Page 24 - EW June 2023

Education News

Education Policy (NEP) 2020. only one teacher.
With this brief, the major recom- But while independent
mendation of the Radhakrishnan agencies such as the high
Committee is to establish a ‘one- court and UDISE have ex-
nation, one-data platform’ to be the posed the pathetic condi-
official platform for data collection tion of the state’s govern-
and validation of HEIs in India. The ment schools, the education
committee presented its report to the ministry’s own, internal
education ministry on May 12 and is survey paints a rosy pic-
now open for public/expert sugges- ture. In May, the ministry
tions and comments. The Rad- released results of a survey
hakrishnan Committee has recom- on its ‘Kalika Chetarike’
mended junking NAAC’s eight-point supplementary learning
evaluation system substituted by a programme – introduced
binary accreditation system (accred- in April 2022 to make up
ited, not accredited). All HEIs will Siddaramaiah: broken inheritance for children’s pandemic
be required to upload their data on learning loss. According to
this platform on the basis of which public school system from its pre- the survey, Kalika Chetarike is a big
NIRF, NAC and other accreditation decessor BJP government. A mere success with 87 percent of govern-
bodies, will be able to collate data for nine days after Siddaramaiah (no ment school teachers and 88 percent
publishing rankings or processing initials) took oath as the 24th chief parents reporting improvement in
accreditation of applicants. After the minister of Karnataka (pop.64 mil- children’s learning capabilities.
window for public comment closes lion) after a four-day long leadership .S. Rishikesh, head, Hub for
on July 24, the target is to switch to a tussle with D.K. Shiva Kumar, sworn- BEducation, Law and Policy, Azim
new combined evaluation system by in as deputy chief minister, the Kar- Premji University, says there is an
the end of this year. nataka High Court reprimanded the overall sense of satisfaction among
Yet while NAC is likely to be an state government for not providing teachers and parents about the Kalika
improvement on NAAC, it’s also basic facilities such as drinking water Chetarike programme. “The purpose
pertinent that a large number of me- and toilets in public schools. The court of this programme was to address the
dia publications — including India cited the Central government’s Uni- issue of foundational learning and
Today and EducationWorld — also fied District Information System for numeracy loss during the pandemic
publish HEI ranking league tables. Education (UDISE) data to the effect induced closure of schools. Children
Indeed, the recently published that of 47,068 government schools had forgotten what they learnt and
(April & May) EW institutional statewide, 823 lack drinking water couldn’t cope with new lessons. Ka-
ranking league tables have attained facilities and 464 don’t have toilets. lika Chetarike rightly asked school
a degree of sophistication that the “Is it not a shame that we are not teachers to set aside teaching of the
proposed NAC is unlikely to match. even giving drinking water to our syllabus and focus first on developing
Because in the final analysis, all boys and girls merely because they children’s conceptual learning and
rankings are underpinned by cred- are studying in government schools fundamental literacy and numeracy.
ibility. And government credibility at a time when private schools are If not for Kalika Chetarike, children
— as indicated by the NAAC scandal providing mineral water and have would not be able to recover the pan-
and incredible NIRF rankings — is classes with smart boards?” queried demic learning loss. In states that
low. the division bench headed by Justice have not had a similar programme,
Autar Nehru (Delhi) Prasanna B. Varale, while hearing a the impact on children’s learning lev-
public interest litigation writ on out- els will be felt after a few years,” says
KARNATAKA of-school children. Rishikesh.
That’s not all. According to UDISE
Broken system data, Karnataka ranks #2 country- former professor of education, Insti-
However Dr. A.S. Seetharamu,
wide for the highest number of single tute of Social and Economic Change,
he newly sworn-in congress gov- teacher schools. Of the 47,068 govern- Bengaluru questions the programme’s
ernment of Karnataka, which ment schools, 29 percent i.e, 13,649 ‘success’. “Pre-Covid, the learning lev-
Twon an absolute majority (135 are single teacher institutions, second els of children were already low. What
seats in the 224-seat legislative as- after Jharkhand (30.9 percent). In the the Kalika Chetarike programme has
sembly) in a bitterly-fought electoral neighbouring state of Kerala, a mere done is merely stem some learning de-
contest, has inherited a broken, ailing 4 percent of government schools have cline. Children’s learning levels have

24 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2023