By Dr. Gyan Pathak
Schools look deserted, barring a few that have been reopened. Liveliness and laughter of the innocent souls, the children, our future, are locked in their homes, while the country will be celebrating 75th Independence Day, on August 15, 2021, and then the whole year as 75th year of Independence. Government of India and many other institutions have great plans for the celebrations even when our children have been out of school for one an half year, suffering great loss of learning and even the essential mental ability.
The unprecedented disruption in school education in India began with announcement of general lockdown of the country on March 24, 2020, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Schools were shut down with everything else barring the emergency services. Unlocking of the country began from June 1, 2020, in phased manner, but schools remained shut. The first and the second wave of the pandemic passed on, and the third wave is predicted to strike soon. Efforts were being made to reopen schools. Some states have already opened them for higher classes, and some were planning to open later this month or early next, but the fear has put a break on their planning. Maharashtra has made u-turn on reopening schools in the present scenario.
On the eve of 75th year of Independence, School Education in India, is under the shadow of great uncertainty. To open or not to open is the question. Bringing students back to schools safely is a challenging task. We need to overhaul the whole educations system if we want to save our children to save our future. There have been a limited shift form offline classes to online. It has theoretically given rise to a hope, but practically has been proving too problematic to be solved in near future. The digital divide between the rich and the poor, between the urban and the rural, between the educated and the illiterate, are too wide to be bridged.
COVID-19 is not going to leave use in the near future, and therefore we need to redesign our school education, in the light of newly gained experience during the one and half year of the pandemic. We had been implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 under which a child between the age of 6-14 years have fundamental right to have free education, but the outbreak of the pandemic and subsequent shutting downs of schools have shattered our dreams. Nevertheless, we will have to do something, to protect the fundamental right to education of children. A wise online and offline mix will have to be planned urgently.
The dream of universal education in the country was yet to be fulfilled when the pandemic struck the country last year. There was a big gap between the education levels of education in private and public schools of the country. There was a perception that students from deprived families in government schools were getting low quality of education. Prior to 1976, education was state subject, but thereafter has been kept under concurrent subject, putting formal responsibility on both the Centre and the states for funding and administration of education. We will have to achieve universal education for all.
India has remarkable achievement in the field of education since independence. In 1951, the literacy rate was only 18 per cent, 27 per cent male and 9 per cent female, which increased to 41 per cent, 53 per cent, and 29 per cent by 1981, and 73 per cent, 81 per cent and 65 per cent by 2011. However, the pandemic has threatened our achievements due to shut down. Millions of students are not coming back to schools at all when they will be reopened, and large number of them will be girls. India will need to tackle this problem urgently. Households are left with little money due to pandemic and the containment measures, and therefore, many students will leave the private schools for government ones. The crisis has many dimensions.
The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, approved by Modi government last year in July, is yet a non-starter, though we have recently celebrated one year of its completion. It replaced the NEP 1986 and has envisaged a comprehensive framework for elementary education to higher education as well as vocational training in both rural and urban India. The policy aimed at transforming India’s education system in 2021, but there seems to be no chance at all. In the present challenging scenario, implementation of this policy will also need many more things to be done. If we are to replace the existing 10+2 system with 5+3+3+4 model we will have to prepare for it in the right earnest. Anganvadi, pre-school and balvatika also will have to be overhauled.
The curriculums or school education will have to be tweaked to accommodate both offline and online education and examination systems, general hygiene and measures of safety from diseases and infections, development of civic sense among the students, etc. Teachers will have to be given special training so that they can cope with the online and offline requirements of education along with bridging the gaps and learning losses among the students during the closure of schools, and taking care of student’s behaviour and mental health.
While we will be celebrating the 75th Independence Day, and the year afterwards, we must do something to protect the fundamental right of child to education, at every level, from home to school, and for every boy and girl. India needs to plan education as a child’s right not merely as a parent’s or guardian’s duty. School education in the country is at a crossroad now, think over it to decide which way to go. (IPA Service)
Where Is Federalism In India On The Eve Of 75th Independence Day? 