Tag: #study

New Education Policy : Key Highlights.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister have approved the new National Education Policy 2020, making way for large scale, transformational reforms in both school and higher education sectors. This is the first education policy of the 21st century and replaces the 34-year-old National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986.

The New Education Policy 2020 has come up as a in the education sector as it aims at creating an equitable and vibrant knowledge for the society by providing high-quality education to all. Also it encourages to develop a deep sense of respect towards the fundamental rights, duties and Constitutional values, bonding with one’s country, and a conscious awareness of one’s role and responsibilities in a changing world. The New Education Policy believes in instilling skills, values, and dispositions that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development and living, and global well-being, thereby reflecting a truly global citizen.

The key highlights of NEP are.

Early Childhood Care Education

The policy focuses on the importance of providing education to children between the age group of 3-6 years at an early age. The kids in the age group 3-5 years will be provided education through the current set-up of pre-schools and anganwadis, and those between the ages of 5-6 years will be included in the schooling system by 2025.

School Education for All

Aiming to make education from pre-primary level till the 12th grade universally accessible, NEP 2020 is looking to achieve 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio in providing the school education by 2030.
New Curriculum & Pedagogical Structure.

The new policy has eliminated the 10+2 education system and replaced it with a more organized 5+3+3+4 structure, that is, 5 years of primary education (for the age group 3-8 years), 3 years of preparatory stage (for the age group 8-11 years), 3 years of middle stage (for the age group 11-14 years), and 4 years of secondary stage (for the age group 14-18 years).

The Flexibility of Choosing Courses

There will be no rigid demarcations between vocational and non-vocational, science and arts, curricular and extra-curricular activities, thus providing equal emphasis on all the subjects and courses. Also, the students will have more choices and flexibility while picking up the subjects they want to study so that their educational path is more focused on their skills and interests.

Emphasis on Mother Tongue & Multilingualism

The policy emphasizes on the inclusion of local language in the curriculum with the medium of instructions in all the schools till at least class 5 (but preferably till 8th standard and beyond) to be either in mother tongue or regional language. Subsequently, foreign languages will be offered as options for students in secondary schools. It also states that Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardized across the country.

Assessment System

As per the new policy, though the board examination for 10th and 12th grades will continue to be in place, the structure of the exams will be reformed to make them easier by focusing on core competencies of the students, thus eliminating the need of coaching classes at these stages. Also, the school examinations will be conducted by proper authorities only in grades 3, 5, and 8.

Multidisciplinary Education

The students will be provided with multi-disciplinary holistic education at the undergraduate level to ensure an integrated exposure with multiple entry and exit options. The 3 or 4-year duration undergraduate degree will have exit options (with certifications) during the entire course – a certificate after 1 year, diploma after 2 years and/or a bachelor’s degree after 3 years.

Indian Education System

Education plays an important role in the development of an individual and making him a knowledgeable citizen. It is the education that makes an individual self-reliant, helps to suppress the social evils and contribute towards the development of the society and nation as a whole. Education helps in unravelling the mystery of nature. It enables us to understand and improve the working of our society. It creates conditions for a better life. Education brings out the capabilities to fight injustice happening in society. Every individual has the right to education. 

Indian Education is one of the largest and complex education systems in the world along with China. India is committed to providing basic education to its citizens, the framework of which is defined in the National Policy of Education. Elementary education is now compulsory in India. At the time of Independence, only 14% of India’s population was literate. Now after so many decades since Independence, the number of literates has increased by fivefold.

History of Education System

The history of Indian education system comes from the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata. The historic Indian education system is also called the Gurukula system. There were gurus then who are now known as teachers and shishyas who are called students now. The gurus and the shishyas lived together under one roof in Gurukula until the completion of their education. The shishyas were expected to help the guru in all the daily chores as part of their learning. The children belonging to higher strata of the society were taught all the subjects from Sanskrit to Holy Scriptures and mathematics to metaphysics by the gurus. The Gurukulas during those times focused on the practical aspects of life. The students were taught in the open classroom in the surrounding area of nature. This early system of education in India continued for many years until the modern education system came into the picture in the nineteenth century.

In the early 19th century, during the British period, the modern education system was brought into our country by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay. The basic strength of this modernized education system was the examinations and a well-defined curriculum, which gave importance to subjects like science and mathematics and subjects like philosophy, metaphysics were given a back seat. The brick and mortar classrooms replaced the open classrooms in the Gurukulas. The essence of the guru shishya bond was taken over by a more formal relationship between the teacher and the student. To understand the progress of any student, examinations were conducted at frequent intervals. The focus of the education system shifted from learning to memorizing of the concepts to score good marks in the examinations.

Problems of Indian Education System

Over a period of time, it has been observed that there are many loopholes in the system of education in India. Instead of understanding the concepts, students started cramming and memorizing the lessons. Knowledge is given a backseat and scoring in high rankings takes importance. The modern parents have tuned their mindsets accordingly and their goal is to ensure that their children score good marks instead of acquiring knowledge right from the primary level. 

Private schools and colleges have been rapidly increasing in the country but the results produced by them are far beyond satisfactory. It has also been observed that the quality of teachers deteriorated with the passing of time. Our examination system is responsible for the wide skill gap. India is producing lakhs of engineers and professionals every year but only a fraction of this number is actually getting employed. This is because the Indian examination system focuses more on scoring good percentages rather than the actual continuous comprehensive evaluation. 

Research and development, which should be the cornerstone of our system, are given the least importance. The private schools and colleges focus on the admission of more students and are least interested in the quality of their education. This is the major reason why the faculties and the teachers lack skills and specialization. This is quite evident from the fact that a single professor is assigned to teach multiple subjects. 

How Can We Improve the Indian Education System?

First and most importantly we should improve the grading system. Rote learning should be discouraged completely. Teachers and faculties should focus more on the analytical skills of the students and grade them accordingly. There should be more focus on comprehensive evaluation instead of scoring only good marks. Workshops must be organized for teachers on a regular basis to keep them updated about the latest developments in the sector of education. At the same time, the curriculum should be reframed according to the present needs of education in India. 

The payroll structure of the teachers and the faculties especially in the government institutions should be improved. This step will help in motivating the teachers to develop their skills and they will take a keen interest in grooming or shaping up a student’s life and career. The government and other entities who are associated with the education sector, need to understand the importance of quality of education. Education should be a holistic process that must focus on the overall development of the physical, emotional, social and cognitive skills of a child. It needs to be a slow and cyclic process and must take place gradually to help the child develop into an autonomous, independent and knowledgeable individual.

Conclusion

An educated individual is an individual who should be able to contribute towards the betterment of the economic and social development of the society as well as the country. The true goal of education must exceed awarding the degrees and certificates to the students. Education is not a tool to earn livelihood but it is a way to liberate the mind and soul of an individual. 

CO-EDUCATION

Co-education refers to the education of both boys and girls at the same time. This system has been used by some of our colleges in recent years. This system is favoured by some. This approach, they claim, is quite beneficial. As a result, co-education should be implemented, and existing universities and schools should be made accessible to girls.

Co-education supporters also claim that this system will allow young men and women to become closer and more understanding of one another. This would be extremely beneficial to them in the future. It would also be beneficial to the country’s development. Another argument is that co-education would enhance educational standards by encouraging rivalry between boys and girls.

However, no evidence backs up any of these statements. The educational system as a whole is overworked. Also congested are the girl’s schools and colleges. It is necessary to build hundreds of new educational institutions. The government would not incur any additional costs if some of these were set aside for girls.

Co-education encourages boys and girls to be tolerant of and appreciative of each other’s competitions. It prepares kids to face life’s realities. Education, in its true sense, is more than just learning from books; it is a continuous process of learning more from our surroundings, society, and changing circumstances. It has been recognised that men and women contribute equally in every sphere of society as new vistas of study and professional options have opened up. As a result, there should be no hesitancy in confronting one another; instead, it is preferable to settle any situation with equal effort. This educational approach generates a beautiful mutual understanding in this way.

Advantages of Co-education:

Co-education has numerous advantages. The first is that they provide a wide range of educational opportunities. This is beneficial to kids who want to attend that school. Furthermore, pupils who are exposed to diversity at an early age find it simpler to adjust to a variety of different surroundings.

It also teaches children equality because the teachers treat all students equally. Students compete in all competitions in an equitable and nondiscriminatory manner. It also encourages socialisation by encouraging coexistence.

Because co-educational schools provide a healthy environment for both sexes, students can prepare for the real world in advance. As students connect with everyone, it also develops their communication abilities.

In these schools, students also learn to respect one another and develop self-esteem. Most importantly, these institutes assist pupils in overcoming their apprehensions about the other gender. As they learn in a nice environment together, it helps them overcome their fear of talking to people of the opposite sex.

Disadvantages of co-education:

Lack of attention is one of the most significant downsides of co-education. Because opposite-sex attracts opposite-sex, pupils tend to lose their rage and focus on their schoolwork. Another issue that is frequently observed in co-educational institutions is sexual harassment perpetrated by students.

Conclusion:

To summarize, Co-education is an excellent system that helps students in almost every part of their lives. It is beneficial to children’s overall development since it eliminates the anxiety of interacting with people of the opposite gender. As a result, it prepares them for a world where they will be able to function in a diverse setting with ease. Co-education helps youngsters prepare for life in the real world. In different places and nations, the proportion of mixed gender and single gender schools varies. People, on the other hand, perceive co-education as a sign of a progressive culture. However, both a co-educational and a single-gender school system have advantages. It’s beneficial to provide an option so that individuals can select one based on their unique tastes.