In this backdrop, here is an overview of the shortfalls in and concerns with the proposed policy.
What are the concerns and possible measures?
Rationale – Given the diversity of the country, the very rationale for a national education policy is questioned.
The country could instead attempt to develop action plans for each state, clearly spelling out the priorities, mechanisms and deadlines.
All these should go into providing quality education to every child in the country.
Teachers - The draft highlighted issues relating to pre-service training, selection of teachers and in-service training for skill-upgradation.
However, all these aspects are already well known and discussed upon in the previous draft policies.
The draft should have gone into the reasons for issues like prevalence of poor pre-service training facilities in the country.
There are numerous virtually non-existent B.Ed (Bachelor of Education) and D.El.Ed (Diploma in Elementary Education) colleges.
The draft does not suggest anything new to resolve this issue.
Also, there is lack of appropriate training for teachers before they get down to teaching.
Addressing this and a transparent mechanism for teachers' recruitment in government schools are essential in delivering quality education.
The draft recognizes the role that DIKSHA (a portal already in place for teachers) plays in imparting in-service training.
DIKSHA has the potential to resolve a large number of other issues relating to teachers.
The draft should have reflected upon this.
Examinations - The draft recommends large-scale changes in the conduct of examinations by boards, and introduction of examinations at various levels.
However, no mention is made about the practical problems and the cost of conducting such exams.
A separate regulatory authority for school education has also been suggested.
However, whether such changes would help in qualitative improvements in learning outcomes is debatable.
Finance - There are other ambitious recommendations, including those relating to ‘school complexes’.
Apart from the issues relating to the utility and efficacy, the question over the source of funds for these remains unanswered.
When the states are struggling to pay regular salaries of teachers, how will they be able to implement these recommendations is uncertain.
NGOs - Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are doing significant work to improve the quality of education.
There is only a passing reference about the role of NGOs in the draft.
There is a need for scaling up public-private partnership in this regard.
This could prove to be an effective way towards quality education without much infusion of funds from government.
Private schools - A large number of students are migrating from government schools to private schools.
The draft does not delve into the details on the reasons for such trends.
Private schools are, nevertheless, playing an important role in imparting school education, and will continue to do so.
The unresolved issues in private schools, such as high cost, reservations, etc should be addressed.
RTE Act - The contentious Section 12(1)(c) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act provides for mandatory schooling of children belonging to weaker sections of the society.
It is widely known that there is inappropriate implementation of this provision.
The draft, however, does not suggest any remedy except a ‘review’ of this.
Besides these, the draft does not provide for a definitive and time-bound action plan for its implementation.
Plans have already been prepared for Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
What is required is to prepare such action plans for each state separately, as each state has a different set of issues.
Going forward, there has to be a mechanism to ensure implementation of these plans.
