ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

National Education Policy 2020Subscribe to National Education Policy 2020

Challenges in Implementing NCTE’s ITEP

The recommendations put forth for teacher education programmes in the National Education Policy 2020 are probed in this article. It further examines how the National Council for Teacher Education is expeditiously implementing these recommendations through its recently introduced Integrated Teacher Education Programme. It is noted that the ITEP is afflicted with inherent systemic deficiencies pertaining to pedagogical planning and implementation.

In Defence of the Affiliated College System

Affiliated colleges, as per the National Education Policy 2020, shall be integrated, merged, and consolidated into autonomous institutions or clustered universities. This new process could, nevertheless, disrupt, degrade, and downsize the existing system, engendering a huge loss in enrolment, learning outcomes, and entitlement.

Are Colleges Ready for Degrees with Research?

Introduction of the four-year degree with research (FYDR) programme in colleges is one of the major reforms proposed by the National Education Policy, 2020. Many higher education institutions are working out modalities to offer FYDR in the upcoming years. This article examines the preparedness of our colleges to introduce the FYDR programme. Based on the analysis of scores of the top 100 colleges in research and professional practices, one of the parameters used by the National Institutional Ranking Framework, 2021, it is argued that even top-ranking colleges do not have adequate intellectual resources and conditions to provide research guidance to undergraduate students. Implementation of FYDR without adequate preparation may have serious negative implications on students and on the overall quality of the higher education system. Recent policy moves of making PhDs not mandatory for faculty recruitment may adversely affect the institutional capacity of colleges to offer FYDR in future.

The Need to Add Social Viability in the Indian Context

In light of the National Education Policy, which outwardly emphasises on equity and inclusion, this article critically examines the implication of the professor of practice scheme as announced by the University Grants Commission draft guidelines. It is argued that a dogmatic implementation of such a policy holds the potential of keeping the system of Indian higher education exclusionary. There is a need to contextualise such a policy in the Indian social milieu to make it socially viable in the wake of exclusionary consequences.

Four-year Undergraduate Programme

The plan to transition from a three-year to a four-year undergraduate programme has implications on the standard of higher education. Many universities have adopted the FYUP by an executive order of the government without any regulation of the University Grants Commission or proper deliberation. The article notes that FYUP is not a boon and rather may adversely affect the quality with a greater move towards the vocationalisation of undergraduate education. It may also lead to a chaotic situation with the multiple entry and exit options, and create a hierarchy of degree structures causing confusion in the labour market.

Intergenerational Effects of Educating Girls on Empowering the Next Generation

The study was undertaken with financial support from a consortium of funders, including Bank of America Foundation, Chanel, Kiawah Trust, Tata Trusts, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, and the United States Agency for International Development through grants awarded to Dasra, Mumbai; their support is gratefully acknowledged. Funding agencies played no role in designing the study, collecting, analysing, and interpreting the data, writing up this paper, or submitting it for publication. The authors are grateful to Sreya Bhattacharya, Shivani Gupta, Shailja Mehta, and Harihar Sahoo for their comments and support and to Dasra, Mumbai, for permission to use the data.
 

Punjab’s Education Budget (1980–2022)

Punjab’s education budget, over the last 42 years (1980–2022), was less than the recommended norms and requirements and, hence, inadequate. It also experienced slower growth in per capita and real terms, and negligible share of spending on capital account, with critical imbalances and rigidities. The fundamental approach towards resource allocation to education sector, across the tenures of both of the political parties—the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal—did not show any significant difference. The article closely examines the education budget over four decades and highlights some of its implications.

Learning and Language

In low-cost private schools in India, English as a medium of instruction attracts children of poorly educated parents with a low-income background. A primary survey in Delhi and the National Capital Region finds that mediating primary-level education through an unfamiliar language poses language barriers and adversely affects the learning outcome. The agency in using English for communication is limited. The learning deficit is undetected through successive grades in the primary level due to translation- and memorisation-based teaching processes, and focus on textbook-based exercises. The study finds that parents do not get a fair exchange in return for committing their limited resources towards education.

 

National Education Policy 2020

Even as the National Education Policy, 2020 talks of accessibility, there are too many visions in the document that would not allow that. It seeks to build skills for traditional vocations and for the global market. This is structured with a vision that deepens the inequalities of caste, class and gender by focusing on two types of citizens. With no vision to sustain the environment, tribal education is also weakened. Accessibility is deeply associated with nature of knowledge. With the pre­dominance of skills, the heavy base on Hindutva, and a lightness of curriculum that is yet to be defined, the NEP cannot enhance the right of citizens to know, to critically reflect and to shape the world.

 

School Education in NEP 2020

Released 34 years after the previous policy on education, the National Education Policy, 2020 is framed in a context that is unrecognisable from that of the past policies. This article examines the discursive framework underlying the current policymaking process.

Why ‘Online’ Is Not the Way Forward in Education: A Reading List

Online education is inimical to inclusivity and access. While bridging the digital divide is imperative, a move towards online education is likely to dismantle the transformational potential of university spaces, and usher in a commodification of learning.

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