National Education Policy 2020 is an aspiring and futuristic policy aimed at India becoming a ‘global knowledge superpower’. The revamp of the educational system after a long hiatus of 34 years is certainly a very welcome and a much-needed rejuvenation vital to an outdated system of education.
But implementing these reforms will be quite a challenge in terms of implementation and scalability. We need to be mindful of specific amendments that are necessary within our present system to substitute rote learning kind of education with that of application-based conceptualised learning.
LANGUAGE STORY
Among the highlights of the new education policy is the decision to make one’s mother tongue or the local/regional language, the medium of instruction at least until grade 5. But has enough thought been given to the implementation of the said policy with India’s existing status of the vernaculars?
It is certainly true that the mandatory teaching of an Indian language will preserve and encourage our linguistic and cultural traditions. There is also scientific evidence that states that children grasp and learn better in the language that they speak and understand, from adolescence. It also increases student’s classroom participation, reduces the number of dropouts and class repetitions. It is certainly a matter of pride for India that we have thousands of languages and dialects and that each language has its own importance and individuality. It is also true that the major concerns will be addressed with respect to the 196 Indian languages being included in the list of endangered languages by UNESCO.
According to the latest analysis of a census, around 19,500 languages or dialects are spoken in India. The 2011 census lists 270 MOTHER TONGUES in a country with 29 states and 08 union territories. So taking into consideration the diversity of languages and dialects in India, it is an arduous challenge for the education commission to key in on the correct one that can be used as the medium of instruction in one particular region or state given the high rate of internal migration and heterogeneous population in different states. According to “Social inclusion of internal migrants in India’, a UNESCO report of 2013 cites the migrant population to be estimated at 15 million.
TALENT STORY
Let’s assume policymakers will eventually solve this big language jigsaw puzzle. Considering the ground reality of the situation, the implementation of language-based education will certainly prove to be an uphill task for the entire education system.
It is imperative that we need well trained and efficient teachers who are the torchbearers of education. So, this veritably is the crux of the realistic implementation of Multi-Lingual Education (MLE). It must be complemented by instructional and educational amendments and trained teachers who can competently deal with the different languages and their dialects. Therein the need for the preparation of different study materials and supporting literature will ensue.
But the question arises about the availability of employable educators or trainers to teach the required faculty these vernaculars as mainstream languages. Another possibility is the replacement of existing teachers with a new set of teachers who are proficient in the new medium of language and proficient in the subject. Either way, it is a TALENT RESKILLING / ACQUISITION battle for schools. Extrapolating the context at the national level would result in a TALENT WAR.
Educators RESKILLING themselves in language will not be the only mandate for them. Remember the new education system promises various other much-needed changes which would warrant the educators to reskill themselves in multiple pedagogy skills. And all this MANTHAN(churn) needs to be accomplished by schools and educators in the earliest possible time frame, else what gets impacted is the Learning Outcome for an entire generation of students.
The evolving skill requirement of teachers and they being instructional trendsetters in the new realm of requirements is the reality of schools and educators. The educator must and should be at the cynosure of these amendments in policies.
Skill transformation predicament ahead of school managements is actually far more challenging than the similar challenges faced by corporates and industry when there are frequent technology revolutions. Corporates have large HR and Talent teams, whereas School Management and Principals will have to double up and play the role of Strategic Talent Managers who will strategise and manage this multi-year transformation journey.
The effectiveness of any policy depends mainly on the ability to address the basic objectives of education. India’s current education scenario remains plagued by troubling student dropout ratios, low teacher to student ratios, poorly educated teachers, mediocre learning outcomes, to name a few. As per the Unified District Information System of Education (UDISE), 2016-17 (provisional), there are 92,275 single-teacher government schools at both elementary and secondary level. How all this will be achieved in government-run schools will have to be seen in the times to come.
The ground realities being such, self-sufficiency in policy implementation demands the colossal task of organising suitably trained personnel, tailor-made to serve the education sector. Millions of teachers will have to be coached on the methods as well as ways and means of administering knowledge to productively execute the new education policy and accomplish its goals.
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