Education in School and NEP 2020: The Pace of Reform has to be Relatively High

The recommendations of NEP 2020 in the Indian context are made in the context of various challenges being faced by the school education sector. Some of the challenges which are being currently faced in the Indian school education sector are the problem of multi-board syndrome, the problem of mismatch/un-standardization & lack of quality, the focus being on memory rather than learning outcomes, a large scale of dropouts at various levels in schools, and people from the disadvantaged groups & remote areas. The challenges were overcome through the recommendations made in NEP 2020. These recommendations were made so as to bring the Indian school education up-to-date as compared to the international standards.

Proposed school structure including ECCE, defined as four major components “(5+3+3+4)”. The age criteria to enter a school by a child shall be 3 years, duration shall be 15 years, and they will graduate from schools by the age of 18 years. This shows that the presently prevailing school system, either at the nursery school level or at the primary school level, which can also be disorganized, shall now be included within an organized system.

All children from 3-18 years shall be offered "free and quality education" by the year 2030. Gross Enrolment Ratio of 100 Percent to be attained by 2035. The education should go up to 5th standards, according to the report, and this should be in “Mother Tongue” or “Regional Language”. However, since children can easily adapt to learning various languages, the 3 language formula is fine and can remain unchanged.

Change over to an Outcome Based System: School education must change over from being an input-based system to an outcome-based system. So, onwards, 'understanding/comprehending/thinking ability' as well as 'practical applications' come into play. The National Curriculum Framework must take up the responsibility of making this change happen.

 The second major recommendation proposed by this education pattern is that there shall be no further specialization in terms of “arts,” “science,” or “commerce” in school education. The proposed purpose of this education pattern is the creation of “holistic individuals,” who know something about everything, and after their education, they shall think “as a whole and not in parts.”

"New Methodology of Assessment"

The pattern of assessment is strongly dependent on “summative assessment” (End of the Year Examination) and is also quite stressful for school-going children. The mechanism of conducting an examination will change from “memory” to “analysis”-based mechanism which allows students to “Think and Respond” rather than “Memorize and Answer”.

Teachers & Academic Environment: The backbone of the makeover in school education would be with teachers. Therefore, teachers too would need to be motivated, well-trained, and motivating. The ratio of student:_teacher shall be 30:1, but for socio-economically backward areas, it is proposed that it may be 25:1 in order that good developmental inputs may be made. The idea would be that there would be good learning achieved through technology. The proposal will include transport, hostels, development of existing infrastructure or construction of new ones, adequate nutrition, development of existing scope of National Institute of Open Schooling or open schooling so that education may be achieved for children up to grade 12.

Emphasis on Indian Languages: India boasts of its rich languages. It is significant for the students that they learn and become aware about the languages. The importance of the “Sanskrit” language, according to the committee, has been mentioned. Moreover, the committee emphasizes that each student should work on a project called the “Indian Language” between grade 6-8. They can then grasp its richness.

Curriculum Transformation: Since the primary objective of schooling, as stated under the NEP 2020, is that it needs to generate thoughtful individuals with "life problem-solving skills" regardless of subjects, there is a complete requirement for a transformation in the curriculum and the ways of learning. The curriculum needs a complete development of the students. The NCF 2005 needs an amendment in accordance with the objectives of the NEP 2020.

Inclusive Education: The report has recommendations from the committee regarding inclusive education in schools, especially in the context of “socio-economic disadvantaged groups (SEDGs).” The aim is to create an “inclusive educational culture” throughout the system.

Enhancing Employability: Integration of vocational studies along with mainstream education from the 6th standard has been recommended, and the purpose was to enhance the employability. Enhancing the “entrepreneurship culture” amongst the school-going children has also remained an essential recommendation.

Regulations: There should be an effective regulation system that is also an arena of enablement in developing the educational environment. The major regulations are:

Formation of “State School Standards Authority (SSSA)” in each state so that there are minimum standards of quality. “Introduction of ‘4-year integrated program’ for teacher education after passing 12th standard in lieu of the existing BEd program, which would be purely pedagogy-driven.” The pedagogical system will enable the teaching students to study “Subjects,” along with “Teaching Pedagogy” of the same. For example, BA-BEd, an integrated course, would also encompass the complexities involved in arts subjects from the school education perspective, along with the teaching pedagogy of the same. Furthermore, the implementation of the teacher eligibility test (TET) will prove beneficial for the improvement in quality of teachers for schools.

However, the system of educating teachers in schools may not be relevant in this situation considering the great demand for teachers within the country as well. In this regard, to compensate for the gap, it has been recommended by the committee that "specialists or master tutors who are part of the community and specialize in, for instance, carpentry, dance, or music should be involved."

Present Stage of Implementation But success in all policies requires proper implementation of that policy. The speed of implementation of this policy at the current level appears to be slow. There are enough reasons for that aspect. To begin with, the awareness level among all concerned is quite low. Students, who would be the main benefited persons, do not know about this policy. Secondly, all kinds of changes experience some kind of opposition from all concerned, and each and every change requires interaction, which does not seem to be happening now. Thirdly, it is a huge country. 

The diversity that exists in the educational sector is actually very huge to be dealt with. Just for instance, apart from the educational boards such as CBSE, ICSE, IB, and so on, within states, there is another distinct educational board. Hence, what is actually needed is a lot of initiative, energy, and eagerness to create a change, but that is exactly what is being observed at present. And lastly, the aspect that possesses concurrent jurisdiction with regards to the enumeration of education faces some challenges, as some states are actually resisting its implementation on multiple grounds. However, it is not the fact that there has been nothing that has moved. There has been some progress in the process of implementation. 

The major ones amongst these are as follows: Nipun Bharat Mission: This initiative has been launched. The proposed purpose of this mission is to reduce the number ofdropouts in schooling along with improving the foundational learning of kids at a very young age. Jadui Pitara (New Innovative Tool for the teaching of learning methodologies that can be practiced by children between the ages of 3 and 8 years, that is, school-going children): Jadui Pitara is a good initiative. Some schools in different parts of the country have started adopting these innovations. School Bag Policy 2020: It has been coming up with recommendations apt for the situation, such as restraining the weight of school bags, in relation to ensuring quality “mid-day meals and water” to children going to school. This, in fact, is very welcome. 

National Mission for Mentoring (NMM): This is the other good initiative with an aim of building good teachers through the process of mentoring. The first launch of the initiative has been carried out in the year 2022 by National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) at 30 central government schools. The National Curriculum Framework is also being developed. Most of the state governments have developed the ‘State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT)’ keeping in mind the NCERT. Most states are also performing well regarding the structure of education, along with the method of teaching, designed by the states themselves. 

The second major action undertaken is known as the ‘National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy.’ This action too is highly positive for the students studying in class 5. Vidyanjali Portal Scheme: This is another commendable project, which will help in motivating the community volunteers and the young professionals or retired school teachers to contribute towards the school in the nearby villages. The Integrated Teacher Training of 4 years will be implemented from next year onwards, and hopefully, it will make a positive impact on the quality of the school teachers in the next coming years. The method of change of Board Examination from next year onwards (twice a year) in the CBSE will hopefully create stress reduction for the students and parents. ‘Hasta Si There is the slow pace of the reforms, and we are lagging behind on almost all the milestones set in the recommendations of the report. 

There exists a lot of confusion prevailing at all levels, and all states are in different phases of implementations. These all, in turn, are creating more confusions. It is the need of the hour for the central government to form a coordination cell, which will monitor the whole implementation at all levels in a synchronized and comprehensive way so that all the aims and objectives are achieved as early as possible. The later it gets implemented, the more the aims and objectives will divert, creating more confusions. The policy itself is great and needs to be implemented as early as possible, irrespective of the fact that the country has huge geographical spread and the structure of the educational system of the country itself is so complex. The implementation of the whole report of the NEP 2020, anyhow, will take some longer period since it covers the whole school sector. The delay in the same will further create problems and troubles for all of us. The sooner we recognize this, the better for all of us.