Divya Mridhula
15th September 2020
On 11th September 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed students at the School Education Conclave hosted by the Education Ministry about the new changes brought about by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
According to Deccan Herald, the Prime Minister addressed the importance of holistic development through nature and learning. "Currently the education is restricting, this is the main reason for dropouts. Hence, the NEP would allow the students the independence to choose what they like," he conveyed to the students at the School Education Conclave.
The Prime Minister listed the essential skills the NEP will enhance, such as critical thinking, creativity, curiosity, and communication. He added that the NEP's curriculum would focus on understanding artificial intelligence, coding, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, data science and robotics—subjects which will be of the utmost importance in the future.
The Quint reports that PM Modi spoke about the excessive focus put on mark sheets to judge a child's academic potential. He termed the document a 'prestige sheet' for parents and a 'pressure sheet' for students.
"Students learn even while playing, but parents never ask them about such learning. Marksheets have become the only decisive factor. Can students be judged on the basis of one mark sheet?" Prime Minister Modi expressed to the audience at the conclave.
As reported by Deccan Herald, Modi emphasised the importance of teaching primary school students in their mother tongue so that children did not spend their energy on translating but rather understanding the concepts. Until Class 5, the medium of study will be the regional languages or the students' mother tongues.
According to The Indian Express, the Education Ministry has received over 15 lakh suggestions on its implementation. "I urge all stakeholders to come together to implement NEP by 2022," the Prime Minister stated. Lastly, he stressed the importance of instilling the norms of social distancing, safe sanitisation to the Indian teachers and encouraged them to battle the deadly pandemic.
(Sources: The Indian Express, The Quint, Deccan Herald)
Edited by Nayana Dhanya