Having been the recipient and participant for a long time now, I always bother about multiple aspects of the Indian Education System. It has been a long time of observing the so-called Bright Students who are not actually bright enough but enjoy all kinds of benefits ranging from preferential treatment to partisanship. This would not have been something to bother about, only if it would not come at the expense of under valuing rest of the students no matter how unique their individual offerings are. The trauma doesn’t end here. This preferential treatment tells upon the interest of others to do better and undermines the benefit that the society as a whole would muster, had each individual been valued for who he/she is and what he/she has to offer, in a given academic system. Being educated connotes a wider meaning than merely possessing of degrees and diplomas. It must make people wiser and must evolve the society towards betterment. But this is far from reality in the Indian context. It is crystal clear that the education system is misdirected. Personal gain has become the main motive of everyone, from institutions to teachers. Students never get conditioned to the field knowledge of their discipline, primarily because more than getting tuned to the subject, they are oriented towards making money out of it. As a result, students become cutthroat competitors, paving way towards unhealthy competition and unfair means. Moreover, no value is given to vocational jobs. Everybody aims to go for higher education without giving a thought to the interest, let alone talent, one bears deep inside. This is done to escape jobs that are considered menial in the society. The mushrooming of coaching centers right from primary classes has further commercialized the sector leading to the depreciation of the value system. It is a common scenario to find most of the doctors, engineers, bureaucrats and all other so-called professionals being misfit in their respective fields. Rote Learning elevates them to higher positions. If aptitude and skill evaluation was done, most of them would not be holding their current positions! Hence, everybody in the system- students, teachers, institutions, and, administration, and, everything in the system- from delivering lectures to deciding merit to pseudo-placements, is pathetically wrong. History is evidence that the Reformation of Education is a prerequisite to the Reformation in Society.

Does this imply that our reformation as a society is not possible? There must be some solution to the dead end that we have reached with our malice beliefs and actions. Well, the answer lies in our customary system, like in any other field. India has owned a rich learning treasure. We need to bring back the legacy.

The Treasure Trove - Indian Gurukul System

It was the traditional schooling system of ancient times that prevailed majorly in the Indian subcontinent. It was more prevalent during the Vedic age where students were taught various subjects and about living a cultured and disciplined life. The distinctive features of the Gurukul System make it applicable even today. It focussed on imparting education to the students in a harmonious environment where the shishyas lived at the residence of the guru with brotherhood, love, and, discipline. The essential teachings were in subjects, like language, science, and mathematics, but equal focus was given to art, music, dance, crafts, physical activities, group discussions, confidence building, and, mindfulness. In short, it was a method of incorporating conscience and ethical development in the personality of the shishya. Thus, at the end of the academic training, the student would be well versed and all prepared to face the world with dexterity in every sphere.

Therefore, it is high time to look back in time and relive our lost tradition. There are indeed many teaching approaches from the Gurukul System that can be incorporated in the present system. I attempt to explain the relevance under the following headings-

1. Holistic Development

Robust learning with focus on practical knowledge, extracurricular activities, and inculcating spiritual awareness is a useful tool in developing better individuals who shall empower the nation.

2. Value-Based Development

The Gurukul System can overcome the present ills of rote learning, unhealthy competition, academic animosity, and, stress by creating a value-based system where uniqueness of every child is respected and students excel in their respective interests and talents.

3. Student-Teacher Relation

The student-teacher relation needs to be as friendly as respectful. This can be learnt from the Gurukul System where teachers only asked for gurudakshina from their students and they willfully presented whatever was demanded. Such an essence needs to be revived when all we can observe is a system that is more commercial in nature than institutional.

Therefore, the Gurukul System presents a perfect reference of assisting students as well as teachers for their individualistic goals, and of course, to the whole education system for becoming more robust, relevant, and meaningful.

National Education Policies - Historical Account of India’s attempts at betterment

• National Policy on Education, 1968

It was framed on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission (1964–1966) by the government headed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the year 1968 and aimed at the complete restructuring and equality in educational opportunities and greater cultural and economic development. The policy strived to ensure compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14.

• National Policy on Education, 1986

In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi led government introduced a new National Policy on Education. The policy laid special emphasis on the removal of disparities and to equalise educational opportunity, especially for Indian women, Scheduled Tribes and the Scheduled Caste communities, improving adult education, incentives for poor families to send their children to school regularly, launched "Operation Blackboard" to improve primary schools nationwide and expanded the open-university system with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), created in 1985.

• National Policy on Education, 1992

Taking into consideration the requirements of the time, the P. V. Narasimha Rao government modified the NEP 1986 in the year 1992. The policy established the system of national level common entrance examinations aimed at taking care of varying admission standards and maintenance of professional standards viz-a-viz solving the problems of overlap and multiplicity of examinations resulting in physical, mental and financial burden on students and their parents. This policy is thereby commonly referred to as NEP, 1986/92.

• National Education Policy, 2020

In 2019, the Ministry of Education released a Draft New Education Policy 2019. This was followed by a number of public consultations and reviews. On 29 July 2020, the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a new National Education Policy with an aim to introduce several changes and restructure the existing Indian education system till 2026.

NEP, 2020 - New Lease on Life

NEP 2020 aims at developing engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by our Constitution. The fundamental principles that shall guide institutions are:

• Rootedness and Pride in India.
• Recognizing, identifying, and, fostering the unique capabilities of each student.
• Achieving foundational numeracy and literacy by all students by Grade 3.
• Multidisciplinary and holistic education.
• Emphasis on conceptual understanding, creativity, and critical thinking.
• Promoting multilingualism.
• Focus on life skills, like communication, cooperation, decision-making, teamwork.
• Focus on regular formative assessments instead of over-emphasizing summative assessments.
• Respect for diversity.
• Respect for local contexts.
• Equity and inclusion.
• Professional development of teachers and faculty.
• Extensive use of technology.
• Research and review of progress achieved.

Brief Overview of the Restructuring Provisions of the Policy

• NEP 2020 aims to increase public investment in education to 6% of India's GDP from the current 3%.
• The policy aims to achieve 100% youth and adult literacy by 2030, which currently stands at 74.04%.
• The policy restructures the present “10+2” system of school education covering ages 6-18 with “5+3+3+4” system covering ages 3-18. Therefore, a strong base of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is proposed aiming at better overall development and well-being of students. ECCE is vital because 85% of the child’s critical mental development occurs prior to the age of 6. Strong application of ECCE can ensure that students flourish in the educational system throughout their lives.
• By 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall aim at becoming multidisciplinary institutions, each of which will aim to have 3,000 or more students. By 2030, one large multidisciplinary HEI shall be established in every district and the Gross Enrolment Ratio is set to increase from 26.3% to 50% by 2035 (including vocational subjects).
• The undergraduate degree will be of either 3 or 4-year duration, with “multiple exit options” within this period, and appropriate certifications, e.g., a certificate after completing 1 year, diploma after 2 years, or a Bachelor’s degree after a 3-year programme in any discipline or field, vocational or professional. The 4-year programme shall be the preferred one and may also lead to a degree ‘with Research’ if the student completes a rigorous research project in their major area(s) of study as specified by the HEI.
• Efforts will be made to enhance financial support by incentivizing the merit of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and other SEDGs. Guidelines to private HEIs will be issued for offering larger numbers of free ships and scholarships to ensure equity.
• All HEIs will be equipped with the basic infrastructure and facilities, including clean drinking water, clean working toilets, teaching supplies, libraries, labs, and pleasant classroom spaces and campuses. Every institution shall make extensive use of latest educational technology to elevate the learning experience.
• Vocational education will be integrated into all school and higher education institutions in a phased manner over the next decade. By 2025, at least 50% of learners across the country, at school and higher education level, shall have access to vocational education.
• For ensuring transparency, all education institutions will be held to similar standards of audit and disclosure as a ‘not for profit’ entity with transparent public disclosure of finances. Surpluses will be reinvested in the educational sector. The accreditation system will provide a complementarity check by evaluating all the key dimensions. There shall be no arbitrary increases in the charges. This fee-determining mechanism will ensure recovery of cost and also ensure that HEIs discharge their social obligations.
• Indian languages and arts of all kinds must be offered to students at all levels of education, starting with early childhood care and education. Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) will also be established which shall aid in interpretation and translation efforts.
• Teachers will be recruited through robust, transparent processes. Promotions will be merit-based. Multi-source periodic performance appraisals will be introduced.
• A new entity will be set up to catalyse and expand research and innovation across the country to enable a culture of research to permeate through our universities, helping to develop research through suitable incentives, and by undertaking major initiatives to seed and grow research at State Universities and other public institutions where research capability is currently limited.

Fighting the Uphill Battle

Despite the exemplary vision of the policy, there are various challenges that NEP, 2020 faces in the current scenario. To mention a few- Funding, Infrastructure, Teacher Training, Digital Divide, Linguistic Barriers, Cultural and Socio-Economic Diversity, Capacity Limitation, Monitoring and Evaluation, and so on. In my opinion, framing the policy has been a good start, however, the provisions need to be more realistic. For instance, it is easy to state that by 2030 all the educational institutions must make extensive use of technology, whereas the reality is that till 2022, only 31% of the rural areas had access to internet facilities compared to a majestic 67% in urban areas. In such a scenario, it won’t be wrong to predict that once again digital divide seems to be worsening the already existing rural-urban divide in education! This only furthers the vicious circle of poverty, inaccessibility, and, disparity. Moreover, several other provisions, like that of Multilingualism need to be monitored closely. It is a fact that English language has emerged as the Global Language at present. We don’t want students struggling to comprehend English texts in 6th standard after being taught in mother tongue up to 5th standard. Ability to communicate well in English undoubtedly widens the career opportunities. We don’t want to lag behind. Similarly, financial aspect is a big challenge. Ensuring right investment at the right time at the right place is going to be a little difficult.

Concluding, I would recommend that the policy must be implemented in a prioritized and phased manner with unified development of all regions, sects, and groups of the country. Otherwise, the critical objectives will be unmet and weakened.

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References:

• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/readersblog
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs
• https://www.ugc.gov.in/pdfnews
• https://youtu.be