The National Education Policy 2020 intends to transform education into a multidisciplinary, flexible and a continuous learning experience say experts.
In a webinar organised on Friday, Ramchandar Krishnamurthy, associate professor at Azim Premji University, who traced the evolution of humans, said while the species had existed for over 50,000 years it was in the last 10,000 years that much change had happened. Man leaned to cultivate land and then around 400 years the industrial revolution was launched. Fifty years ago humans embarked on knowledge revolutions and just five years ago artificial intelligence has taken over. "These are major transformations. How can we prepare the students so that they are ready for then," was the concern that egged the educationists, he explained the policy was framed to prepare students for a big transformation.
Since education was on the concurrent list, the States had the right to implement it the way they want, he said.
The scope of assessment went far beyond examination.
The assessment at grades 3, 5 and 8 were not public exams. A crucial aspect of this policy was how it would change the various boards of education, Mr. Ramachandar said.
There was anxiety that English dominated regional languages. Giving children an opportunity to learn different languages would enhance their ability to think. “The amount of resources in Indian language is very high. We need to invest in book production and translation,” he said. “Even in Tamil Nadu we have more English teachers than Tamil. We must invest in language proficiency for teachers.”
According to him education required common sense and ability to put it to practice, which is what vocational training offered.
“The learning of procedure is different” from learning theory, he said. Vocational training would enable flexibility in learning. Though the country had universalised primary education, putting them together in a cluster under the umbrella of a large high school, be it public or private, would provide access to resources such as books, learning an art or even physical education. This would enable children’s holistic development, he said.
The study of Indian culture had been made mandatory as some boards such as International Baccalaureate did not have courses related to India, said Rishikesh Shanker, associate professor at Azim Premji University, who was involved in developing the policy.
The policy was framed after discussions at the gram sabha level and their suggestions were taken while writing the policy, he said.
The school education policy was structured based on the science of child psychology. South Indians did well in mathematics and science and were at an advantage. Even institutes completely devoted to science research had felt the need to offer programmes in humanities, he said.
Earlier, S. Thamarai Selvi, associate professor in the Department of Business Administration, Cauvery College for Women, Tiruchi, explained the salient points of the NEP.
