Education system : A perspective of TEACHER Empowerment and Employment .

   Credits : Aishwarya.

    Education in a society should cater to the creation of knowledge and not just certificates. Reforms in the education system have been made recently to introduce holistic learning upto the undergraduate program. The new policy would be beneficial to equip the future generation with a variety of skill sets. This flexibility in the education system to choose the subjects of different streams would enable the students to develop self esteem, confidence and a willingness to learn by reducing unnecessary stress caused by a one shoe fits all principle in the curriculum.

    From the colonial era where the Macaulay system of education has been imbibed into our system, the big question is how would the present generation accept and adapt to the new changes brought about by the National Education Policy(NEP). Whether the transition will be smooth or rough? How much time is needed to accrue its real benefits? In a country where 65% of the population is below 35 years and most of them are unemployable, experience and practicality is the main criteria for employment than the academic degrees and educational qualifications. How would the reforms in the education system be impactful for the millennials who would have completed their education with stress, low self esteem, anxiety, corporal punishments, unhealthy competition, depression and even suicidal tendencies in some cases?

    The NEP is claimed to be a revolutionary change to the text book based education system. If the the current educated and employable generation of parents, teachers, vocational skill trainers, coaches, sub staffs etc. are open to the flexibility of the new NEP, then it would ensure better economic and social benefits to the country. The generation which was assessed to be "good or poor learners/performers" based on memory tests and the information gathered from the text book, irrespective of their excellence in sports, arts, debating and vocational skills would be the working population of tomorrow catering to a diverse job market in the country. What would happen to the quality if such a system is allowed to persist? How can Aatmanirbhar Bharath be achieved with such a quality? It is as if we are hypnotising our children to be prepared for the existing job market and curbing the critical thinking ability of these creative minds.

    The young and experienced teachers who are the true victims of the obsolete textbook based education must be guaranteed dignity and respect to make sure that the implementation of the National educational policy is successful. Investing more on the skill development of teachers and educators and by offering more flexible and updated courses for faculties would keep the teachers open to new ideas and learning. Introducing one year teaching course like Cambridge international diploma for teachers and trainers, reviewing their salaries in accordance to inflation levels, encouraging teachers to learn other skills apart from their main subject of expertise and ensuring the protection of dignity of teachers at the workplace would lead to a healthy competition and exchange of ideas among the teachers of various expertise. This would make it easy for teachers to teach a subject by linking its application with other subjects. Reforms in the teaching policies is the first step to ensure the implementation of the National educational policy.

Moreover today, in the colleges, a PhD is a must for lecturers. So there is a myriad of PhDs, the quality of which has become questionable. Teaching is a research in itself. In order to explore the full potential of a student, a teacher should actually do a research in understanding the cognitive, emotional and skilful abilities of each student. Detaching the system of PhD's with the teaching and aligning it to actual research will go a long way in the quality of research being produced.  To ensure this a high level committee should be setup to look into the policies for the protection of teacher's interest. As the saying goes "WHEN A TEACHER LEARNS TO TEACH, THE COUNTRY LEARNS TO LEAD". A dark irony is that while framing the National Education Policy 2020 which would have teachers as frontline warriors has not included any of the school teachers and principals in the policy making process !

    The NEP 2020 would be successful only if there is a blend of rigidity and flexibility in the learning process. Making subjects like ethics, morals, anti bullying, sex education and theology mandatory would ensure sensitivity and service oriented attitude among the "future educated professionals". Education must not be imparted only to make a generation employable and skilful professionals; education must inculcate the sensitivity to co-exist with plants, animals, environment and the nature. It is time that we teach children about living and letting live, about inclusivity and sustainability. The present pandemic should be a lesson to all - if sustainability is ignored, then nature has its own way of responding. 

Rather teaching students in terms of right or wrong through exams, students must be assessed on the basis of their  critical thinking and emotional intelligence in a pragmatic scenario. Critical thinking is the most important aspect of a human brain. The power of curiosity and the hunger "To Know" should be the attitude. For instance teaching the students about plants and chemical composition of organic and inorganic fertilisers and then asking them to grow plants of their choice using fertilisers or teaching them addition, subtraction, multiplication and division along with pottery, vocational skills and handicrafts and then asking them to sell their hand made woodwork/ paper crafts/ clay model hence, giving a continuation in curriculum through introduction of entrepreneurship programs at the middle school level. With literacy, one can sound euphemistic and analytical on papers but, it takes rational, practical and life long learning to make the students apply the learnt skills in reality. Education should not be defined in terms of literacy and numeracy. Sensible behavior and sensitive intentions must make human beings eligible to be called as "educated".