Page 45 - Education World September 2021
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Apply, apply. No reply                           2. In recent months, the Centre has devolved the decision to
                                                               reopen schools and education institutions on state govern-
                  common feature of all education ministers of the BJP/NDA   ments. However, when do you propose to restart the Central
              A government at the Centre (except Prakash Javadekar) is   government KVs, JNVs and universities?
              that they have resolutely declined to respond to Education-  3. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was formally
              World’s repeated requests for interviews to explain the elabo-  released in July 2020, over a year ago. But perhaps because
              rate policies and plans they draw up for the world’s largest   of the pandemic, it has not gained traction. What are your first
              child and youth population. This despite the globally unique EW   three priorities for implementing NEP 2020?
              being India’s #1 education newsmagazine with over 1 million   4. Despite a Supreme Court judgement ruling that choice of
              print and online readers.                        medium of instruction for children is of parents, NEP 2020 has
                 Shortly after he was sworn in as the new Union minister for   recommended mother tongue as the medium of instruction in
              education on July 7, your editor sent several emails, SMS and   primary education. What’s your comment?
              made numerous phone calls to Dharmendra Pradhan to respond   5. Notwithstanding the Supreme Court judgement in the
              to the following questions in a Zoom interview or in writing.   T.M.A. Pai Foundation Case (2002), almost all state govern-
                 Typically, he failed and neglected to acknowledge or re-  ments have enacted legislation to control and cap tuition fees
              spond to a questionnaire as under, raising doubts about his   charged by private schools. What’s your comment?
              comprehension of the grammar of democratic governance   6. Against the global average of 5 percent, India’s annual
              and/or suitability for his new office. The innocuous questions   outlay (Centre plus states) for education has averaged 3.5
              posed:                                           percent for over seven decades. Several expert committees
              1. Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic having   have recommended that it should be urgently raised to 6
              forced shutdown of all education institutions from preschools   percent. Do you agree?
              to universities for almost 60 weeks — the world’s longest aca-  7. What’s your timeframe to ensure globally benchmarked
              demic closure — what are your Top 5 priorities for placing   QEFA (quality education for all) in India?
              Indian education back on the rails?              8. Any other comment?



             my and greater government                                              belatedly passing the buck to
             regulation could generate a                                            state governments, is indicated
             whirlpool, is perhaps the                                              by a recent report of the parlia-
             lesser problem confronting                                             mentary standing committee
             Pradhan in his new hot seat                                            on education (that parliament
             in Shastri Bhavan, Delhi. A                                            in perpetual chaos hasn’t found
             more immediate and com-                                                any time to discuss this critical
             plex challenge that needs                                              issue is another story, see edit p.
             urgent attention is to place                                           10). According to the standing
             the entire national educa-                                             committee’s report, 240 mil-
             tion system, shutdown for                                              lion children countrywide have
             16 months and counting —                                               missed school for over a year;
             the longest education lock-                                            70 percent of children have no
             down worldwide — after the                                             access to online instruction;
             outbreak of the Covid-19  Pandemic-hit out-of-school children in Delhi  “online education is not real
             pandemic in March 2020                                                 education”, and dropouts have
             — back on the rails.             for the study haven’t accessed any re-  increased in secondary education.
                Even as elite and upper middle   mote learning content in the year after   Therefore Pradhan, with his limit-
             class urban households have smoothly   schools closed in March 2020. Worse,   ed experience of managing a ministry
             switched to ICT (information commu-  36 percent of girls and 33 percent boys   which has mass-contact implications,
             nication technologies)-enabled learn-  in the 14-18 age group didn’t access   has been thrown into a deep gorge
             ing from home, the loss of learning   remote learning content either.   and is confronted with the challenge
             for the majority of India’s 500 mil-  The impact of the huge damage   of scaling two mountains simultane-
             lion children and youth has been hu-  that the knee-jerk decision taken in   ously — repairing the massive damage
             mongous. According to a recent study   March 2020 by the BJP/NDA govern-  suffered by the country’s education
             conducted by the India office of Unicef   ment to immediately and comprehen-  system during the 60 weeks pandemic
             (School Closures in the Context of Co-  sively shut down all education institu-  lockdown and placing it back on track,
             vid, 2021), 42 percent children in the   tions countrywide, and to persist with   and also implementing NEP 2020.
             5-13 age group in six states surveyed   this decision for over 52 weeks before   Like his predecessors (except Ja-

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