Dr Manasvi M Kamat
The Draft New Education Policy (DNEP) running into as many as 484-pages provides for reforms at all levels of education comprising school education, higher and technical/professional education within its ambit. It is worth mentioning that the section concerning school education sphere in the DNEP has far-reaching and drastic changes, and it is this sphere that will remain largely affected with the sheer higher number of students and educators it consists of.
The other reason why school education gets more attention it deserves in the DNEP is the pathetic dropout rate as the child moves on to higher levels of education. The comparative figures for India with other major countries like China, USA and Germany as quoted by the Ministry of HRD reveal that though India has relatively higher Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) figures at 101.4 for Primary Education with respect to Class 1-5, the GER for Upper Primary (Class 6-8) and Upper Secondary (Class 9 to 12) drastically decreases from 89.3 to 62.5 respectively, compared to the average GER of 100 and 95 respectively for the other three countries.
Apart from the quantitative loss of students, it is evident that the present school education system has not delivered the desired qualitative results as well. The Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) for instance reveals that 50 per cent of Class V students are found to be unable to even read the text meant for students of Standard II in India.
It is under the above reference points that the DNEP strategically focuses on school education and mandates itself to concentrate on the quality of Primary and Early Childhood Care and Education (PCCE) and drastic reforms in the current school exam systems, to strengthen school-teacher training, and restructure the regulatory framework for schools henceforth.
To regulate school education, the DNEP plans to set up the National Education Commission(NEC) at the apex level. The DNEP speaks about the need for increased government investment in education, strengthening the use of technology and accentuate the focus on vocational education. The DNEP recommends extending the coverage of the RTE Act to all children between the ages of three to eighteen and recommends that there should be ‘no detention’ of children till Class VIII.
All school students in the new regime will compulsorily receive vocational education in at least one vocation in grades nine to twelve. The ‘extra-curricular’ and ‘co-curricular’ subjects like that of sports, yoga, dance, music, drawing, painting, sculpting, pottery making, woodworking, gardening, and electric work carried in schools will now be considered to be ‘curricular’ subjects especially at the secondary level from Class IX to Class XII.
One most significant change in the DNEP is about replacing the existing 10 (primary and secondary school) plus 2 (higher secondary) plus 3 (collegiate education) structure; with the 5-3-3-4 school education design comprising five years of foundational school (including the three years of pre-primary school, playschool, KG and UKG, and classes one and two), three years of primary (from classes three to five), three years of middle school (from classes six to eight), and four years of secondary stage (classes nine to twelve).
For the first three years of pre-primary school, instructions will be in at least three languages by trained teachers including learning the alphabet for each language, numbers, recognising colours, shapes, how to draw, do puzzles, and be exposed to drama, puppetry, music and movement. There will be no textbooks and learning will be all play and experimental. From grades 1 to 5, there will be dedicated reading and mathematics hours to acquire fundamental literacy and numeracy.
From grade 6onwardsall subjects from Mathematics, Music, Sports to Painting will be part of the curriculum. Students will opt for the subjects they’re interested in including some compulsory common subjects. At this stage, students will also be exposed to some vocational training so that they can decide which vocational subject to take up once they reach grade 9. There will be tests at the end of grades 3, 5 and 8 to measure critical thinking ability as well as language and mathematical skills.
Each year of the secondary stage will be divided into two semesters. Each student would take 5 to 6 subjects in each semester preferably in online mode wherever possible for at least three main subjects in six-monthly semesters. There will be board examinations at the end of class three, five and eight. Exams will test only core concepts, skills and higher-order capacities. Students will be allowed to choose subjects and the semester when they want to take these board exams and maybe more often.
The medium of instruction will compulsorily be the home language/mother-tongue/local language till grade five, and preferably till grade eight, wherever possible. The three-language formula in Goa, for instance, could be Hindi, Konkani/Marathi and English. The students who wish to change one or more of their three languages may be allowed to do so in grade six or grade seven.
The DNEP recommends that teachers should be deployed with a particular school complex for a minimum period of 5 to 7 years, and not more than that. Teachers will not be allowed to participate in any non-teaching activities such as cooking mid-day meals or participating in vaccination campaigns during school hours. However, every teacher will be required to complete a minimum of 50 hours of Continuous Professional Training (CPT) every year.
In terms of regulating the schools, the DNEP removes the role of government for recognition of private schools giving them more arm space.
Surprisingly, rather sadly, the ‘expert’ policy drafters seem to have not taken any cognizance of the nearly 80 lakh school teachers in India as they went on to suggest the drastic reforms in this sphere. The committee consulted 217 ‘eminent people’ before drafting the policy. Unfortunately, not a single school teacher can be found in the list of ‘eminent persons’ as
appended in the DNEP. The onus thus remains on the school teachers to
educate them, understand and imbibe the implications of the DNEP on
school education.
