NEW EDUCATION POLICY - MY CONCERNS

Recently Government of India finally gave a nod to the New education policy for the  next two decades.It has gathered Bipartisan support all over. It is being seen as a path breaking reform in Indian education scenario. Of course there are some bold changes and useful reforms but there are also few un answered questions which are to be raised.In this article I would put forward my concerns regarding this new educational policy.

TOO MUCH PRIVATIZATION

Privatization of education has lot of emphasis in this policy.Given the scenario of the present situation of private schools in India this is a very dangerous step.Private schools in our country are no less than a business. Private schools in any city for the matter in a village are largely set up only for making money.

Therefore many students who are under poverty line don't have faith in government schools  will turn out to be drop outs.Hence focus should be on improving the status of government schools and taking strict action on private exploitation.

VOCATIONAL COURSES-WHAT ARE ON OFFER

Concept of vocational courses is really wonderful given that many students in India donot know how to set up a tube light.Given the advantages of this decision here are some few concerns regarding vocational courses

1.Courses like women empowerment,dalit rights are not seen in the list of courses.

2.It is given that state has the right to decide the curriculum of vocational courses.This  might not ensure that all the courses required by the student would  be offered

3.Given the teachers scarcity in our country.It would be difficult to recruit teachers who would train kids for these courses.

INDIAN PARENTS MENTALITY WILL CREATE PRESSURE ON A 8TH STANDARD KID

The new pedagogy that was proposed aims at conducting board exam after completing eight standard.Indian parents are mostly status driven ..they want their kids to excel in their exams.Therefore conducting exams would force to pressurize the kids to secure good marks.

However this is a welcome step it would increase the personality of a eight standard kid and he would know to handle pressure.So parents should be given classes on parenting and psychology by the government to avoid pressurizing their kid.

TEACHERS QUALITY 

Pre primary education has a good amount of focus in this act.But the student to teachers ratio at the moment will not help achieve this target.The government said that it would train anganwadi workers for six months to train these kids.But many experts opine that  it is un realistic to assume that six months would be enough to gain expertise.

Therefore massive teacher recruitment should take place and good quality training should be given to the teachers.They should be scrutinized for every 15 years so that they would be committed to their job.

 USAGE OF TECHNOLOGY-A DREAM 

Technology would be used to modernize the education according to this policy.This aims at providing online classes to students.But sadly only 28 percent of students have a smart phone through which they can access the classes.Poor network coverage also supports the argument.There fore before using technology in education government should take care that technology is accessible to all.

PROPAGANDA OF THE RIGHT

RSS had a major say in formulation of this policy.Many decision seems to have been taken with the motive of the right.Some are listed below.

1.Topics like Jyotishya,vedas which are believes of right are placed in vocational courses.

2.Anti right Ideas like liberalism,support for transgender rights are excluded in the multidisciplinary subjects.

I believe that a growing student should be exposed to all kinds of ideologies and he should decide what he likes and what he believes is right.

FAR FROM REALITY

Many claims in the education policy are far from reality.Few are listed below

1.It proposes 6% of GDP to be allotted to education but this doesn't have an approval from the ministry of finance.

2.It aims at 50% Gross Enrollment Ratio(GER) which is 28% at the present.But this highly unlikely with the present unemployment status and economic capability of the people.

LANGUAGE -NO EMPHASIS ON ENGLISH

English has now become a language of Global communication.But this act recommends mother tongue as medium of instruction till 5th standard.PM cites the example of countries like Japan,china using mother tongue as medium of instruction. Indian people have different mother tongue in every state. Whereas countries like Japan and china have a single language with different dialects.Here are my few concerns regarding the language policy of the government.

1.what if a person who studied Telugu till 3rd migrates to Mumbai and he would be forced to learn Marathi ?

2. Indian youth are known for speaking good English when compared to Japan,china.This would no longer be there.

3.What if students have parents from different states?

 

WIDENS THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND THE POOR

In India education is not accessible to all.Majority of the poor don't rely on education to earn a living.This could be due to their economic situation and lack of push from the government.This would further widen this divide.There is no special emphasis on the under privileged students.Though words like special education zones are used their implementation is unlikely to happen.Every decision is a boon to the privileged students but makes no difference to the underprivileged

NO DEBATE IN THE PARLIAMENT

Education policy is considered to be a major policy since it has direct effect on the quality of the citizens of future.Unfortunately this was introduced at a time which gives less coverage to this policy.We haven't seen much coverage from the news channels.There needs to be a debate in the parliament for having  a bipartisan support.Sadly any such things aren't happening

WRITERS NOTE

Education is an asset.Students are the future citizens of the country.It is very important for governments to ensure that students are in the Right direction.Though the new education policy has many benefits it even has some questions to be answered.Hence it is of the utmost importance that a policy which would shape the future of the country gets a bipartisan support.I would hope that above concerns would be addressed by the government and thus making our educational policy the best in the world.Hence forth making India a superpower.

REFERENCES

1.http://www.businessworld.in/article/NEP-2020-will-lead-to-privatisation-commercialisation-and-communalisation-of-Indian-education-CPI/02-08-2020-304220/

2.https://www.mhrd.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/NEP_Final_English.pdf

3.https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/vocational-courses-may-distract-poor-students/article32244096.ece

4.https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/heartstorming/mind-over-marks/

5.https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-watch-english-teacher-in-up-school-is-unable-to-read-in-english-suspended/343362

6.https://www.ndtv.com/tamil-nadu-news/no-smartphone-for-online-classes-class-10-boy-allegedly-kills-himself-2272012

7.https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/emphasis-on-indian-culture-reflects-rss-sway-on-policy/story-f6767eyxWjikYNdJEgD1uK.html

8.https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-news-new-education-policy-contains-much-desired-reforms-but-the-challenge-in-its-implementation/357790

9.https://theprint.in/opinion/the-mother-tongue-fanatics-are-keeping-india-a-poor-backward-country/471997/

10.https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/mapping-education-inequalities/story-xhTIlYty7kF7MNqxnOyGtO.html

11.https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/herald-view-place-education-policy-before-parliament-for-closer-scrutiny