TURA: A move aimed at “transforming” India’s decades old education system into a new avatar by the Narendra Modi government, dubbed the National Education Policy 2020, has become a heated topic for debate across school, college and university boardrooms in the country with some hailing the new system while others express worry about the new system’s long term implications to the education scenario.
Those in favour of the new policy have hailed it as one that proposes to create a multidisciplinary education . For them, this innovate concept, they believe, would enable students to train themselves in vocational skills along with conventional education at the secondary education level thereby creating openings both for entrepreneurship as well as allowing students to choose subjects of their choice across disciplines in their academic career at a later stage.
But a vast majority of educationists across the country have since pressed the panic button on the government’s new education policy red flagging some crucial points in the new system which they believe could erode the quality of education in the long run.
With many a concerned mind among the fraternity, some of India’s top educationists got together to discuss the new policy and express their views and apprehension about the policy during a National level webinar on National Education Policy 2020; Implementation and Implications organised by the renowned Jesuit run Loyola College in Williamnagar, the first such national event by an educational institution from the East Garo Hills district on Thursday.
The goal of the webinar was to understand the policy and its implementation and implications which would soon be in effect.
It is worth mentioning that the much touted National Education Policy 2020 was announced by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on 29 July, this year.
To discuss it’s pros and cons, a vibrant set of educationists led by educators, Principals and Administrators representing renowned institutions from across the country took part giving valuable inputs about the current set up and what needs to be done to further strengthen education.
Some of India’s top educationists, Rev. Fr. Sunny Jacob SJ, Secretary, Jesuit Education Association (JEA), New Delhi, briefly explained the background of the policy and policies regarding school education while another leading education luminary, Dr. Joseph Xavier, Administrator, Xavier Institute of Management, Chennai, gave his view points on NEP relating to Higher Education.
The Education Department of Loyola College took this bold step to organize the webinar on NEP 2020 that is relevant and widely discussed in the country at present. The declared vision of the Policy, an India-centred education to transform our nation into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, has been viewed with doubt and fear by several educators.
Dr. Sunny Augustine SJ, the Principal of the College, who welcomed the resource persons and the participants, appreciated the efforts of the faculty of the Education Department for their initiatives.
The attendees sent their queries and expressed their views on key elements of NEP during the interactive session which the speakers welcomed and responded with examples. Ms. Betchilda of Education Department expressed her gratitude to the resource persons and participants.