Principals of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and private schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have strongly held that the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) is a revolutionary leap in the field of education in India.
Speaking at a function to mark the third anniversary of NEP 2020 at Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV), Kalaburagi, on Friday, Kendriya Vidyalaya principal in Bidar Mithilesh Kumar and Appa Public School principal in Kalaburagi Sharanagouda Patil said that NEP 2020 will bring in a paradigm shift in the field of education in the country.
Mr. Kumar, who spoke about the key aspects incorporated in NEP 2020 as far as primary education is concerned, said that the policy envisions a major shift from conventional rote learning and memorisation-based learning to experimental-based and application-based learning.
“At present, we are into memorisation-based teaching and learning process. Now, we will move on to application-based teaching and learning process. The latter is more efficient than the former in developing skills in the child and making it more competent to face challenges,” he said.
Admitting that there are several advantages in the future-oriented education envisioned in NEP 2020, Mr. Patil pointed out the challenges to be faced in the implementation of the policy.
“We are, at present, in the stage of teacher-centric education, while NEP 2020 promotes student-centric education. The policy also orients us to move from memorisation-based learning to knowledge-based learning. This is a revolutionary shift and we have to face the many challenges in the transition period,” Mr. Patil said.
When asked whether or not institutions on the ground, most of which are suffering from inadequate infrastructure and teaching faculty, are actually prepared to implement NEP 2020, many of the resource persons on the dais admitted that there are inadequacies but hoped for better teaching and non-teaching facilities and infrastructure in the days to come for better implementation of the policy.
“Inadequacies in the teaching faculty and infrastructure are not a big problem but the multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary approach proposed in the NEP 2020 is a major challenge. It appears to be a learner-friendly approach that promises a radical leap in the learning process. But the challenge is how we will translate the approach into reality,” Mr. Patil said.
