New Education Policy- desirable to tangible

The sky over India opened up to two glorious horizons. One of them literally, as the first batch of the magnificent roaring Rafales flew home into the Indian airspace and kissed the ground at Ambala Cantt. A historical moment! Another, the MHRD gets a new name, the Ministry of Education, and rolls out the New Education Policy (NEP). Again, a historical moment! While the first empowers the nation, the second empowers the nation within. Truly, a cherry on the cake and we get to eat it too!! Now if there’s any third that is pending to complete a historical hat trick, it is definitely an indigenous COVID-19 vaccine.

NEP has been well received by its stakeholders as well as the common man. A well-rounded policy conceived with an inclusive foresight, NEP weaves itself brilliantly into the weft and warp of the education system, from the teacher to the taught, from the beginner to the sought. Since the time it was announced, the media including the social networks have been abuzz with news, analysis, commentaries, take-away points, and detailed notes on the various aspects of the policy. To add any more words to this brimming cup may only dilute its flavor.

So, as we sit back and look forward to its staggered implementations from next academic year, let’s just keep our fingers crossed that there won’t be any slip between the cup and the lip. Even though the formulation of the policy itself has been a mammoth task considering the quantum of feedback taken and brainstorming done, it would be an added pleasure to see a few more desirables work their way into this policy at some point in time.

At the top of the list of desirables is, first, integrating community service with the school curriculum. In the 5+3+3+4 structure, the middle stage (classes 6-8) is where an appropriate module of community service should be added. Value education at school is a shallow effort if we do not walk the talk. In fact, community service could be a credit course in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum too. Theory informs, experience enlightens and gratitude softens; community service entails all three to enhance the quality of thought process and thereby the quality of mankind.

Second, LESS IS MORE...should be the mantra. Currently, we believe “more” is the answer to all of our problems— everything can be solved with MORE classes, longer days, MORE homework, MORE assignments, MORE pressure, MORE content, MORE meetings, MORE after school tutors, and of course MORE testing! All this is doing is creating MORE burnt out teachers, MORE stressed-out students, and MORE frustration. The schools are in sort of a mad rat race, competing to hoist their flag in the top slot; in the process, sadly, young children are losing their precious childhood to stress. Instead of herding them into a tsunami of academics let’s make education a breeze. Even if it's holistic, let's not go overboard with education. Ease Education-Related Stress in Schools. Period.

Third, keeping in mind the health and wellbeing of the students, not just the curriculum but also school timings, breaks, duration, vacations, school architecture, infrastructure, and functioning needs to be reviewed as well as monitored. A typical school runs for 6.5h each day for 5 days a week. Commute included, this essentially translates to almost 8h outside home each day; close to an adult’s routine! Additionally, the hurried, scanty early morning breakfast followed by a meal break only after 4 hours, confuses the hunger hormones. Its nearly impossible to focus on studies over a grumbling stomach; the natural fallout of hunger are fatigue, headache, weakness, irritability, and distraction. Schools should operate for only 5 days in a week for not more than 5 hours a day with two meal breaks for the entire school, one an hour after the start of the school and the second 2 hours after the first one. Too much school robs the children of other precious gifts of life. Children should have enough free time to inculcate and pursue hobbies and be able to spend time with family. Weekends should be leisurely and festivals, enjoyable. Exams, tests, tutorials, assignments, etc should neither precede nor follow immediately of the major holidays or festivals.

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Further, weather and climate play a major role in the environmental conditioning of a being. Therefore, all buildings within the school including the gates should be connected with covered walkways and classrooms should be maintained at comfortable ambient temperature. Few doable changes in architecture and infrastructure may usually do the trick. Also, the school timings must change to accommodate the requirements of the local season/climate. Summer, winter, monsoon timings, as well as vacations, should be planned suitably to provide protection from extreme weather. This may keep allergies in check too.

Because the state of bliss can only be experienced when the physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of the self are aligned, it is necessitated that each of these dimensions be fulfilled to manifest happiness in children. Happy children grow into happy adults and make a Happy Nation. Schools, therefore, have a far more important roleplay than just imparting education. To move back from ‘teaching shops’ to the ‘temples of learning’, from a nation completely obsessed with marks and percentages to a nation that is sensitive enough to nurture diverse talents, from a work-centric society aiming to create only skilled workforce to one creating a conscientious workforce, to be able to look behind with pride and look ahead with confidence, we need to revisit, revise and rescue our education system from its hitherto colonial inheritance.

NEP seems to be a promising “Vocal for Local” tool, an indigenous “Make in India” approach that can provide the country with the significant push to soar towards “Atmanirbhar” horizons.

Disclaimer: The author of the article is Dr. Meenakshi Dua, Assistant Professor, School of Environmental Sciences, JNU.
Expert in Molecular Microbial Ecology & Behavior.

The views and opinions expressed are the personal opinions of the author. The facts, analysis, assumptions, and perspective appearing do not reflect the views of Republic TV/ Republic World/ ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd.

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