The surge in the number of Covid cases in recent times raises alarm bells for those running educational institutions, for teachers, students and their parents. All are worried but reasons are different. Parents know very well that the two years 2020-2021 are wasted since their children never really studied in the real sense of the term and the open book examination is actually a travesty since they have doubts about how much their wards have learnt. Things were beginning to improve when the Omicron variant arrived with a bang and there’s no knowing what toll it is going to take. Students who have qualified for IITs, NITs, Medicine and other professional courses in 2021 were supposed to join their courses physically in early 2022 but now that looks impossible. Young, aspiring professionals are facing a bleak future and are unsure of their careers. Online lessons can never replace the real classroom and the laboratory. How can young people carry out experiments in their homes? This therefore calls for a new educational programme that can bridge the virtual distance. For this a lot of thinking and brainstorming is required by the Union Ministry for Human Resources Development (MHRD).
Unfortunately the MHRD has not yet given due attention to online classes for professional courses that require a close mentor-mentee relationship. The MHRD however did come up with better and more innovative learning modules for students from pre-school, primary and secondary levels. This would include integrated science labs, smart classrooms, play-based learning and support for vocational education. All these have been integrated under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan since 2018. The scheme is extended up to 2025-26 and includes the transformative recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020. The idea is to provide holistic school education as a continuum instead of disparate schemes that looked at pre-school, primary and secondary education in silos. Its noble aim is to improve the quality of school education.
The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan was formed by subsuming the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Teachers Education. (TE) Teacher Education. The objective is to treat schooling as a smooth transition from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level. This focus is to improve the quality of education at all levels by integrating the two T’s – Teachers and Technology. MHRD is implementing the Scheme of Vocationalisation of School Education under the umbrella of Samagra Shiksha. Under this scheme a vocational subject is offered for Classes IX to XII along with general education to provide necessary employability and vocational skills for a variety of occupations. A similar innovative teaching-learning module is urgently needed for higher education. Reinventing Education
The surge in the number of Covid cases in recent times raises alarm bells for those running educational institutions, for teachers, students and their parents. All are worried but reasons are different. Parents know very well that the two years 2020-2021 are wasted since their children never really studied in the real sense of the term and the open book examination is actually a travesty since they have doubts about how much their wards have learnt. Things were beginning to improve when the Omicron variant arrived with a bang and there’s no knowing what toll it is going to take. Students who have qualified for IITs, NITs, Medicine and other professional courses in 2021 were supposed to join their courses physically in early 2022 but now that looks impossible. Young, aspiring professionals are facing a bleak future and are unsure of their careers. Online lessons can never replace the real classroom and the laboratory. How can young people carry out experiments in their homes? This therefore calls for a new educational programme that can bridge the virtual distance. For this a lot of thinking and brainstorming is required by the Union Ministry for Human Resources Development (MHRD).
Unfortunately the MHRD has not yet given due attention to online classes for professional courses that require a close mentor-mentee relationship. The MHRD however did come up with better and more innovative learning modules for students from pre-school, primary and secondary levels. This would include integrated science labs, smart classrooms, play-based learning and support for vocational education. All these have been integrated under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan since 2018. The scheme is extended up to 2025-26 and includes the transformative recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020. The idea is to provide holistic school education as a continuum instead of disparate schemes that looked at pre-school, primary and secondary education in silos. Its noble aim is to improve the quality of school education.
The Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan was formed by subsuming the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Teachers Education. (TE) Teacher Education. The objective is to treat schooling as a smooth transition from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary and senior secondary level. This focus is to improve the quality of education at all levels by integrating the two T’s – Teachers and Technology. MHRD is implementing the Scheme of Vocationalisation of School Education under the umbrella of Samagra Shiksha. Under this scheme a vocational subject is offered for Classes IX to XII along with general education to provide necessary employability and vocational skills for a variety of occupations. A similar innovative teaching-learning module is urgently needed for higher education.
