In his book, the management expert and educationist, Arindam Chowdary, encapsulated the requisites for success in an acronym ASK, short for Attitude, Skill and Knowledge. Indian education system till now prioritized these capabilities in reverse order with more knowledge i.e. theory, less skills and lesser attitude. The New Education Policy-2020 unveiled by the Prime Minister Modi seeks to reverse these priorities.
The most important recommendation of the policy is that education in the primary level must be taught in the vernacular. This is recommended up to first five years of formal education but I feel strongly that it must be extended for first ten years with stress on functional English that must teach writing, reading and speaking skills dispensing with literature. In the last two years of school education, one subject with literature with a stress on Indian English writers may be added with an eye to inculcate the taste for literature and impart national cultural and ethical values.
In South Korea, skill development is given highest importance and no person is allowed to undertake any repair activity without a certificate from a professional body. In India, even big multi-storied buildings are constructed by Mestris without any scientific knowledge. Most electricians receive legacy training rather than professional. No wonder even in huge buildings, short circuits are common. In most advanced countries, the householders attend to simple electric, plumbing, cleaning and even painting works and also minor repairs to their vehicles and house appliances.
While dispensing with M.Phil is desirable, the standard of Ph.Ds, which has nosedived after making it a prerequisite for promotions, must be drastically improved by including in their evaluation the experts from industry and from reputed foreign institutions.
It cannot be gainsaid that most institutions including technical ones at all levels are inappropriately and inadequately equipped to give training in skill impartation. Practical examinations are a farce. No wonder, barring a few institutions, inventions from educational institutions are conspicuous by their absence. Thus the stress on development of vocational skills and restricting the theoretical knowledge to essential fundamentals at the pre-graduate levels will help to cater to the needs of students of widely different intelligent levels,
The greatest fault with the syllabi determination at all levels is that mostly it is decided by the teachers themselves who in almost all cases except in very higher educational institutions like IITs, IIMs lack knowledge about the latest operational requirements of employers. So I recommend that syllabi at each level, particularly from upper school level must be handed over to committees having a judicious mix of researchers, academicians, patent holders and most importantly the representatives of the employers from all areas of production and the service delivery organisations.
Identification of student proclivities at school level is quite an innovative recommendation. But this will be of no use without providing the required support to such special students to realise their potential and contribute to the nation.
Another path breaking change suggested by the Policy is complete freedom given to the students in choosing the subjects instead of restricting them at a particular course during the entire period of graduation. To facilitate this, the course content must be modularised and certificates must be given for each module so that without having to complete the graduation, those who need immediate employment can be able to get employment in the areas related to the modules they cleared. For example a student studying computer course on completion of a module on Java or big data or artificial intelligence should be able to get a certificate acceptable to all the employers. The performance evaluation should be of a standard that should be decided by the employers in each particular module and the teaching must also be done at that level so that on- job training time can be minimized.
This Policy expects the students to attend graduation by the age of 15. I think this is quite impracticable even though the students are slated to join schools on completion of 3rd year. This may be useful to those who have good educational environment in their houses which most students lack. This may perpetuate the elitist bias in the education. The previous age-timeline for education with student joining school at the age of six may be continued
At present, in professional courses, the students are completing graduation by 21 and in non professional courses by 20. So telescoping another two years of education by the age of 18 is by all means is premature and loaded against rural students.
The goals prescribed for 100 per cent gross enrolment ratio by 2035 and cent per cent literacy by 2030 are very ambitious what with the pathetic infrastructure available at present and the kind of resources that are being allocated to education at present.
The recommendation for common regulatory body for all types of higher education institutions except Law and Medicine is a step in the right direction but regulation per se should be minimum as freedom is a precondition for efficacy in higher education.
Permission for foreign universities particularly the top notch universities to establish their branches in India will boost educational costs which are already very high and restrict such quality education only to the very rich people leading further educational inequality though it may minimize outflow of foreign exchange on account of immigrant students. But in the long run this may make India an educational hub as in the hoary past of Nalanda provided visionary and imaginative efforts are directed towards this end.
Education is in concurrent list and so a common entrance examination for the entire country may be desirable from the point of you of establishing a common standard but may not be acceptable to States as there is a vast difference among the educational standards among the states particularly between those in the south and the north.
The recommendation of the students having a single progress card throughout their education recording their performance and other related life skills, though laudatory, requires a perfect system to eliminate teacher bias. The inclusion of data relating to teachers evaluation in that card will lead to unnecessary manipulation and will undermine the very purpose.
At present, there is a general objection among the teachers that quite a good amount of their time is taken up by the tabulation work. The recommended Elimination of examinations will reduce this work but writing of the progress reports which is mandatory may entail quite a lot of work on the part of the teachers. So, this report must be so designed that it should not take much time. It is better to develop a nationwide database of the students with their performances so that their skill levels can be of immense benefit to the employers, researchers and academicians and particularly to Governments for evaluation of progress and mid-course improvement of the educational systems.
On the whole the new education policy has made many recommendations that if properly implemented will make our country an educational centre of the world and raise our education standards to the level of developed countries which is one of the main ambitions of the present government.
PRASAD MANDUVA
AUTHOR IS A WRITER AND ACADEMICIAN
Post a Comment