As the name suggests National education policy is a document that draws the plan of action in the field of education, our present education is based on the New education policy that was introduced in the year 1986. Now Government of India has introduced a new education plan, and national education policy in the year 2020, and this plan will play very important in shaping the education system of the 21st century. As this document is bulky, we will discuss this entire policy in a series of posts. This discussion on education policy will help you in understanding the need for a new policy, how a new policy is different from the old policy, the features of the new education policy, and the plan of execution.
What is the need for national education policy 2020?
The following ten points will tell you why India urgently needs a transformation in the present education system.
- Requirement of skills for jobs is changing– As the demands for products are changing industries around us are also changing. Simple toys of children are being replaced with tablets, mobiles, and video games. Internet and related products are in demand from the workplace to homes, India is also moving away from its role as a supporter to the developer of the technology. In such a changing atmosphere we must make our workforce ready to learn new skills for new opportunities. We must understand that in coming times low skilled jobs will be replaced by machines.
- Jobs are getting multidisciplinary– the nature of jobs is changing, and they are getting more multidisciplinary. Now products are not only produced for consumption within the country, they are also exported to other countries as well. One has to change the product as per the cultural, economic, and geographical requirements of that county, hence knowledge of science and math along with other subjects is necessary to understand the demand for product.
- Changing role of media– Social media has emerged as a big power in the recent times, social media has played a very important role in connecting leaders with the public, raising the cause of the people and spreading the news. But some social media and other platforms can be used to spread fake political and economic news that can cause riots and protests, hence the role of value and ethic-based education becomes important which is missing in the present education system.
- New inventions and discoveries – New inventions and discoveries are opening new opportunities and these opportunities must be utilized as soon as possible. Therefore, it becomes important to include these new inventions and discoveries in the education of students. Recently Artificial intelligence was added as a new subject to the curriculum of CBSE schools.
- Quality, not quantity must be the focus area- After independence government of India has focused on increasing the literacy rate of India, hence a policy of promotion was adopted up to class 8th, so that students remain in school till the completion of 14 years of age. But with changing times we need to shift our focus from quantity to quality.
- New challenges require a new education system- our world is facing new challenges like changing climate, pandemics, cyber-attacks, and others. Our future generations must be trained to face these challenges and come up with extraordinary solutions. Pandemics like Corona will not end soon, we will see more such pandemics in the future.
- Role of social science and Indian languages need to be redefined- It would not be wrong to say that social science has a lot of scopes but in our present education system role of social science is very limited. Similar is the condition of the Indian language they are being sidelined because of the growing influence of English. Those students who are interested in studying these subjects are forced to opt for Science and maths for better opportunities in the future. This must be redefined in the new education policy, we must understand that diversity is very essential for personal and social development.
- To preserve Indian culture and knowledge- India has a very rich culture and diversity. The Indian knowledge in the field of spirituality and self-discovery is unmatched, people from the foreign country visit our country in search of peace. This knowledge should not remain in textbooks, this must reach our children. Our children have the right to feel proud of what our ancestors have gifted to this world. This will also make them proud to be Indian.
- Role of teachers and educators- The role of teachers in the present education system is limited only to academics, there are no criteria to judge students in ethics, values, and duties. Both a good person and a bad person might have some knowledge, but what makes them different is their values. Our children must know what is right and wrong and for this, our teachers must be trained to make the subject multidimensional.
- Use of technology in education- Technology is present everywhere from farming to administration, even our governments are taking their work online. Now it is our duty to make our children friendly with these technologies so that they can use these technologies in future to grab opportunities for themselves and create more opportunities for others.