Page 44 - EducationWorld March 2023

Cover Story

ternational School & Junior College, incentivise children to build a track
Mumbai. record of their achievements and cre-
• I expect NCFSE to encourage ate a national talent pool.
active rather than passive learning • Life skills education, which en-
countrywide. Today, the teaching- ables children to learn to navigate
learning is teacher-led. This needs their personal and academic lives,
to change. Problem solving, proj- is not on the curriculum of most of
ect work, and creativity have to be India’s 1.5 million schools. I hope
brought back to India’s classrooms. NCFSE 2023 will encourage school
• I hope the common curriculum managements to teach life skills such
will encourage the development of as financial literacy, communication,
children’s soft skills. The new NCFSE emotional intelligence, and time
should emphasise learning as well management from early years.
as assessment of soft skills such as • I am confident that NCFSE and
presentation, public speaking and NCF in general will advise state
debate. governments, exam boards and
• Indian education focuses on learn- — through digital awards, badges, school managements to build liberal
ing numerical skills but falls short on certificates and the like. Digital cre- school environments that encourage
application of that knowledge. Our dentials can be stored and accessed achievement in non-academic fields.
students know formula for calculat- by students, teachers and employers Nurturance of exceptional athletes,
ing area of a rectangle — length x at any time. This recognition system musicians, and artists is an impor-
breadth. But, most are unable to will boost student participation in tant obligation of our government
estimate the area of their living room co-curricular and sports education. and educators. The sole focus of
or classroom. I am looking forward I hope it’s not too late to add this our education system should not be
to NCFSE encouraging teachers and dimension to the new NCFSE to academic success.
exam boards to accord significant
assessment weightage to practical
learning. Praveen Raju
• I am hopeful that the new NCFSE Founder-director, Suchitra Academy,
will encourage development of the Hyderabad
emotional and social quotient of
all children through drama, music raveen Raju is founder-
and dance, and social service. This director of the CBSE (Delhi)
will make the schooling experience Pand Cambridge Interna-
enjoyable and enriching for children tional (UK)-affiliated Suchitra
across the country. Academy, Hyderabad (estb.2011),
which has over 1,500 children and
Mukesh Sharma 120 teachers on its muster rolls.
Director, Prometheus School, Noida • With primary school enrolment
at an all-time high of 98 percent,
n alumnus of BITS-Pilani it’s time for national focus to shift
and the University of Colora- from ‘education for all’ to ‘qual- riential learning into K-12 curricu-
Ado, Boulder (USA), Mukesh ity education for all’ (QEFA). I am lums.
Sharma is a tech entrepreneur (QA looking to the NCFSE to provide • I am expecting NCFSE to give
Infotech Pvt. Ltd) and promoter of guidelines for improving the curric- high importance to digital lit-
the Cambridge and IB-affiliated Pro- ulums of India’s 1.5 million schools. eracy and IT-enabled pedagogies
metheus School, Noida (estb.2019) A QEFA curriculum should develop to improve learning outcomes of
and also c0-founder and trustee of children’s academic, physical and children countrywide.
Plaksha University, Mohali. emotional intelligences. • As mandated by NEP 2020, the
• It’s very important that all children • NEP 2020 has strongly advo- NCFSE should provide guidelines
countrywide receive digitally-en- cated multidisciplinary education. on how to introduce vocational
abled K-12 education. For instance, NCFSE should provide guidelines education in all school curriculums.
the Academic Bank of Credits idea for integrating multidisciplinary This is necessary to teach children
should be expanded to acknowledge including project-based and expe- to apply academic knowledge.
every school student’s achievement

46 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2023