On the 29th of June 2020, New Education Policy or NEP came up with a set of reforms for our education system under NEP 2020. Although NEP was formed in 1986 and has come up with various policies ever since but NEP 2020 brings out the most drastic change in our education system. Following is what comes under NEP 2020:
- Introduction of new subjects such as AI and MI:
Introduction of new subjects such as AI and ML will help our education system by tenfold as India lacks technology and introducing such subjects at such a young age can help our country to compete with the other developed countries.
The problem with this is that, there are still many parts in India where children don’t even know how to write their name. There are many schools where slates and chalks are still being in use. So, this new curriculum would be implemented first in private schools. This is reaching out to a very audience across India.
For subjects such as AI and ML, laptops and computers should be provided to make it more of a practical learning. Otherwise it is just going to be theoretical and students won’t realize the use of it.
Along with introducing subjects such as AI and ML into our syllabus, they should reform the 11th grade syllabus and narrow the bridge between 11th and 10th grade.
In 11th grade portions, first few chapters in physics include application of calculus whereas first few chapters in math still teach the basic concepts such as sets, functions, linear inequalities, etc.
Such basic concepts should be taught at an early age say grade6,7 and 8 so that students would be able to understand the tougher concepts and their application in grade 11.
2.Internships and vocational learning from grade 6:
Lack of extracurricular and practical learning has been a huge drawback in the Indian education system for a long time. This has been resolved to a certain extent by introducing internships from grade 6.
Certain “Bagless” periods will be given between grades 6 to 8 and within this 10-day bagless period students will be included internships and in vocational crafts such as carpentry,pottery making,electrical work etc.
The problem with this new policy is that it is not effectively planned out. An internship should last for at least 2 to 3 months so that the students can actually get a hang of their skills.
There should be a certificate to validate that, that particular student had taken part in that internship and this certificate should be valid until UG level too and should carry some significance along with marks.
If students get used to vocational and practical learning by grade 12 then it will be even more difficult for them to move back to the previous system of education where everything is based on marks.
The practical learning would again come to no use and many students wouldn’t actively participate in this bagless periods as they’ll take it for granted. The need to inculcate those practical skills and one’s profile should not be about their marks or caste, it should be based on their merit.
The competition in India is increasing day by day and students now focus only on studying as the difficulty level of competitive exams are very high. So they would consider this bagless period as a burden rather than a boon as those practical skills wouldn’t be displayed during their UG application
The top India universities have very few seats in them, as low as 50-60. Having marks as the only criteria is not justified as there are many things that comes with when defining a person’s capabilities.
We need to reduce the difficulty level of exams, increase the number of seats in colleges and most importantly, eradicate caste problems in our education system.
Nowadays, the top Indian CEOs such as Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, etc belong to the Brahmin caste. As they don’t get enough recognition from our own education system, they go to other developed nations due to the opportunities available there as their merit will be more valued there.
So, as they are anyways introducing internships, they should introduce it in such a way that students will actively participate in it without taking it as a burden. If they get used to practical learning and then again shift to mark-based system, then it’ll be even more stressful than the present education system due to the sudden change in learning.
This is what our education system needs to change. There are lakhs of Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella in our country but our ecosystem ad education system fails to recognize them due to our narrow mindset.
We should include practical, vocational and creative not just until grade 12 but in higher education too to make us more aware on how to get jobs with our knowledge rather than just focusing on marks and increase the opportunity spectra.
3.Having regional language as the mode of instruction until class 5:
This is by far, the most unjust rule has India has 22 regional languages and you have people moving from one part of India to another all the time. There are many north Indians that settles in South India and don’t know how to speak the regional languages. Such people will find it extremely difficult to understand the lessons.
This will make both, citizens in India and abroad not want to migrate as they’ll find it difficult when the mode of communication is not in their language.