DNA Exclusive: Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank tells why we should be hopeful of NEP

The much-awaited National Education Policy was recently cleared by the Union Cabinet after long consultations and claiming to have taken inputs from all quarters. Union Education Minister Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank explains to Ravi Dubey, how NEP is future-ready.

Question: How deeply has COVID affected our students, their career, and their academic future? Do you think that this was not the right time to announce a new policy/ reform?

Pokhriyal: More than 35 crore students and 1.08 crore teachers across 15 lakh schools, 1,028 universities, 41,901 colleges, and 10, 726 stand-alone institutes were unable to attend the classes due to nationwide closure of the education institutes as India prepares to fight against the pandemic. Due to the closure of schools, the course of formal learning - the teaching-learning of curriculum, academic calendar across the school, and higher education got disturbed. Formal learning got replaced by alternative learning modes - online, TV, mobile, radio, textbooks, etc. Students and teachers moved towards digital apps - DIKSHA, SWAYAM, SWAYAM PRABHA, FOSSEE, NROER among others. To deal with the pandemic, the Ministry of Education had launched several initiatives to assure and maintain continuity in learning for ‘All’ children. PM E- Vidya was launched to provide multi-modal access to education to students, simultaneously, initiatives such as Alternative Academic Calendar, PRAGYATA Guidelines, Digital Education-India Report, NISHTHA-Online, Learning Enhancement guidelines, etc.

The pandemic necessitates the use of alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not possible, sustainable strategies for the present and future adoption of digital learning is recommended in the NEP. 

Question: Online education is the need of the hour but how will you ensure that this tool will reach poverty-stricken and marginalised students?

Pokhriyal: The Ministry of Education has worked effortlessly to take education to children at home through digital means while doing so we were vigilant of the digital divide and thereby under the Aatmnirbhar Abhiyan initiatives. While the PRAGYATA guidelines have been developed from the perspective of learners with a focus on enabling online/blended/digital education for students, the Learning Enhancement guidelines addresses the concerns of digital equity and inclusion and makes suggestions of models for three types of situations. Firstly, in which students do not have any digital resources. Secondly, in which students have limited digital resources available. Lastly, in which students have digital resources available for online education.

The National Education Policy 2020 is also cognizant of the digital divide and at the same time recognizes the importance of leveraging the advantages of technology while acknowledging its potential risks and dangers. 

Further, the existing e-learning platforms such as DIKSHA, SWAYAM, and SWAYAMPRABHA will also be leveraged for creating virtual labs so that all students have equal access to quality practical and hands-on experiment-based learning experiences. The possibility of providing adequate access to SEDG students and teachers through suitable digital devices, such as tablets with pre-loaded content, will be considered and developed.

Question: What according to you is the real reason behind this huge unrest for the postponement of NEET-JEE? If there is unrest, why didn't the government listen to the students?

Pokhriyal: The opposition seems to join the populist chorus without taking into consideration the opinion of the silent majority of students who wanted the examinations to be conducted. JEE and NEET became an event where education was politicised. I urge everyone that education should not be involved in the game of politics. The opposition should work for the development and especially for the education of the students as they will be leading the country.

Question: From which academic year will the new National Education Policy be implemented? What all pre-implementation preparations are required for this implementation?

Pokhriyal: As the Honourable Prime Minister quotes, ‘Niti se Ranniti’, the same spirit will be followed while developing the implementation plan of the National Education Policy. Every page and every word of policy is of quintessential importance to us in terms of implementation. The chapter 27 ‘Implementation’ Para 27.1 to 27.3 have briefly discussed the implementation plan in order to ensure that the policy is implemented in its spirit and intent, through the coherence in planning and synergy across all bodies involved in education. A detailed implementation strategy will be developed in consultation with all States and UTs for the implementation of NEP 2020.

We will also encapsulate the suggestions of the relevant stakeholders such as experts, professors, teachers and academicians. The policy will be implemented in a phased manner keeping the interest of the students as the focal point. The implementation plan will encompass 117 recommended action points of Higher education and 150 of school education.

Question: You are a teacher, It is said that teachers in India are the most burdened, recently there have been instances where teachers did protest against No-Salary, No-Jobs, etc. How do you plan to get teachers to focus back on teaching?

Pokhriyal: The National Education Policy 2020 puts teachers at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system. It helps to re-establish teachers, at all levels, as the most respected and essential members of our society, because they truly shape our next generation of citizens. The new education policy proposes measures to recruit the very best and brightest to enter the teaching profession at all levels, by ensuring livelihood, respect, dignity, and autonomy, while also instilling in the system basic methods of quality control and accountability.

Question: The new Educational Policy did receive flak from some sectors of our nation, what is your piece of advice for these people?

Pokhriyal: The National Education Policy has been accepted and appreciated across the states. The policy empowers the states to take decisions on various matters keeping up with the Concurrent provisions of the Constitution. The Ministry believes in cooperative federalism and thereby the recommendations specified in NEP do not follow the agenda of Centre vs State but have been designed keeping students as the focal point. Every state is concerned with the welfare of their students. 

Question: The biggest issue in Education has been the infrastructure in rural India? Mostly good schools are far from villages hence parents deter from sending their children to school in lack of proper transportation, how do you plan to resolve such issues?

Pokhriyal: The National Education Policy recommends that schools can be organised into school complexes or clusters which will be the basic unit of governance and administration that will ensure the availability of all resources including infrastructure, like academic libraries and human resources e.g. art and music teachers along with a strong professional teacher community. Thus, by 2025, be addressed by State/UT governments by adopting innovative mechanisms to group or rationalise schools.

Question: Education has become costlier, rising school fees have become a nightmare for an average middle-class family. Does the government plan to cap school fees structure or standardize it according to the city/education slab?

Pokhriyal: Multiple mechanisms with checks and balances will combat and stop the commercialisation. This will be a key priority of the regulatory system. States/UTs will set up an independent, State-wide, body called the State School Standards Authority (SSSA) which will establish a minimal set of standards. This information shall be self-disclosed and will be made available on a public website maintained by the SSSA.

Question: What is your message for teachers/students and parents? What should they expect from the education ministry in the coming future?

Pokhriyal: The National Education Policy is convergent with changing needs of the knowledge ecosystem and to focus on education of high quality which is the key to India’s continued ascent, progress, and leadership on the global stage in terms of economic development, social justice, and equality, environmental stewardship, scientific advancement, and cultural preservation. We will be educating and skilling the youth with the 21st-century demands so as to reap the demographic dividend being experienced. Thus, we will again re-emerge as Vishwa Guru.