Wednesday, August 12, 2020

National Education Policy 2020: 1– An Introduction

"I was impressed by how Amy customizes learning. She told me about one of her students, who is completely non-verbal, visually impaired, and can’t move his arms or legs. Rather than focus on what this student couldn’t do, Amy instead identified something he could do: nod and shake his head. She came up with a writing system based on yes-or-no questions, so that he could journal about what he did over the weekend with family just like all of his classmates.

Amy’s goal is to create an inclusive environment where her kids learn alongside their peers. Instead of the traditional model where special needs students are siloed into their own program, her students are integrated into the broader school. Each one learns and socializes in homeroom, eats in the cafeteria, and participates in recess and gym class.

The result is a school where students with special needs are treated as valuable and important members of the community. In addition to making sure her kids are integrated into the broader student body, Amy also works with the general population students to help them understand their differently-abled peers. They start learning and talking about disabilities in the classroom as early as kindergarten- Gates Notes, Bill Gates

Amy Campbell is ‘Teacher of the Year’ in the state of Washington (Gate’s home state), US.

Malcolm X once told, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” If one is denied of this passport, then it will be difficult – if not impossible – to open so many doors.

In a philosophical sense, education is not limited to formal education. Being said that, formal education is essential for livelihood and upward mobility. One can always see a lot of people, who are phenomenally successful in life, without any formal education. However, we should always remember, people who dropped out of schools /universities and attained great things in real life are exceptions, not the rule. There are millions on the other side, who, because of the lack of formal education are struggling in life. You may ask this question, what about those millions who completed higher education and still struggling in life. Well, that is a different question – the one we are going to discuss in great length in this series.

As a matter of fact, we did not inherit a deeply flawed system. We cannot always blame history for everything.  We had something, which was created by the British and we had an opportunity to fix/modify it over a period. That educational system failed to enroll the masses. Before blaming this one also on Nehru, let me remind you that all governments got fair chance to fix it. Education is a state subject; hence even the regional leaders also cannot wash their hands out of that. Our refusal to accept the changes happening around the world only made the matters worse. Currently, we have an educational system that is partly flawed, corrupt, unfair, and out of date (especially the one run by state boards).

Let us discuss the problems first.

Sajeev

No comments:

Post a Comment