Will NEP 2020 reduce quality of education in Goa?

September 25, 2022 | | 5:08 AM IST

Will NEP 2020 reduce quality of education in Goa?

Marian Pinheiro

India’s National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) was approved by the Union Cabinet of India on 29th July 2020. This policy outlines a vision for India’s new education system. This new policy replaces the previous national policy on education of 1986. The policy is a comprehensive framework for primary, tertiary and vocational education in both rural and urban India. The policy aims to transform India’s education system by 2030.

NEP 2020 was developed after extensive consultation and indeed provides a clear vision of the vision and objectives of Indian education in the coming decades.

This policy makes it a top priority for all students to have basic literacy and numeracy skills by the third grade. This policy will only be appropriate for students if this most basic learning requirement (i.e. basic level reading, writing, mathematics) is achieved first. “

Therefore, all State/UT governments should identify step-by-step goals and targets to be achieved by 2025 and develop implementation plans to achieve universal basic literacy and numeracy in all primary schools. Prepare immediately. achieve this goal.

This necessarily means that NEP 2020 implementation should be a step-by-step process, not a haphazard top-to-down model.

Achieving basic literacy and numeracy by grade 3 and next step: replacing the ’10 + 2′ structure with a ‘5 + 3 + 3 + 4’ model.

Only after implementing these preliminary and fundamental changes to students graduating from these new systems will higher education be ready to meet the challenges of the new systems.

A four-year interdisciplinary Bachelor’s degree in an undergraduate program with multiple exit options. These include specialties and occupational areas, with lateral exit options such as: Certificate after completing one year of study. Diploma after completing two years of study; Bachelor’s degree after completing a three-year program. and a four-year interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree (preferred option), etc.

The government’s current attempt to implement NEP 2020 piecemeal is like putting new wine in the skin of old wine. The result is chaos and confusion at every step, resulting in poor quality and a degree/certificate just a formality and an eye wash.

How NEP 2020 should be implemented and the areas of focus are described in the NEP 2020 document itself.

The NEP on page 5 states, “Teachers must be at the center of a fundamental reform of the education system. New education policies will help re-establish teachers at all levels as the most respected and integral members of society.” We need to do everything we can to empower teachers and help them do their jobs as effectively as possible, because teachers truly shape the next generation of citizens.

Teachers are the starting point and focal point of NEP 2020 implementation. This is re-emphasized in the policy’s core principle “Teachers and faculty are central to the learning process, recruitment, ongoing professional development, positive working environment and service conditions”.

NEP 2020 is clearly stated in Section 26.2 because it is a practical, practical document written by experts. “To achieve the goal of educational excellence, and correspondingly to bring many benefits to this country and its economy, this policy requires significant public investment in education by both the central government and all state governments. We clearly support and envisage an increase.The Center and the State will work together to increase public investment in the education sector to reach 6% of GDP at the earliest.Therefore, the State Government in the implementation of NEP 2020 The role of is very clearly stated in the NEP 2020 document itself.

The government’s role is to ensure adequate manpower supply and infrastructure facilities. Instead, it is truly sad and pathetic to see politicians and bureaucrats using his NEP 2020 to control the administration of teachers and educational institutions, which is quite different from what NEP 2020 was intended to do. It just degrades the quality of education in Goa.

Finally, it would have been better for the Department of Education to allow free distribution of NEP 2020 to all teachers in the state. Now is the perfect time for the nation’s education system to avoid a top-down approach and instead encourage teachers to respect themselves and come up with a viable and appropriate model of education for the state.

(The author is a law professor and educational consultant)