The Union government’s decision of putting the draft for new National Education Policy (NEP) in public domain for discussion, feedback, suggestions, etc, is laudable as the public participation exercise will definitely formulate an effective NEP 2019 which will go a long way in truly ensuring quality education in our public institutions especially to students from disadvantaged background, for whom government schools and colleges are the only avenue for their social and economic advancement. The draft NEP prescribed for schools, besides other things, includes enhancing of learning skills, restructuring curriculum and redesigning Board exam format. Some of the broad draft recommendations on school education:
Pre-primary education
The draft NEP recommends that early childhood care and education (ECCE) of children in the age group 3 to 6 years be made an integral part of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. Once ECCE becomes a justifiable right, it will be “obligatory for public education system to provide appropriate nursery care and quality educational infrastructure, facilities and educators to all children in the age group 3 to 6 years.”
To strengthen and expand ECCE, the draft policy recommends increased investment in existing ‘anganwadi’ centres (meant for providing basic nutrition, healthcare and pre-school education to 3 to 6-year-olds), locating ‘anganwadi’ centres in primary schools, encouraging primary schools to add pre-school, and building high quality standalone pre-schools in areas where existing ‘anganwadis’ and primary schools are not able to properly fulfill ECCE requirements.
Curriculum and Pedagogy
The draft NEP pitches for reconfiguration of curriculum and pedagogy in a “5+3+3+4” design, which recognises different stages of development of cognitive abilities in children. This corresponds to the age groups 3 to 8 years (foundation stage), 8 to 11 years (preparatory stage), 11 to 14 years (middle stage) and 14 to 18 years (secondary stage).
The foundational phase (from three years of pre-school to Grade 2), the draft policy recommends, should comprise five years of flexible ‘play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based’ learning and interaction.’ This is followed by a preparatory phase consisting of three years (Grades 3, 4 and 5) of basic education incorporating some textbooks as well as aspects of more formal classroom learning. The next three years of middle school education (Grades 6, 7 and 8) would involve developing more abstract thinking and subject teaching leading up to a secondary education phase of four years (Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12).
Board exam restructure
Class 10 and 12 Board examinations, according to the draft NEP, should serve as a ‘check for basic learning, skills and analysis’, which one should pass comfortably without coaching and cramming. The draft policy calls for changes including allowing students to sit for the examination twice in any given school year. “Eventually, when computerised adaptive testing becomes widely available, multiple attempts for Board examinations could be allowed.”
Yes, NEP drafting committee has done its job, and the government has put the draft policy up for public scrutiny. It is our job now to offer feedback and suggestions. Once views and feedback is received, the government will finalise the policy and move it in Parliament.
Meanwhile, the HRD Ministry is undertaking a nationwide survey of infrastructure and facilities in all government and government-aided schools in the country. ‘Shagunotsav’, as the survey/programme has been named, is a mega exercise. It involves some 73000 surveyors and 11,85,227 schools in 36 States and UTs. What sets apart this survey from previous attempts is that the surveyors will be doing on-the-ground assessment of the schools. The aim of the survey is two-fold. One is that the HRD Ministry will be able to evaluate the authenticity of data provided to it by the states. Importantly, the data will provide policy makers and planners valuable insights to chart out future priorities in the education sector.
Although programmes like the ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ enabled successive governments at the centre and the States to improve the country’s ramshackle government school infrastructure, the facilities provided in these schools remain limited and stand in the way of children’s learning. Indeed, many school buildings are buildings only in name. Especially in remote, rural areas, school buildings do not have all ways or even a proper roof. Teaching often takes place in the open, where children are made to suffer all sorts of inconvenience and vagaries of nature. In remote mountainous areas, children still have to walk several kilometres to get to school. With computer and software companies getting involved in the education sector, several schools now have computers – this is aimed at bridging the digital divide. However, what use is computer when there is no electricity?
There is the danger that the data collected under ‘Shagunotsav’ will remain unused in the HRD Ministry’s computers. That would be a pity but is not an unknown outcome in India. The date should be put to good use, and that will be possible only if the budgetary allocation for education is increased. Currently, India spends just around 3% of GDP on education. For several decades now, academics and education experts have been calling for a 6% allocation.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
