Talking to young children can be so grounding. Young age never means the absence of imagination. When I asked Radha, a VIIth standard student studying in a government school in Delhi, India, “What is your favourite session of the day?”
Radha answered without thinking for a second, “Our library Day. We can choose any book we want. There is no right or wrong. One day I can read English stories, and on other days, I can read about technology, music, dance , anything. I love that I can choose my own book depending on my mood and what I feel like learning that day.” Radha sounded incredibly liberated and relaxed while sharing her thoughts on her favourite class.
Just like Radha’s story, we realise that kids today are able to express themselves more freely, and thus re-imagining education and its syllabi have never been more imperative than now.
Education is one of the key areas that strengthens a country’s foundation and is a major topic of discussion for every executive across the world. National Education Policy (NEP) was created as a result of periodic revisions required for the country’s education strategy. A New Education System in India was long overdue!
What does National Education Policy Entail?
In order to control, promote, and support the quality of imparted education across India, the Government of India created National Education Policy or NEP. The new education system in India covers early childhood education and higher education, and it is relevant in both urban and rural locations.
NEP has seen three versions so far. It was originally put into effect by PM India Gandhi in 1968; then, PM Rajiv Gandhi introduced the National Education Policy in 1986; and finally, PM Narendra Modi developed the National Education Policy in 2020.
Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Education
A framework of recommendations for parents and Anganwadi teachers/workers on optimal cognitive stimulation of newborns and young children in this age range will be presented in the first section.
The instructions would explain how to create easy, affordable learning tools such as hats and boats made from folded newspapers, hats made from a plastic bottle and colourful hard candy, and simple melodic and percussion instruments that can be struck with sticks, which could serve as craft activities for kids in Anganwadis and can be distributed to parents in the neighbourhood.
Design of A New Education System in India
Preschools, elementary schools, and anganwadis will all have excellent physical infrastructure that supports learning. Welcoming and engaging physical surroundings will be provided for early childhood development.
Picture cards, puzzles, dominoes, picture storybooks, blocks, rudimentary musical instruments, number towers and rods, puppets, arts and crafts supplies, and colouring books are a few examples of such innovative learning resources.
For high-quality stimulation and engagement, posters, graphics, and artwork with alphabets, words, numbers, shapes, and other elements will be hung at children’s eye levels.
Professionalisation of High Quality Educators for Early Childhood Education
Additionally, necessary facilities will be developed for these educators’ through initial professional training and their Continuous Professional Development (CPD). This will allow them to carry out successful early childhood teaching-learning methods.
Current Anganwadi workers and educators managing the pre-school education component of the ICDS will be given the option to engage in a 6-month special training programme.
Mobilisation of Local Community and Volunteers
This vital mission to address the learning crisis should and will be made known to teachers, parents, students, community members and the general public. That’s the true essence of this new education system in India.
To reiterate, achieving universal fundamental literacy and numeracy in elementary school by 2025 must be our top objective. If this most fundamental learning (basic reading, writing, and arithmetic) is not initially accomplished, the rest of the Policy will be useless for our children.
Addressing Access Gaps in Infrastructure
In order to strive toward reaching 100% GER from the Foundational Stage through Grade 12 for all students by 2030, the number and coverage of schools/sections will be raised at all levels, notably between Grades 9–12.
It should be noted that composite schools and school complexes with a larger variety of grade levels offer a number of benefits, such as the opportunity for siblings and neighbours of different ages to commute together and attend the same school as well as the pooling of material and human resources.
Empower Students through Offering Them Choices
Kids may decide what they want to accomplish in their lives, what they like, and to learn more about themselves. Those are progressive steps towards self-determination! This also allows students’ decisions to be guided by their experiences, interests and self-reflection rather than by society, their parents and their unending expectations.
Bilingual Approach for Teaching Students though New Education System in India
All students from preschool through Grade 1 will be exposed to three or more languages with the goal of developing speaking proficiency and interaction, as well as the ability to recognise scripts and read basic text, in all three languages by Grade 3. This is done to take advantage of young children’s enhanced language-learning abilities. Up until Grade 3, children will write predominantly in the language of instruction. After that, writing with various scripts will be gradually taught.
Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardised throughout the nation, and curricular materials at the national and state levels will be created for use by children with hearing impairments. Where practical and appropriate, local sign languages will also be respected and taught.
In addition, Indian languages are very scientifically structured and lack numerous grammatical exceptions, unphonetic spellings of words, and complicated word structures. Only 15% of the population speaks English, and those who do almost exclusively belong to the economic elite (as opposed to, for example, 54% of Indians who speak Hindi and other Indian languages), keeping them out of higher-paying jobs and socioeconomic strata.
What India’s Laboratory Education Will Look Like Under NEP 2020?
In terms of communications and information technology, India is quickly rising to the top of the world. The NEP 2020 campaign is therefore heavily focused on integrating contemporary technology into the core of education. Since it is now known that there is a two-way interaction between education and technology, it is more crucial than ever to incorporate contemporary advances into the educational process.
According to NEP 2020, a generation of pupils who are technologically knowledgeable and world-ready will be raised by instructors in the not too distant future. Artificial intelligence, robots, drones, the Internet of Things (IoT), smart boards, portable computers, blockchains, and many more technologies will have a significant impact on everyday life in the future. Therefore, it is our generation’s responsibility to ensure that the following generations are not kept in the dark regarding these issues.
We had no idea the enormous impact the internet would have on almost everything, not just the education sector, when the NEP was initially developed in 1968. Nobody really anticipated the deep integration of technology to our everyday lives, but here we are now! As a result, specialised organisations will be created with the sole purpose of keeping an eye on emerging technologies and making system improvements as necessary.
What does all of this mean for experiential learning in India? Unquestionably, the fundamental sciences and arts will no longer be the only subjects covered in school curricula in the future. Many schools now offer computer programmes, therefore it’s reasonable to assume that these courses will soon open doors to additional technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), drones, robotics, space science, etc.
All these courses have a high potential for practical learning and relatively little theory at the lower levels. For instance, it’s very hard to teach robotics without holding a moving component.
Incorporating Ethical and Constitutional Values in the New Education System in India
Students will learn the value of “Doing what’s right” from an early age. Questions like “Is it a decent idea?” “Will this injure anyone?” will hopefully affect their every practical decision.
Students will be taught the Indian principles of service, ahimsa, swacchata, satya, nishkama karma, tolerance, honesty, and hard work as well as respect for all individuals and their natural abilities irrespective of origin.
Smile Foundation and Child Education
Smile Foundation wants to bring a positive change in the lives of children like Radha who have had a difficult life but are looking for real chances to change their lives. With the help of your heartfelt contribution towards its Mission Education programme, we will together take huge steps towards the freedom of children through education and build a stronger, more resilient India.
