Page 47 - EducationWorld June 2020

unfortunate, it is difficult to blame anyone over time, allowing phases of work
because everyone is acting with limited experience in between and transfer of
information and very little predictability. credits across programmes.
My advice to teachers is to focus on building • School managements should
strong competencies required for the post- introduce competency-based career
Covid world. Despite short-term uncertainty, growth and financial rewards for
a new world of opportunities will open very teachers. This will enable schools to
soon for competent teachers. School man- retain best teachers and motivate
agements need to also identify, develop and them to sign up for in-service profes-
retain their best teachers. sional development programmes.
Post-Covid reform proposals for teacher educa- CENTA’s future plans. The post-Covid-19
tion. world will spur demand for well-
• Permit entry of all graduates on the basis trained, competent teachers in India
of testing and certification of teaching and even internationally. CENTA
competencies into the teaching profession. will continue to assess and certify
This will inspire design and preparation teachers’ competencies scientifically
of high-quality teacher prep programmes and facilitate and objectively; connect outstanding teachers with great
lateral entry of professionals from other vocations into opportunities; and support professional development of
K-12 education. teachers through the MyCENTA learning platform. We
• Introduce flexibility in teacher preparation programmes are already seeing a demand upsurge for our services and
including accumulation of credits or micro-credentials expect it to increase in the future.

Ambarish Rai Now with the national lockdown the Disaster Management Act provides
National Convenor, RTE Forum children of migrants, homeless and for the Central government to order
informal sector workers are especial- a moratorium on private schools col-
ly affected. With government schools lecting or hiking fees until normalcy
shut, these disadvantaged children is restored. However, teachers’ sala-
are deprived not only of education, ries should be paid by schools using
but of their daily mid-day meal as their contingency funds.
well. What are your Top 3 proposals for re-
Official advice to switch to online
learning is not a solution as only forming school education in India?
The key to reforming school educa-
34 percent of the population has
access to the Internet. Free offline tion in India is to implement the
provisions of the RTE Act, 2009 in
communication media including
radio and Doordarshan should be toto. The ambit of the Act must also
be extended to cover secondary and
used to broadcast/telecast education
programmes. However, even these higher secondary children as recom-
mended by the draft National Educa-
offline modes will not ensure equi-
table education as envisioned by the tion Policy 2019.
Central and state governments
RTE Act. The Covid-19 pandemic has need to acknowledge the critical
A amplified and exacerbated the edu- role of public education institutions
law graduate of Lucknow
cation inequities of Indian society.
University, Ambarish Rai is
and sharply increase their public
national convener of the Right
to Education Forum (estb.2010), What are the major challenges confront- education and health budgets. The
ing Indian K-12 education in the new
government must also ensure that all
a coalition of over 10,000 NGOs, Covid-19 era? schools are equipped with safe drink-
educationists and social activists Children, especially from margin- ing water and sufficient hygiene/
gathered under the forum’s ban- alised households, have been hard sanitation facilities.
ner to enforce the landmark Right hit. Many will drop out of school,
of Children to Free & Compulsory thousands will enter the child labour What are your future plans for the RTE
Education (RTE) Act, 2009, in all of force and become vulnerable to Forum?
India’s 1.50 million schools. trafficking and/or pushed into early The Forum plans to conduct a survey
to assess the impact of the pandemic
How has the Covid-19 precipitated marriage. on children; sensitise policymakers
national lockdown disrupted implemen- Several state governments have issued about the public education system
tation of the RTE Act, 2009? fees deferment circulars to private and mobilise stakeholders to make
Since inception, the RTE Act has school managements. What’s your com- government accountable for not
been poorly implemented. UDISE ment? achieving universalisation of educa-
Data 2016-17 indicates that only Parents shouldn’t be burdened with tion. We will also launch a national
12.7 percent of the country’s schools paying fees as schools are closed dur- Back to School campaign after the
are fully compliant with the Act. ing the lockdown. S.10 (2) (1) of the lockdown is lifted.
JUNE 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 47