The crux of the National Education Policy-2020, formulated after a gap of 34 years, is rooted in the 21 st century, said the Special Chief Secretary, School Education, B. Rajasekhar.
Addressing a conclave of Principals of private schools, organised by The Hindu FIC and SRM University, A.P. campus, in Vijayawada on Thursday, Mr. Rajasekhar said the NEP was a wake-up call. “It says business as usual will not take you anywhere and calls for radical reforms like the school restructuring programme,” he said, insisting that chucking out the “10 plus 2” model of education and bringing in “5 plus 3 plus 3 plus 4” is the need of the global education system. “Multiple entries and multiple exits are a futuristic thought,” he said, citing the example of the Finland education model where many students would opt for only vocational education and later, come back to the mainstream education.
Gain for govt. schools
He said the government had ushered in significant development in the school education sector through a slew of reforms, including the rehaul of the infrastructure. “In the past, 15,000 private schools accommodated around 55% of students in the State while 60% of the government schools had the remaining 45% of students. This had changed in the last three years as preliminary statistics showed a shift. “Now 55% of students are in government schools and 45% in private institutions. One of the reasons could be the pandemic but the bold decisions of the government have started showing the results,” he said.
Mr. Rajasekhar said the government and private schools should work together in the larger interest of the children in the State. He said the divide between ‘haves and have-nots’ was real and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was eager to bridge this gap by improving the government schools and giving equal educational opportunities to all children.
Pointing to the fact that funds to the tune of Rs. 1,000 crore were spent on implementation of Jagananna Vidya Kanuka under which school kits were distributed to children, he said the aim was to give the children the dignity they deserved and help them emerge as global citizens.
He said teachers had a pivotal role to play in helping children adapt to the changing models of education.
Vocational training
Commissioner, School Education, S. Suresh Kumar said education was not about creating engineers and doctors alone. The NEP aimed at taking the learning outside the four walls of a classroom and encouraging students to imbibe from the real world. It sought to facilitate multiple pathways to learning that would involve formal and non-formal education modes, he said.
Emphasising the need to integrate classroom lessons with skilling, he said the country would soon have a vast pool of young workforce and vocational training would go a long way in helping them find suitable jobs.
Mr. Suresh also underscored the need to focus on research, reminding that India’s contribution in this field was abysmally low. He said teachers should be educated on new-age skills as “they are at the centre of any change happening in the education sector”.
Dean, School of Engineering and Sciences, SRM-AP, B.V. Babu and Dean, School of Entrepreneurship and Management Studies, B. Sivakumaran also spoke.
