Spend couple of hours to read the whole National education policy. Yes, I had sniffed it perfectly.
Modi and his Education Minister had drafted it in such a mode of “confuse if you can’t convince”. The silence from vocals proves my theory. The document takes you for a spin and it would take weeks for you to realise what hit you.
Modi cleverly included “regional language” lollipop to silence the usual suspects from South India.
In short they have tailored a beautiful trouser with no opening to insert your leg.
The policy is filled with fancy names and numbers which is common in any Modi speech.
ECCE, SDG, FLN, 5+3+3+4 pedagogical are few of the catchy words and terms that will hook you to the document.
And the policy is laced with humour too. The policy opens up with the importance of shaping up children by age of 6 since that is the appropriate age. Early Child Care and Education is emphasised which can be welcomed with a whistle. But what follows is comical. ECCE trained teacher will be having an educational qualification of 10+2 with 6 months training on child care and education.
Now the serious part. “Board exams will be made easier and they will test core competencies and capacities”. Did you get that? Ok even I did not.
The whole documents takes you through a roller coaster. When you are about to reach the climax on every topic there is a twist waiting. “Planning to implement by 2030”.
When you read that 2030 and 2040 you curse yourself for reading that particular topic 3 times fearing about your younger son who is about to join school will cope up.
The only noticeable change that can be implemented is, HRD ministry will henceforth be called as EDUCATION MINISTRY. Yet another game changing name changer.
The stupidest element of the policy which everyone raised their voice against is, “emphasise on education in regional language”. How on earth is this progress? How are you planning to make it viable? Defence personnel and Central Govt employees who carry their bag and baggages every 3 years to various states of the Nation will find it difficult for their kids. Regional languages must be made optional and every school of every state should have an option to teach in English and Hindi. I know the pain because my kid, till 8th standard had an education map starting from Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh to Kerala to Madhya Pradesh back to Andhra and then to Kerala.
Other than this there is not even a single note point which is worth discussing. Because the topics are filmsy without any solid backing.
The policy is filled with metaphors. Prime minister spoke about the policy achievement. “A child will be given opportunity to learn Maths and Music together”. For what? Please don’t risk the future of India with such illogical stupidity. Government should focus on practicality. Most of the points are copied from private education model which is not new to the Indians. The broad points are collected from various private run organisations and high end schools. Holistic progress cards and Olympiads which are being introduced is not a stranger to private educational schools.
If you find what I had been blabbering till now is not upto the point or if you feel that I have not discussed anything in detail. It is because, here we are reviewing a policy as good as my writing.
But, I would recommend few policies to the Government which can be and must be implemented in a time bound manner rather than leaving loose ends to your policies back it up with a legible road map.
1. Let there be “one nation one curriculum” across all states and schools. That should be the only course followed by schools. This will help in achieving the “common entrance” policy which is part of NEP. This can be done from school year 2021 for 1st standard.
2.Education budget should be increased and immediate allocation of funds to improve infrastructure regarding education should happen.
3. Quality of teaching and teachers are the biggest concern Indian education system is facing. Let the recruitment policy change. Conduct assessment for the teachers yearly. Let it be in form of examinations and interviews.
4. Make English the medium of instruction for all states from class 6. This will lead to a level playing ground for all students.
5. Give basic fundamentals of all subjects till class 8. From class 9 let them have the freedom to choose and by then parents and teachers will know on how good or bad their kid is on a particular subject. Don’t thrust that subject further on him.
6. Encourage students to learn Maths and Science. Envisage new models to make them understand the fundamentals. India’s biggest resource is its human resource.
The biggest opportunity available around the globe is in science and technology. This scenario will get better and better.
Give more importance to subjects like economics and commerce. History and Geography can take a back seat from 9th grade.
Only such concrete proposals as vision documents can be termed as a policy. The policy which has come out reflects the educational qualifications of Prime Minister and his Education Minister. Fake.
