boistrous democracy.
I personally feel, connecting education with nature is equally important as connecting to real world. I wish this aspect should have been emphasised more. Both of our broad knowledge systems , science and arts are essentially logical and emotional perception of nature and beauty of a rhythm in its seemingly disconsonant manifestations, as sensed by our five senses. Science and Arts are simply two different perceptions of nature in two different sets of muscles in human brain.
The revolutionary change is the proposal of replacement of 10+2 system with 5+3+3+4 system. Now as a policy, 3 years preschool is mandatory in new policy. Preschool was not mandatory in earlier system. This means a child between age 3 to 5 years, will spend waking hours in school. He or she will have very less time to explore his surroundings, immediate nature. Child will spend very less time, with his family, specially grand parents, specially during waking hours. In my view, children spend best of their time in companion with people, of grand parent’s age group. Normally people of this age group, have seen the life in 360 degree. They are repository of value system. Grand parents tend to tell very very funny stories with an aim to impart cultural or moral value system. These children generally grow up as persons with values. Teachers of parent’s age impart knowledge, teacher’s of grand parent’s age tend to fortify social, cultural and moral ethics. Knowledge makes you competent to survive and compete in life’s struggles. But ethics decides your propensity to choose right paths over wrong ones.
Industrial-cum-economic growth and social well being not only depend upon education but also ethical quotient of persons involved. Ethics is the basis of product quality and practices; basis of accuracies of research. Even financial dealings are smoothened, if there is a mutual conviction of ethical behaviour of the parties involved. Education edifice, devoid of inculcation of value system, will not build a nation, which history should be proud of in future.
The way we approach life, we select the right approach towards solution, we convert education to learning, the way we express our thought process, our attitude to learn newer knowledge – are surprisingly contributed by our primary education to a great extent. Higher education is important. But primary education is equally important and should be given emphasis not by verbal platitudes but by real implementation in schools and employing right teachers at primary level.
Surprising, foundation of education is given lower status, weakening the structure itself to stand up to tremors and vicissitudes of life. The building and other infrastructure of primary schools are less than adequate. What is more painful is the quality of teachers. Primary teaching should have attracted quality brains. This is only possible if teachers are paid equivalent or more salary than high school teachers. Unfortunately primary teachers are paid the lowest. Many primary schools have teachers on casual basis, drawing salary less than minimum assured wages of unskilled labourers. As is famously said, if you give peanuts, you get monkeys. No wonder, we get primary teachers who are mostly not fit for shaping futures of tender minds. But there are exceptions.
I always get a feeling, our scientific, engineering and other intellectual and aesthetic achievements are not commensurate with the investments we have made in higher education, research and cream institutions and laboratories in last seven decades. Probably, much less than expected grooming in primary education stage, has dominant influence in less than expected intellectual outcome. I do subscribe that there are many other influences. But they are not dominant ones and many of these reasons crop up due to primary cause itself i.e., deficiencies in primary education. I wish, the lion’s share of proposed additional investment in NEP as extra 2% of GDP, is allocated to building infrastructure of primary schools and attracting best of minds in this field. Realisation of our avowed goal of achieving knowledge super power status by 2035 will depend significantly on how we strengthen foundation of our education system.
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