NEP and Kashmir education | Documents alone don’t bring reform, it need implementation

The Government of India (GoI) announced its New Education Policy (NEP)-2020 with much fanfare and publicity on various social media platforms. The Minister for Human Resource Development (MHRD) in his tweets started revealing the salient features soon after the NEP-2020 was launched in India.

The new policy has sent the expectation level of people particularly the educationists soaring. Going through the write ups and the articles published in several newspapers, one can gauge the level of expectations people attach to the new policy.

   

The NEP-2020 has almost touched every aspect of education. From early childhood care and education to division of elementary and secondary education the Government of India has envisaged future reforms in education in next few years.

Going through the policy one gets optimistic about seeing positive changes in the education sector but I believe only documents don’t bring reforms in the education sector but it is indeed the implementation which will expectedly open the doors of reforms and revolution in the education sector.

When it comes to bringing reforms in the education sector, J&K state has a history of failed attempts. The NEP-2020 is not the first ever well drafted document which is aimed at revolutionizing the education sector but around half a dozen policy documents were drafted by the Government of India as well as successive regimes of the J&K to bring reforms in the education sector. Alas, all the initiatives became a victim of poor implementation at the department level. It will be a never-ending list if one starts recalling the policies framed from time to time in J&K. But I will brief about a few.

Just two years ago, the then secretary education and literacy in MHRD, Anil Swarup on his visit to Kashmir handed over a roadmap to the then commissioner secretary school education department. The roadmap was prepared to bring reforms and change the ailing education sector in J&K. Besides other aspects, the roadmap focused on reducing single-teachers schools and bridging infrastructural gaps in the educational institutions. Two years down the line nothing changed in the department. There are still hundreds of schools manned by single teachers and students still crave for attending their classes in well-equipped classrooms. Crux of the matter is that it was not the roadmap which could not bring the reform but certainly poor implementation at the government level.

In 2018 two separate teams (Task Force) were constituted in school and higher education departments to address the issues of non-availability of infrastructure, improve results and overall literacy-rate. But the committees remained confined to only papers without bringing any reforms in the infrastructure of schools or improvement in the literacy rate.

While going through the new education policy, it again has a mention of bridging infrastructural gaps. The policy states that no school remains deficient on infrastructure support from pre-primary school to Grade 12.

Over the past years the GOI has been pumping in crores of rupees annually to construct well equipped buildings for the school going children. But it most probably has happened only in J&K that one on hand thousands of students are deprived of proper classrooms and on the other hand more than 800 school buildings are un-utilised for over five years now.

This is how the policy makers have contributed in bringing reforms to the education sector in J&K over the years.

Another important aspect which the NEP-2020 focuses on is that there will be no school dropouts in J&K after the implementation of the policy. But it is also a matter of fact that the school education department has miserably failed to bring back the school dropouts in past many years despite getting MHRD funding in crores. After setting target after target with each passing year, the MHRD just last year conveyed the school education department to start a fresh survey to identify the exact number of school dropouts and out of school children.

In the NEP-2020 the GoI has planned to have alternative and innovative education centres to ensure that children of migrant laborers, and other children who are dropping out of school due to various circumstances, are brought back into mainstream education to achieve universal participation in schools by carefully tracking students, as well as their learning levels

In 2018, a concern was raised over the alarming rate of school dropouts. It was observed in the department that students, mostly girls, become drop outs after class 8th exams because of mathematics. A committee was constituted which was entrusted to prescribe two books of mathematics-basic and standard.

Basic mathematics was supposed to be opted by those who do not aspire to take up science after qualifying class 10th exams and standard mathematics book was for those taking up science stream after class 10th. Till date the committee did not come to any logical conclusion and the number of school dropout students swells up.

The policy also aims at restructuring the school curriculum and pedagogy in a new 5+3+3+4 design. The implementation of the new design 5+3+3+4 will depend on the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) which has to be developed by the NCERT by 2021.

As reflected in the detailed powerpoint presentation prepared by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), the vision of NEP-2020 is to have an education system that contributes to an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high-quality education to all.

It also states that the policy will develop a deep sense of respect towards the fundamental rights, duties and constitutional values, bonding with one’s country, and a conscious awareness of one’s role and responsibilities in a changing world.

While the NEP-2020 is being implemented in J&K from the upcoming academic session I am hopeful that the policy will not meet the fate of previous initiatives which were only framed but not implemented on ground. Let this policy be a game changer for the otherwise ailing education sector of J&K. Let it be the beginning of a new horizon and make J&K as hub of excellence besides opening the doors of positivity and opportunities for the student community at school and higher education levels. If implemented seriously, this policy has it all to make a paradigm shift in the education sector in J&K.

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