Time for Educational Transformation!

Our government is involved in filmy coincidences these days. In 2018, a political action drama Telugu movie was released titled 'Dashing CM Bharat' starring Mahesh Babu. In the story, the newly elected CM imposed heavy fines on those breaking traffic rules. Sometime after that, the government introduced heavy monetary penalties for traffic rule violations. Now, just a few weeks ago, a video went viral on social media in which an IAS officer was seen saying not so good things about our education system. And, here we are today witnessing the New Education Policy 2020 that has been introduced by the government. Now, whether films are being made to inspire the government or government is itself getting inspired by the films/social media, it is all worth it until doing good for common people.

For decades now, we have been cursing the Indian Education System. We knew that it was outdated, but we were helpless. All we could do was think that when the government would do something about this. Not only this, but all of us have also been educated in the outdated educational system that we're referring to. So, whenever we read about the fact that employability is a big issue in India, we cursed the education system even more. However, when we came to know that several business tycoons and celebrities were not well-read, that was a sort of motivation.

But, you would agree that we also used to think, why are students of foreign countries smarter than us? In fact, that's the reason people who were well off, used to send their kids to other countries for higher education. As per a report, India has constantly been among the top-5 in the list of countries from where the most number of students went to study in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. The reason was fairly simple. People were losing trust in the Indian higher education due to its outdated pedagogy in general. It's not that there aren't any good colleges in India. Be it IITs or IIMs or AIIMS or a few state universities, they have maintained an updated pedagogy, and graduates from these institutions usually fared well in life. But, only a handful of students could get into these institutions because of extremely tough competition. So, now with the advent of New Education Policy 2020, what might all change? Read on to find out.

Possible Effects of New Education Policy:

While we have already mentioned some problems related to the older education system, we have still not covered most of them. Remember the suicide cases of students who couldn't perform well in the Board Exams? The new education policy has, although not abolished Board Exams, it has changed the pattern a bit, and it has also reduced its overall importance. Also, the main thing is the removal of the restriction of subjects. Remember that eternal clash between Science, Arts, and Commerce? As per the new policy, if a student wishes to study history along with Maths or Economics Along with Biology, the school will have to teach him that way.

Another change that you'll see is probably lesser people with Dr. before their names, as M.Phil has been discontinued. Those who have pursued M.Phil might regret this decision, but for others, we can't say. Another question is, has the Ph.D. been affected in the policy? The answer is not quite. The thing is that under graduation might be enhanced, and we might see mostly 4-year courses that would include research as well. However, the students will also be given an option to drop out in between. So, if you take admission in a college and pursue graduation, and after a year or two, you feel that you don't belong there, you can just drop out! The graduation, in that case, will be considered a diploma. On the other hand, if you complete 4 years and complete the research assignment successfully (that may last for a year), you'll be eligible to pursue a Ph.D. in the future.

Another drastic change is that if you wish to pursue higher education in a foreign institution in the near future, you may find its campus in India itself! Because NEP 2020 also proposes to invite renowned foreign institutions to set up their campuses in India. Just in case you're worried about the quality of education and worthiness of your degree, in that case, you don't need to worry at all because this model has already been successfully implemented in a few countries.

Now, let's talk about Engineers. You all very well know that India produces lakhs of engineers every year, and many of them remain unemployable. Sorry for being so straightforward, but that's a bitter reality. Imagine if a private engineering college near you offers the same curriculum as that of IITs! Wouldn't that be amazing? That's entirely possible in the near future due to the new education policy's propositions. Also, the governing council for most/all of the competitive exams will be the same now. So, affiliation issues, exam conducting issues, problems regarding updates, and other arrangements might be solved.

Employability has been focused on this new policy, and hence, technology has been kept at the forefront. Being able to learn coding from the 6th standard itself is an example. Along with this, AI (artificial intelligence) will be implemented in the assessment of exams (including the board exams). Technology will also be used in imparting education everywhere and what that means is, only those studying in international board schools will not remain privileged. This was a much-needed reform in our view.

It's exciting to see the draft of the new education policy that is probably aimed at revolutionizing the entire education system. One of the major issues that Indian is currently facing is employability, and the root cause is skill development. If the policy is implemented smoothly and then delivers what it aims at, it will be miraculous for India. But, we can also not deny that implementation is the toughest part, and its success depends on implementation completely. So, all we can do is wait for the implementation and then hope for the best!