Maharashtra government in its 44 page report on the draft of National New Education Policy has recommended a tag-line of “100 per cent students in schools learning for eight hours a day.”
The School Education and Sports Ministry headed by Vinod Tawde has invited suggestions from the public by November 23 that too online and in English only. The report poses 73 questions which are based on 14 themes that have been culled out from discussions right from village, tehsil, district to state level. The state government supports the National New Education Policy statement of One Nation One Curriculum, free and compulsory education till secondary and flexibility in syllabus.
Among the various issues discussed in the report the state government has advocated the need for engaging parents as a partner in education. On the contentious issue of No Detention Policy (not failing students till Std VIIIth), the report says that the policy needs to be linked with well defined learning outcomes and remedial teaching.
The report also advocates the need for introduction of biometric attendance system and remote monitoring devices for teachers. It also advocates the promotion of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) support for increasing number of schools and strengthening school infrastructure.
It calls for access to secondary education, face to face, Distance Education, ICT based education. Some of the 73 questions put across for inviting public response include – “why do our school children not seem to acquire age appropriate skills in reading, writing and numeracy? Assess the reasons in detail. Do the teachers have a lack of command over language. Is the teaching method traditional and not adapting to new age requirements.
Are trained teachers are not available especially for Semi-English. Text-book oriented teaching is done instead of curriculum. In Maths numerical skills are to be practised a lot.” ‘No exams’ is nothing but a misconception spread all over among the parents. In fact evaluation is made formative and summative as per Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) students are promoted with their performance in CCE. Result of this misconception, parents and students are neglecting the studies. They are not serious about studies, it says.
The report also calls for strengthening of Parent Teacher Associations (PTA). Keeping in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Skill India Initiative, the state report calls for Skill-based education – giving the choice of subjects and the curriculum relevant to employment.
The Secondary education should enable each student find their strengths, equip them with life skills and suitable higher education that leads to livelihood opportunities, the report states.
The report can be accessed at https://education.maharashtra.gov.in. Suggestions and recommendations should be sent only in English by November 23 at schoolnnep@gmail.com.
