Why should you care about the National Educational Policy draft?
The National Education Policy draft 2019 that was released recently, will form the foundation of BJP led Government’s educational objectives. The most awaited draft was finally released and it seems like a great step. In this article, I focus on some salient features of the ‘school education’ part of the draft. ‘The Educational department of India has just woken up to see what education in the country looks like’, said one of my friends on the release of the draft. It has been almost 30 years since the last draft and the world has seen has a lot of changes. Before you start reading this, imagine a child around you, preferably someone who you talk to or meet on a daily basis. We (You and me), will be referring to that child as ‘Friend’.
In 1997, having a mobile phone was rare and it meant a big achievement. Today, it is estimated that there are around 800+ million mobile phone users in India. In 2016, it was found that more than 60% of children spend 4+ hours on mobile. I am sure that our ‘Friend’ is definitely a person who asks for your mobile when you meet.
A small company named Google was started in 1998 and currently, it processes almost 40,000 search queries every second. Families have become smaller and the population size has become bigger. Technology has grown to an extent where in the last twenty years, 3500 ed-tech startups were started to cater the educational needs. Our friend’s school has at least one of the tech startups working with their school. If no, then it means that Friend is most probably studying in a Government school in a rural area. In the recent Prosperity Index Rankings, India was ranked 104th in education prosperity. While there are have been significant and commendable initiatives to make the education system better, there was something that failed and it is evident.
When the Government finally realised the essence and impact of these changes, the NEP draft 2019 is ambitious and developed by experts with ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking (Says Kasturirangan in the Introduction part). In spite of that, there were almost 75 thousand suggestions the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The Ministry is highly appreciated to have created that platform to suggest changes and strengthen public opinion to an extent.
Right to Education for all 18 years: Firstly, the Right To Education (2009) provides free and compulsory education to everyone from the age of 6 to 14. The RTE that focused on age 6–14 years of age, kind of created a lack of focus on up to 6 years. The current draft solves it — RTE will provide access to education for all the 18 years. However, it does not promise the quality of education. Seems good, but what it does look like currently?
In a recent survey by ASER (Annual Status of Education Report), only 50% of class 5 students were able to read a class 2 text. Only a quarter of children in grade 3 are at ‘grade level’, which means that they need strong support in their foundational literacy and numeracy skills. The new policy has analyzed the reasons and has come up with a 2 step curriculum — the first step for age 0 -3 (For parents and teachers) and the second step for age 3–8-year-old children. This means that Friend‘s parents will have to learn how to teach Friend at home. This is not going to be simple, especially looking at the holistic development and the need for multiple interventions. Like it is already mentioned in the draft, the interventions are ranging from nutritional development to training of Anganwadi teachers. This makes it important on how the impact is evaluated. There has to be a separate entity that would track and focus on these developments in every individual rather than multiple entities having a part of the information of the individual.
Change in curriculum framework: The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) lays the foundation for the NCERT to develop syllabi and books. The current draft suggests some significant improvements by focusing on critical thinking and creativity to a greater extent along with 21st-century skills. Until 3rd standard, Friend will not have many traditional lectures. Looks like a great idea?
‘‘Academic pressure’’ is one the major problems that children face nowadays. Friend has definitely told you how stressful exams are. I’m sure that you haven’t seen Friend playing out-door physical games as you did during your childhood. A lot of focus is given to developing the skills that would give them a better monetary benefit at a later point in time. (Oh, the calculus and integrals) Along with the change in curriculum, the schools have to provide children with their space to explore other fields which were always considered as extra-curricular. It’ll all change now as per the draft and Friend can now practice music, dance, art, etc without calling it as an extra-curricular activity. What would be the point if Friend does it all in school and is pressurised to study at home? Maybe you must encourage Friend’s parents on the importance of other activities like music, dance, art, etc.
But it becomes tricky on the mindset change that has to be brought in Friend’s parents and teachers for the same. Furthermore, bringing that shift in academics (remember the mathematics or science teacher who took special classes on Saturdays?), recruiting more teachers who would teach music, dance, etc, especially in low-income schools, looks almost impossible in the near future, at least until 2025. Most of the schools do not have art or physical education classes.
Imagine that both the above happens magically. But wait, magic? Does it work on teachers?
Training of teachers: Though the B.Ed program is proposed to be made as a 4-year program, there is little that can be done for teachers who are already employed. This is a serious concern because, in the recent Common Teachers Eligibility Test, only 15 per cent out of the teachers who appeared, cleared the examination in the secondary school category. Adding to it, Friend’s teacher is already frustrated because of very less pay and too many students and too much work. Training the current teachers with the new set of curriculum changes must happen gradually and not drastically. The system has to be changed, holistically, but one step at a time.
We always have a great plan: Education has been a state agenda to ensure that it is not a one-size-fits-all system. Every state decides its priorities according to the specific needs of the students. In this process, it is important to ensure that the long-term strategic goals and developments are uninjured. Likewise, the teachers should be able to not just deliver lectures one at a time but be able to see the arc of transformation for the students.
The above points are definitely only a small part of the draft but let’s stop here. At the first reading, these points sound very ambitious and in a few cases, almost not possible. When we read it, there are several experiences or observations that come to our mind, and when we compare, we might just lose hope thinking it is impossible. ‘Out-of-the-box’ thinking are those ideas that almost looks impossible at first sight. But not to miss out that they are definitely achievable, maybe now or later.
Imagine again (it is free of cost) — all of the above is going to happen.
‘If you can dream of it, then you can make it a reality’. Formal education happens in schools, however, the Friend learns from everyone and every place around. Imagine a scenario where Friend learns the importance of peace through a theatre activity in school and comes home to only witness violence in reality. Another scenario of Friend learning about secularism in school through group activities and coming home to realise that their society doesn’t allow people from other religion. Whenever we refer to education, we need to call it the ‘educational system’ and not ‘schools’. Schools are a part of this bigger ‘educational system’ which also comprises of parents, neighbours, political leaders, entrepreneurs, institutions, etc. When the change is not visible, then the problem is not necessarily in school, but from any of the other groups of people. People, policies and institutions must align with the educational policy to make it come true.
Though there are several changes and challenges with the draft, which I haven’t spoken much on, changes in the education system have to be brought irrespectively. School transformation that has happened in Delhi looks like a dream for all the Government schools in India. One of the major reasons that it was possible to work on holistic development, is by working with everyone from parents to policies. If you are wondering how a school transformation happens, watch the recent Tamil movie “Ratchasi”. These models and movies can help each of us understand how we can be the creator of the best educational system. This policy will come true, Friend will have the best education, only when YOU and ME, at any capacity we are in, enable this to children in all possible ways. If you want to know how you can be an enabler for Friend, drop me a message (gokul.r@ashoka.edu.in) - we can talk and figure out ways.
Update: The Government has recently announced that it will launch the biggest teacher training program for almost 42 lakh teachers.