By Ibu Sanjeeb Garg
The draft National Education Policy 2016 was released in the public domain for discussion in June this year. Addressing a number of issues it sought to see education through a much more inclusive approach. Stress is laid on learning outcomes, skill integration, higher education and new resolve into areas like ending gender discrimination by having zero tolerance for it. Pre-school education is given priority in the draft policy. A new framework is intended to be developed in coordination with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to effectively tackle the question of pre-school education. Focus on Anganwadi teachers and cadres of pre primary teachers are sought to be exclusively trained with focus towards pre primary education.
Towards protection of Rights of the Child and Adolescent Education the focus has to shift from the traditional paradigm of punishment and detentions into a sustained focus on rights of the child. This also has to extend to the rights of adolescent children as well as an effective mechanism to tackle problems of adolescent children. The draft Bill focuses on developing online programs to tutor children, teachers, and school administrators on the rights of the child. The draft Bill also seeks to train counselors who can deal with problems of adolescent children.
Learning outcomes is a major issue in school education today. As India moves towards hundred percent enrollments there is a push towards learning outcomes. As the Pratham and other surveys have repeatedly pointed out learning outcomes remain a major source of concern for policymakers. Thus the draft Bill rightly stresses on learning outcomes. Alongwith strengthening of RTE norms, infrastructure mechanism must be developed to evolve uniform learning outcomes and apply them equally to both private and government schools. The structure of RTE is sought to be made more flexible by nudging the states to design and plan the infrastructure suited to local conditions. The “No Detention” policy is sought to be restricted to Class V and the system of detention is sought to be reintroduced in the upper stages.
The enrollment numbers in all levels of schooling is sought to be increased through a number of innovative measures including each step drawing out a school map which would identify schools which have low enrollment and poor infrastructure. If possible such schools would be clubbed together to form composite schools which could counter the problems of low enrollment as well as poor infrastructure. The Bill seeks to achieve the target of one class one teacher in the foreseeable future. Open schooling facilities for dropouts are sought to be increased. There is also focus on increasing Jawahar Navodaya Vidalayas, Kendriya Vidyalayas and also to increase the number of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidalayas which would focus on education of the girl- child. The Bill also seeks to help students prepare for a clear academic goal by advocating academic aptitude tests from time to time to help the child prepare for a career. Career counseling is seen as an important component of education and the Draft Bill seeks to do the same.
While focusing on a uniform course curriculum the draft Bill also advocates the need for a common curriculum in case of Mathematics, Sciences and English while states are allowed to design their own courses for social sciences. Digital literacy is sought to be imparted across the states at a uniform level Class V onwards. For teaching of science subjects practical knowledge is to be imparted from class VI onwards. Textbooks will also seek to establish harmony and address disparity across spectrums. The Bill will divide class X examinations into higher and lower levels. Owing to high rates of failure in Class X is in Science and Mathematics a breaking down of Class X examinations will help the students and teachers focus towards better directed and focused results .Procedural reforms are to be initiated towards removal of migration certificates and other requirements which impede the transfer of students from one institutiion to another, seamlessly.
Issues of gender, social, cultural and regional disparities, with an emphasis on diversity are sought to be properly addressed in the draft Bill in the curriculum and its transaction. Curriculum will cover the issues of social justice and harmony and legal measures in order to avoid social discrimination. Tribal education remains the prime focus of the draft Bill. With the objective of encouraging merit and promoting equity, a National Fellowship Fund, has been advocated in the draft Bill. It is primarily designed to support tuition fees, learning materials and living expenses for about 10 lakh students. The scholarships from this fund will be made available to students belonging to the economically weaker sections. A separate national talent scholarship scheme, covering all subject areas, for meritorious students of all categories selected through a national level examination after class 10 will be introduced. The Bill also nudges Prevocational oriented activities to be infused in the curriculum from early stages to develop positive attitude towards dignity of labour and develop skills in children.
The draft Bill pitches for special interventions to be undertaken to meet the educational needs of differently-abled children and children with learning disabilities who face multiple problems of social neglect, absence of support systems in the home, inadequate and lack of appropriate facilities and assistive devices, particularly in schools located in smaller towns and villages. The ongoing centrally sponsored schemes for children with special needs will continue and their coverage and funding will be augmented. The Bill aims to develop a suitable mechanism at the State and district levels for oversight of the implementation of various schemes as well as identifying and providing for children with special needs. At the local level, a part-time sub-committee of experts comprising of child and clinical psychologists will be constituted so that any school or District Education Officer could refer cases where a thirdparty assessment or advice is needed. This subcommittee can also advise on special training/ orientation of teachers for sensitive and appropriate handling of children with special needs.
The draft Bill flags a number of ideas to address the emerging challenges of education. The focus is shifting form enrollment numbers to new ideas like plugging disparity gap and addressing better outcomes. The draft Bill also focuses on aligning education with employment and accepting education as an important vertical towards gaining meaningful employment. The draft Bill is a welcome step to address emerging challenges in the education sector. ( The views expressed by the author are personal)