“The aim for India by 2040 is to have an education system that is second to none ,
with equitable access to the highest – equality education for all learners regardless
of social or economic background”.
Share some ideas through which you can achieve this aim.
Answers
Answer:
The recent National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in India comes 34 years after the previous policy, announced in 1986 and revised in 1992. It took six years of work and consultations with thousands of educators, policymakers, and members of civil society. It was truly a democratic effort and is highly aspirational, aiming for India to “have an education system by 2040, that is second to none, with equitable access to the highest quality education for all learners, regardless of social and economic background.”
The NEP’s chief purpose is to reform the education system and bridge the gap between current learning outcomes and those desired. Recognizing the need to keep up with a rapidly changing world and knowledge landscape, the NEP 2020 articulates that “[t]he purpose of the education system is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values. It aims at producing engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive and plural society as envisaged by our constitution.”
Such strong emphasis on equity and quality is laudable, as is the effort to broaden the scope of “quality education.” The policy proposes a move away from content-heavy curricula in order “to make space for critical thinking, more holistic, inquiry-based, discovery-based, discussion-based and analysis-based learning.” Giving equal importance to co-curricular activities (i.e., arts, sports, vocational skills), it mandates a shift toward multidisciplinary education, away from rigid silos of “arts,” “science,” and “commerce” streams, with renewed focus on 21st century skills. This is a welcome breath of fresh air, given that the current system is strongly driven by rote learning and content-based examinations, divorced from any real application to life.
Below are the most notable points of reform proposed by the NEP 2020:
Inclusion of early childhood education: Education will begin at age 3, rather than at age 6 for students in first grade, to focus on children’s foundational years (ages 3-8). Previously, children’s right to education applied to grades one through eight (6-14 years); the NEP aims to extend this right to children ages 3-18. This is particularly relevant for public schools, which serve a majority of children from low-income families and who, compared to middle-class families, often lack preschool education, thereby widening the gap between them further.
A focus on equity and inclusion: An entire section is devoted to the inclusion of Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDGs), broadly categorized as girls, transgender and children with special needs, children from rural areas, Dalits, and victims of trafficking. Additionally, it recognizes that children with disabilities are not receiving the attention required to learn and thrive in schools, primarily because teachers are simply not trained or equipped to address their learning needs. Thus, it makes an effort to ensure teachers are adequately prepared in the area of special education. Lastly, the NEP recognizes that children in SEDGs are those who most frequently are unenrolled, drop out, and learn less and “recommends that the policies and schemes designed to include students in SEDGs … should be especially targeted towards girls.”
An expanded concept of “quality”: Given the poor basic literacy and numeracy outcomes reported, the new NEP aims to create a solid foundation for children during their early development by establishing a National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy that would prioritize “the development of communication and early language, literacy and numeracy.” The NEP also calls for much-needed teacher education reform, including an overhaul of pre-service programs, including the B.Ed, and for the first time, mental health and social-emotional learning receive a strong mention. The need to leverage technology is also recognized, along with intentions to extend optical fibers to the remotest villages and achieve universal digital access and literacy.