The only thing that is permanent is change. Every now and then this principle applies even to education. Change by itself and strides in technology, impacted academics as we know it, during the recent Covid pandemic. It brought an unplanned yet inherent revolution in the way teaching and learning took place.
The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a planned step also in the same direction. It was high time to replace the previous National Education Policy that was framed and followed since 1986. The aim of NEP 2020 is to revise and reform the system of education and implement this uniformly throughout the country by 2030. The bottom line is to improve quality of education towards the future.
The present system of 10+2 will be replaced by 5+3+3+4 format. The focus is on multilingual approach to learning in general, leaning towards being practical, experiential, skill-based and future preparedness. Noteworthy is the intention to standardise the school curriculum where Indian Sign language is concerned. Also, the intention to constitute a Gender Inclusion Fund that provide quality education to the girl child as well as transgender students throughout the country is a welcome step.
OBJECTIVES AND CONCERNS
The NEP 2020 has several objectives where higher education is concerned, which includes increasing student enrolment for higher education to 50% by 2035. There are several changes in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) too, which are being rolled out in colleges across Goa from this academic year.
The learning-teaching approach at HEIs is to be multidisciplinary in nature. Within the institution, it permits students to choose certain courses from across the conventional streams. This could pose practical difficulties where the conduct of classes is concerned for institutions having limited classrooms. It is going to spell nightmares for the time-table committee. Number of hours spent on campus is likely to increase. Infrastructure such as libraries, canteen, common rooms, drinking water and washroom facilities etc., have to meet the demand of more people on campus over extra hours.
Similarly, a cluster of colleges is formed. A student can opt for any of the courses offered by the colleges in that cluster. Eventually, these clusters of colleges would have to amalgamate during admission process to offer students the choice of subjects in their respective colleges. It is unclear how attendance and movement of the students will be regulated in the cluster of colleges during class hours.
An option is to have simultaneous physical and online mode set up within a class. Would a teacher deliver her lecture fixed in one place so that the student viewing online can see at all times? Add to this the technical glitches of online classes. Or can the teacher naturally move around so that students physically in class keep their attention? There is a move towards having a combination of regular courses as well as those offered online eventually. Who regulates the credit hours of the online courses?
Now to the crux of the matter, are the subjects or courses being offered. There are been a frenzy of meetings among the various Boards of Studies to tailor the syllabus and credits for the new system besides drawing up syllabus for the multidisciplinary courses, value-added courses, ability enhancement courses, skill enhancement courses and so on. Limited deadlines to submit and pass these various changes at one go may not have allowed the teachers to put in their best.
ENTRY-EXIT OPTIONS
There are multiple exit options for students making higher education a flexible system ever to be in place where academics is concerned. They can opt for a certificate after one year, diploma after two years and a general graduate degree after three years. Students have an option to continue another fourth year and graduate with honours degree. They then take only one year at the post graduate level should they want to study further.
Those graduating at three years can also pursue a post graduate degree but of two years. There will be need of some standardisation for the one and two-year post graduate degree. M Phil will be redundant in this system and one can pursue a PhD directly. The multiple exit options and the Academic Bank of Credits for students will certainly boost movement among the students given their interests and circumstances. Maybe tough for Principals to track the number of students in their institutions given this potential of student exit and re-entry that may happen every year and hence affect the workload and job security of teachers. College administration office staff will have to step up on this.
Given the sweeping changes, there will never be a perfect time nor conditions to introduce such a massive shift in education. The University, colleges, government entities and all stakeholders like the managements, principals, teachers, students and their parents have to be on the same page. Videos and power point presentations can help but does not ensure a two-way communication where the doubts and questions of the other will be addressed. At the end of the day, all of us have to step into the new together, so that the aims of NEP are implemented not just on paper but also in actualised in principle.
