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Decoding NEP for young parents and what it means for children
For decades, people have questioned how relevant India’s education system is in the current times. Why is the focus on marks and moving on to the next grade instead of building future-ready skills in children?
National Education Policy 2020 (NEP)
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) aims to free the children from this rat-race of marks and lay emphasis on their holistic development. NEP notes, “Pedagogy must evolve to make education more experiential, holistic, integrated, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based, flexible, and, of course, enjoyable.”
If you are a parent here are a few things you need to know about the National Education Policy 2020 and the changes it will bring especially when it comes to developing learning modules for young children?
Creativity — the cornerstone of learning
Unfortunately, creativity has been misunderstood until now and has not been given its due value in schools. The new policy will do away with conventional teaching methods, and encourage teachers to stimulate children’s imagination.
It lays particular emphasis on the development of the creative potential of each individual. It is based on the principle that education must develop not only cognitive capacities such as critical thinking and problem-solving but also social, ethical, and emotional capacities and dispositions.
A multidisciplinary approach is in, rigidness is out
Students will now be much freer to choose the subjects they want to study and the rigid separation between arts, science or humanities will fade away. This flexibility will give children the ability to choose their learning trajectories and programs, and thereby choose their own paths in life according to their unique talents and interests.
They’ll be able to take up varied subjects such as Biology with Economics, Physics with Political Science, etc to explore what interests them.
This “unity and integrity of all knowledge” will also eliminate harmful hierarchies and silos between different areas of learning.
Focus on experiential learning
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin
Just as you cannot master cooking by watching cooking videos alone, similarly children cannot absorb new concepts just by reading about them. Trying new things first-hand help children develop a better understanding of concepts.
The active learning pedagogy advised by NEP will give children the room to explore, to make mistakes, and reflect on those experiences. It will encourage them to ask questions like “why did this happen?”, “how can I do it better?”, “what if I didn’t do X and did Y?” and give them a fresh perspective on learning.
Focus on building future ready-skills
Another revolutionary step taken by the NEP is to expose children to vocational education, so they can build job-ready skills. Currently, the success criterion in school is good marks and grades; there is no effort to help children discover their passion and provide exposure to real-world demands. NEP’s plan to introduce Vocational training will expose children to real-world jobs, help them build job-specific skills, and foster the right attitude to appreciate the job role.
Assessments to focus on higher-order skills
Finally, children will no longer only be evaluated by the teachers but also by themselves and their peers. Assessment will shift to a formative style, which encourages higher-order thinking skills, critical thinking, and conceptual clarity instead of rote-learning. Progress cards will reflect the unique progress of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains, instead of marks.
The way ahead
The new NEP is the first step towards bringing real systemic change in the current education system. Each child has unique capabilities that can be nurtured through activity-driven learning, role-play, and discovery.
We need more learning playgrounds and fewer rigid classrooms. Once we free children from the antiquated ways of learning, they transform from mere consumers to creators and from mindless followers to leaders.
Source: INDIA TODAY
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