For You The Teachers

Few words on New Education Policy(2020)

Introduction of NEP in School System

A Basic Idea 

From last few years Indian Government is trying hard to incorporate New Education Policy, 2020, it's not an easy task indeed! Lot many of trainings are given constantly and continuously so that the schools, the principals, the teachers, the parents and other stakeholders be aware of the New Education Policy and implement it successfully and effectively in our education system. Keeping this in mind my effort on behalf of CARE Foundation is to help and design your teaching as well as classrooms appropriate for the Indian schools. It is found that the main focus of the Policy is: Child Centric Education where the children will learn and internalize what they have learned, so that they can effectively use it in their real life.

As per the NEP, learning by doing will be the main medium of instruction for educating our school children. Learning by doing is actually a theory of education expounded by American philosopher John Dewey, the idea is we learn more when we actually do the activity. It is an active hands on approach to learning where students interact with their environment in order to adapt and learn. This way of teaching approach allows learners to construct mental models that allow higher order performance like applied problem solving and transferring of Information and skills. Another benefit of learning by doing is learner get instant feedback and the activity to reflect on what to keep doing, what to tweak and repeat or what to change altogether. Real experience encourages the students and they enjoy learning. Their sense organs are activated. It develops problem solving attitude and enhances creative thinking. Another very important aspect of this methodology is it promotes group learning and group work and thus their social skill improves. Though for last few decades we are talking much about this approach but is not used in an effective way and as a result very often it's found when a new graduate finds himself on his first day at work as an analyst facing spreadsheet with 45 tabs and 200 page annual report, he sits there, paralyzed by this tsunami of data, though he ached all his financial risk management exams but today he doesn't know how to start and use all the informations together. Same happens with the young man who has just taken over his father's vegetable farm. His father was using traditional method of farming but he is interested in modern organic farming but while a start, he was in a real fix, - should he start switching to new methods in a staggered manner or change everything in one go? Should he bring in experts? Competition is enhancing, how can he market his product best? Examples are innumerable but what I mean to say is real life has a knack for presenting problems, not in neat siloed bite of sized pieces but as complex problems with incomplete information, mixed up subject areas and no single solution. Untortunately our education system still focus on drill and kill, memorization and repeated application to antediluvian - situations approaches. These fail to prepare us for the tide ahead which include life and death situations. But that is also true, already many schools are prescribing projects, right? Well! I doubt, the schools that have partially embressed this approach, especially in our country, focus on in the form of "dessert", these are assigned at the end of the of the semester where students are assessed on a project they have worked on for a few days. These projects are typically 'illustrations' or models of something they have learned but actually according to the NEP, it should be the 'main course'. Projects should be main aid or tool for teaching curriculum, not only for assessment. It should be the central to the curriculum not peripheral.

Let's speak in details about how to implement or what is the process of implementing this project based learning technique in class. This particular system requires students to inquire, seek knowledge and then interpret. If a project is carried out with pre- existing knowledge then it is an exercise, the actual system will not be justified properly. The system will as usual overlook the investigative element, which is the most useful in real life today. I think all will agree with me, nowadays knowledge is becoming more and more democratic, anyone can know anything at the click of a button, so teaching will lose its value and essence if we try to pour knowledge. Let our students research and analyse data and be skilled and make a decision. It should not be restricted only in a particular stage, right from pre primary level it needs to be continued. A much higher depth of learning will be there when a full project based learning or combine project based learning approach is used in classroom, no matter where the classroom is, whether it is at home, at field, at school or at any place in the world.

Now let's talk about the reality of our present education system. Unfortunately the statistics which is found in our country as per the government/government aided schools is that 20 to 30% of students pursue higher education and rest of 75% loose out on the way to become a working adult. They often fail to see the use of school knowledge in their professional lives. The only solution to this is incorporating skill based education like decision making, problem solving can make education egalitarian and relevant, whether one enter the workforce as plumbers, engineers or entrepreneurs or homemakers. It has the potential to build a constant improvement in mind set that is much needed in our country's education system. This will help bridge the social gaps present in our education system. The present scenario we find in the schools are the teachers are altogether after covering the breadth of the syllabus and thus schools run shortage of residual time for live projects, and secondly lack of technical and technological support, especially for our rural and underprivileged schools. Along with the endeavor of the government, we have taken a leap to incorporate PBL amidst Indian school education system universally and uniformly. This is a big challenge of course! I am fighting for last 20 years, - alone it's impossible. I welcome all my worthy colleagues to come and join us to present a better future for our children spreading education to all as per their styles and requirements.

But running and implementing project based learning curriculum is not at all an easy task and honestly this is one of the main reasons why the system didn't work. Religiously it requires a lot of meta thinking and rigor to design meaningful projects, practically in the initial days it will demand a lot of time and training. Inspired by the Buck Institute for Education in the US who have pioneered the designs of project, we CARE Foundation started designing the projects for Indian schools. We need partners to design projects, content development, teachers training and development of assessment rubrics for every stage of school system, universally and most important is the customized design for each individual subscriber, so that any school can subscribe and access PBL education in its fullest. 

21st Century Education, A True Paradigm Shift

 Paradigm Shift………………                                   

Once upon a time the concept of ‘Guru’, prevailed in India. ‘Guru’ with his knowledge and experience was considered as infallible and represented the ‘total knowledge’. Just this scenario has reversed by the beginning of the 21^st century. Teachers are facing challenges because of the unknown, unseen and unpredictable future, which is beyond their calculation. The young minds are better problem solvers, decision makers and enablers too. Therefore there would be the paradigm shift in the role of the teachers from ‘a knowledge giver’ to ‘facilitator and guide’! Education can’t be bound to prescribed syllabus only. Teachers need to guide their students towards Entrepreneurial which is not only a venture of creation but also includes management and scaling. Core role of education will be to make students active, successful and a contributing member of the society.

It is a transition………………

It is a transition from rote learning to skill based conceptual learning; teacher centered classroom to student centered classrooms. Some thirty to forty years back role of educators were to prepare students for different tasks and the most important was to transmit the specific values and cultures. Presently due to the globalization there is absolute blending of this tradition which helped to give rise to unique belief system and the area being vast, the adoptability varies.

Boom in IT sector……………………

Due to the vastness of Information technology, today’s students are much more exposed to versatile challenges and they are ready to solve them using their knowledge and new information. They are no more teacher-dependent and wait for the answer from the teachers; they are supposed to learn how to learn of their own. Here the teachers are facilitators; should guide the students when they gather the information. So learning has become a discovery, no more the memorization of the fact.

With the enhancement of sources of knowledge, students need to work collaboratively in discovering information, here the role of the teachers are supposed to make the collaborative study more dynamic, help them to recognize other’s talent and exchange and alter roles while working in a project. This collaborative study will be in the school, and around the world.

Contextual learning plays a key role, where the teachers guide the students for skill development and let them know the application of the knowledge. The value of learning needs to be understood by the students otherwise the lesson seems meaningless, if there is no purpose of the learning.

Another important aspect of today’s education is, the community and the society, needs to be incorporated in the total learning system. Students have to realize that they are the contributory members of the global community.

Technology if not used as method of instruction the teaching will be incomplete; nevertheless it will be the substitute of the educator, which will be a destructive weapon for the society.

Onset of the pandemic, year 2020………………..

Since the last 20 years education was struggling with lots of ups and downs and trying for the utmost adjustment to accommodate the paradigm shift. But the year 2020, brought a big question mark on the education sector, leading to the near-total closures of schools, universities and colleges with the onset of COVID-19. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of COVID-19.

What next……………………

Now the question arise, what next? Is it the end of class room? With a big uncertainty, but the only certain is that the coming days are going to witness a phenomenal change. As academicians, it is our challenge to utilize technology to deliver quality education among all. If we take the positive side of the coin, it can be an evolution to shift the focus from ‘marks based’ academic curriculum to ‘life based’ overall development; which was an urgent need of the 21^st century education.

At present there is a large gap between the learning and the requirement. In education, especially in India, the consumption of online medium was so far used as an entertainment; but it actually should have been the most popular and preferred media by this time. The onset of COVID-19, forcefully made this the only important media, around the globe and even in India.

So let’s hope for the best and give a call to all the educators, for an optimistic outcome and deliver quality education equally, universally and of course in a simplified way.