By SHRI RAM SHAW
NEW DELHI: Underlining that the new India is keen on making the maximum out of potential-rich areas like science and where scientific institutions are now seen as modern temples, Shivkumar Bilagrami, Joint Director, Loksabha Secretariat, said that “the National Education Policy (NEP) is something that India was waiting for several decades. The time of transformation has just begun. If you have to grow on, you have to grow on in synergy. The era of silos is over. It has to be integrated effort.”
Addressing the brainstorming session of the #The Times Talk seminar on “New Education Policy (NEP)” at Delhi Public School (DPS), Noida, Sector 132, he said that the policy advocates a creative and multidisciplinary curriculum that includes humanities, languages, culture, sports and fitness, health and well-being, arts and crafts, in addition to science and mathematics. “It reflects the true essence of Swami Vivekananda’s Man-making Education, Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Education and Mahatma Gandhi’s Basic Education,” he added.
Bilagrami further said, “NEP is the biggest path-breaking reform in India since independence as the new policy is not only progressive and visionary but is also in keeping with the emerging needs and requirements of 21st century India. It will reorient India’s education policy to global benchmarks.”
Dwelling on the merits of NEP-2020, Prof. B.S. Rajput, former VC, Kumaun University, said, “the provision of multiple entry or exit option is something to be cherished as this academic flexibility will have a positive impact on the students related to the availing of different career opportunities at different times, depending upon their intrinsic learning and inherent aptitude.”
He also said that the feasibility or appropriateness of this entry/exit option can be in future contemplated for the teachers as well, giving them career flexibility and upgradation opportunities as is done in some western countries and the USA.
He said, it gives due priorities to the inherent talent, knowledge, skill and aptitude of the students, rather than focusing only on degrees. He added that it also gives the young scholars and students enough room to decide their options depending upon their aptitude and their personal circumstances from time to time.
Reiterating that education is fundamental for achieving full human potential, developing an equitable and just society, and promoting national development, Prof. Rajesh Sahay, Chairman, Hierank Business School, said that the new policy aims to bring transformational reforms in school and higher education.
“Unless we correct some of the bottom- line misconceptions, we cannot move forward. This National Education Policy has given us a clue to realise where we were and to work on accordingly,” he said. “Earlier we didn’t even have a clue. The mismatch of education with livelihood will be sought to be corrected through this. This is where the theme of the Public Private Partnership model also comes in. Delinking it with degree and linking it with sources of livelihood. We are now a part of the global world so this public private partnership is inevitable”, Sahay added.
Prof. Rajput also said that one of the most beautiful provisions in the National Education Policy 2020 is the exit and entry provision. He said that you can have a combination of subjects and even alter them. “You are actually given full potential to your aptitude, capacity and also to the opportunities. In the earlier policy every passing year made you more and more captive just like you have entry exit provision for students, you could have that for the teachers as well”, he added.
He said that the earlier education system also gave us a kind of perverted entitlement. The New Education Policy will eliminate the nomenclature of dropouts and that gives students an opportunity to try their hand at the skill, innovation or idea that they want to try right now.
Prof. Sahay added that the change of mindset needed from obsession with government jobs. Universities can play an important role here also to liberate the mindset by making people realise that there are avenues that are much more lucrative than a government job and that will draw them.
Well-known poetess and a teacher by profession Anupama Pandey, who was operating and managing the event, said that education does not mean literacy. You could be educated without being a graduate. You could be innovative without going to a college. That genre is gradually coming up now. The National Education Policy has liberated us from all the superfluous entitlements and then made it a tool of not only livelihood but also of ease of living.
Speaking about role of NEP, Anupama said that the National Education Policy will lay the foundation of self-reliant, strong, prosperous and secure India and this education policy is a means of reaching every child and shaping their future. Quoting Swami Vivekananda, she said that education makes a person capable to face struggle, builds his character, makes him philanthropist and instills courage in him. NEP is connected to the cultural roots of India and this education policy has been formed respecting the suggestions of everyone.
Speaking about role of mother tongue and Indian languages, Prof. Rajput said that whether it is technical education, medical education or law education, when we do not teach all these in Indian languages, then we are able to use only 5% by limiting the capabilities of the country, but when we teach in these subjects in Indian languages we are able to utilize the 100% capacity of the country. There is a close relationship between research and the education system in the Mother tongue, one who thinks in his own language can do well in research because his original thinking ability is developed in his own language, he further added.
Prof. Rajesh Sahay, Chairman, Hierank Business School also said that the main objective of this policy is to groom such students who have a sense of national pride as well as world welfare and have the potential to become a global citizen in the true sense. He also spoke about the 5 main pillars of this policy- Enhancement of Capacity, Accessibility, Quality, Fairness and Accountability. He said that the benefit of India’s knowledge and research should not be limited to India only, but the whole world should receive it.
Mrs. Sukriti Chauhan, Principal, DPS; Vishal Pant, Managing Editor, India Today TV; Ashutosh Agnihotri, Senior Journalist, Dainik Jagran and several other dignitaries were present on the occasion. Apart from the deliberations, the program also witnessed enthusiastic participation by the students of DPS.