New Education Policy - Some Implementation Challenges
The National Education Policy 2020 has been revamped. The best part of it so far is there is literally no opposition to it from any quarters. Indeed, it was acknowledged by everyone that there was a need to revamp the Education policy and possibly many inputs were taken into consideration before the Government came out with the policy. There have been only some token oppositions like why it was not taken to Parliament etc. but that is still not the opposition to the contents of the policy. It is safe to say that the National Education Policy 2020 has been received well from all quarters.
Among other things, wide mention can be seen about language and Technology in the policy. In addition to this, in the fundamental principles that are considered as a guide to it mentions "Education is a public Service; access to quality education must be considered a basic right of every child". The intention seems to be absolutely right, the implementation of which is something that each one of us can possibly help by pointing out some areas of improvement since the task is indeed mammoth.
My favorite areas have been language and technology and its use in education. So, thought of pointing out the gaps as I see in implementation of those in the respective areas – On the topic of language, there is the medium of instruction and there are language subjects (three language) irrespective of the medium of language. When it comes to medium of instruction, with words like “Whenever possible”, “but preferably” etc seems good in spirit but very weak in implementation. Coming up with Bilingually textbooks in Science and Mathematics is also welcome but again the text is open ended saying “all efforts” will be made to do it which neither gives any deadline nor any motivation to implement it. Hope these things will be addressed in the manuals that follow for implementations.
The 3-language formula mentions that at least 2 languages must be Native to India. Given the wide acceptance and usage of English in India, there is a need to clearly call out if English will be considered as an exception and be called as native to India while choosing the 3 languages. The practical problem will continue to be there to get many teachers in different languages in a region so the "choice" will most likely remain elusive unless there is a clear plan laid out to get the teachers to be made available for this.
Indeed, Indian Government has taken multiple steps in increasing the continued use of Technology in Education. But we have seen time and again that any mediocre private players can outdo what the best Government effort in Technology can do. Unless there is a real participation of the private players in technology, changes on the ground may take a very long time. Although one must acknowledge that there has been improvement, the Corona virus scenario has clearly exposed the real state of our underlying infrastructure when it comes to getting access to students at the lower strata. The involvement of private players may not be the mandate of this Education policy so at best it can be considered as a silver lining that Technology will be considered but for implementation more broader policy changes need to be brought in to get private players also to contribute in technology.
The Fundamental principle of access to all is indeed noble. Unless there is clear copyright related guidance provided for all the contents that are done through various Government agencies, like the technology intervention it is not possible for the private players to pitch in to add value. Instead of any motivation, it becomes a hurdle to get innovation from the private players. The skills are all needed to get someone employed gainfully after completing the education but if the need is to give thrust to the languages, thrust to innovation through technology and get even small and nimble entrepreneurs to take part in improving the education scenario in India, the Open Sourcing of the content is very much needed.
All the right things seem to have been done in coming up with a new education policy, hoping it will be followed through with the right implementation as well.