Anjali Noronha
Finally after a long gap of more than 25 years, India is ready to overhaul its education policy. A draft of the much needed and awaited New Education Policy was released in June this year to public scrutiny, advice and suggestions. As the committee led by Dr. K. Kasturirangan sieves through the overwhelming feedback received and finalizes India’s New Education Policy, eminent educationists look at and comment on the document for Teacher Plus and its readers.
Category: New Education Policy 2019
The Draft NEP: Does it rise to the challenge?
Madhu Prasad
The Draft New Education Policy 2019 (DNEP) is deeply problematic both conceptually and structurally. There are several diverting statements, such as the references to the ancient Buddhist institutions of Nalanda and Takshashila (without crediting them to a distinctly anti-Brahmanical and egalitarian tradition) and the need to ensure a contemporary form of wide-ranging and equitable access to ‘quality education’.
Exclusion by design: math education in the NEP
Jayasree Subramanian
Mathematics education in general receives a lot of attention in the education policy documents as well in the curriculum frameworks because of the importance attached to the subject and also because of the difficulty it poses for learners. On the one hand, mathematics is becoming important in several higher education programmes
Catching them early: foundation stage education
Venita Kaul
The Draft National Education Policy (2019) has been making headlines on a periodic basis ever since it came into the public domain. There have been some recommendations that have raised a political controversy such as the three-language formula. Unfortunately, this is taking attention away from several very commendable reforms suggested in the policy, one of which is the concept of a foundation stage to be created in the school structure.
Preparation and progression: teachers in the NEP
Sushama Yermal
The NEP attends to the topic of teacher education in two chapters. In chapter 5 on ‘Teachers’, it takes a cursory glance at the proposed programme for teacher preparation, then spells out novel plans to introduce professional standards that will inform teacher appraisal as well as career progression. In chapter 15, on ‘Teacher Education’, the need for professionally better equipped teachers is elaborated, the current status of teacher preparation/professional support are analyzed and possible solutions are proposed.
Skewing priorities: what do we give up, what do we gain?
Saba Khan
Many major cities in India are undergoing massive expensive changes under the Smart City projects*. Bhopal is one of the cities in the first phase. There are huge expenditures for ‘beautification’ of the city, even as one can see how the rights of the urban deprived, Dalit, Adivasi, and Muslim children are being withheld and abused.