As the Centre unveiled the New Education Policy on Wednesday, educationists in the State welcomed some aspects of it and preferred to share their views after understanding the policy entirely.
Some features of the policy have been borrowed from the West, say academics. Aspects such as multidisciplinary universities, flexible programmes such as integrating science and arts subjects at the undergraduate level; entry and exit of students from a programme; and allowing space for slow learners to study at their pace have been appreciated.
At the same time, the decision to make B.Ed. a four-year programme has left educators wondering if it would be feasible. A senior teacher educator said the new B.Ed. colleges were unable to attract candidates even for the two-year programme. “A student who wants to do a four-year programme will automatically go for either engineering or medicine. The policy envisages making B.Ed similar to programmes offered in foreign countries where it is a five-year integrated course with the students undergoing a preparatory first year. B.Ed programmes are different from arts and science programmes. We have to wait and see how it is implemented,” said a former Vice-Chancellor of the teacher education university.
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The decision to drop M. Phil as a programme was good, said P. Duraisamy, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras. “M. Phil is not a qualification for college teacher recruitment. Students do dissertation or project work as part of their masters’ programme. Students were spending a year in M. Phil now, instead they can finish Ph D in three years. Under the new Ph D regulations students must undergo course work, which we introduced from this academic year,” he said. Mr. Duraisamy was among those who participated in the NEP workshop during his tenure at the University.
Language education
When it was released in June 2019, the draft National Education Policy had a clause recommending mandatory Hindi in schools. Following strong criticism, the clause was dropped. The draft has retained the recommendation to introduce a three-language formula from Class 1.
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The highlights indicated that the policy emphasised that the mother tongue or local/regional language as the medium of instruction at least till grade 5, but preferably till grade 8 and beyond. At present, Tamil Nadu in its government schools offers both Tamil and English as the medium of instruction for students and it is to be seen how the state government will take this recommendation forward.
The policy highlights also indicate that the 10+2 structure of schooling will be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 structure which will correspond to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively. This system seeks to have 12 years of schooling with three years for students in pre-schools or Anganwadis.
Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, State Platform for Common School System Tamil Nadu, said the highlights indicated that the policy went against the federal character of the Constitution and the right to equality. “While the focus should be on bringing about a common schooling system, the policy seems to ignore equitable access to education even up to the elementary level with proposals such as the setting up of school complexes," he said.
Educators say this policy may go the same way as the ones before it. The earlier policies were never implemented in toto, they point out. Much of it depends on the political will of the government, they added.