NEP in Goa from June, but where’s the roadmap?

| MARCH 05, 2021, 11:26 PM IST

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's announcement that the National Education Policy will be implemented in Goa from the forthcoming academic year beginning with the pre-primary education level has caught parents, teachers and even school managements unawares. Yes, the NEP will usher in a sea-change in an outdated education system of the country, but for Goa, there is a lot of ground-work needed for this transition.

Goa can easily become a role-model with NEP by virtue of it being a small State with a high literacy rate and reasonably good school infrastructure. However, the State has to date not put in a serious effort, contrary to the claim of 90 per cent of schools being ready. An announcement on a policy change is coming less than three months of the new academic year with stakeholders clueless on the way forward. The NEP implementation may not have a direct impact on the existing human resource, but there would be logistical issues. There has to be stock-taking on the available infrastructure and the requirement under the new system. A SWOT analysis of the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats under the existing setup have to be conducted, and school clusters, which are central to the concept,  have to be identified.

Ironically, the State-level task force on NEP is headed by Subhash Shirodkar and former chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar heads a 27-member committee constituted to study the policy implementation and submit its report. If the government is serious about bringing in a radical change in education, why are political figureheads, some of whom are ignorant of the policy and others from the old school of thought, occupying positions of crucial decision-making on education? Why are Goa’s academicians, scholars and experts left out?

It appears that Goa is sluggishly pushing itself towards NEP because other States have raced forward. Giant strides are made by States like Andhra Pradesh with a commitment to enforce NEP in letter and spirit from the coming academic year. It has constituted e-learning communities to serve as a bridge between urban and rural students and forged tie-ups with National Research Institute. Also, it has established a State-level research council integrating all educational institutions. States like Gujarat, Karnataka and a few others have moved swiftly in putting the required logistics in place ahead of the new academic year.

Goa has a dubious distinction of being deceitful when it comes to achieving targets set by the Centre. The first defecation-free state and a first on 'Har Ghar Jal' have only caused embarrassment because the actual story was far from what was being celebrated. Let this one not run on similar lines.

The NEP, undoubtedly, is the way forward, and the Goa government has to give it a serious thought. We need to be realistic to the ground situation and work out a roadmap engaging stakeholders and tapping into the pool of experts in education that Goa is proud of. If the government wants to bring in a robust and vibrant change in the education system, it has a lot to learn from the success stories of other States.


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