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Special Report

Dr. Arunabh Singh Rohan Bhat
Director, Nehru World School, Ghaziabad Chairman, Children’s Academy, Mumbai
commerce and education
n alum of Delhi University A
and King’s College, London, graduate of Mumbai Univer-
ADr. Arunabh Singh is direc- sity, Rohan Bhat is chairman
tor-principal of the CBSE-affiliated of the Children’s Academy Group
Nehru World School, Ghaziabad of Schools, with three branches in
(estb.1978), which has 1,540 stu- Mumbai, and an aggregate enrol-
dents and 92 teachers on its muster ment of over 8,000 students. Chil-
rolls. A British Council School Am- dren’s Academy, Malad and Kandi-
bassador, Singh is also a committee vali are ranked among the Top 10
member of FICCI-Arise (Alliance for co-ed day schools of Mumbai in the
Reimagining School Education), an EW India School Rankings 2019-20.
association of private school promot- NEP 2020 overview. NEP 2020 has
ers affiliated with the Federation of proposed several overdue reforms.
Indian Chambers of Commerce & I am especially pleased with the
Industry (FICCI). proposal to increase public spending
What is your assessment of NEP 2020 on education to 6 percent of GDP;
released last month? The past few months have witnessed the merger of early childhood educa-
NEP 2020 has the potential to radi- increasing government interference in tion with formal primary education;
cally change Indian education. But fees and online education delivery. How creation of a new National Curricu-
the devil is in the details of imple- much damage has this caused to private lum Framework and introduction of
mentation. The most promising schools? a four-year B.Ed degree. 360 degree
features of NEP 2020 are: Unfortunately, state governments holistic student assessment is also
• Integration of vocational education across the country have tried to a great idea. But it remains to be
into schooling. Ensuring all children ‘solve’ this challenge with their own seen how well schools adapt to this
learn at least one vocational skill is limited understanding of the situ- new assessment system given that
an achievable target. ation. Much pain could have been previous attempts have failed due to
• 360-degree holistic student assess- avoided if inputs were taken from disconnect of education policy mak-
ment with inputs from teachers, stu- stakeholders in education. Private ers with ground realities. If success-
dents and parents is a fantastic idea. schools and in turn teachers, have fully implemented, these reforms will
Teachers often succumb to teaching been negatively impacted and will revolutionise school education.
for examinations rather than skill face long-term challenges due to Moreover, education is in the
building and hands-on learning. these impositions. concurrent list of the Constitution,
360-degree report cards have the and how each state implements the
power to transform pedagogy in our What are the major initiatives Nehru policy will determine its effective-
classrooms. World School has taken recently to ness. I sincerely hope the timelines
• National professional standards for upgrade teaching-learning? set in the policy are adhered to
teachers gets my thumbs-up as well. Our major recent initiatives are in strictly, else the entire exercise will
However, I had hoped the policy the areas of active learning, assess- be futile.
would make way for investment of ment and blended learning. In the
clean and patient capital in K-12 last academic session, 64 byte sized
education. But this hasn’t happened. training sessions were conducted
We have to wait for the next policy for our 92 teachers. We are happy to
for this vision to become a reality. share our teacher training material
with any school that would like to
Are you satisfied with the switch of K-12 use it. Moreover to enable parents to
schools to online/blended learning dur- develop a shared understanding of
ing the current Covid-19 crisis? new teaching-learning practices, we
The Covid-19 pandemic has opened have also conducted pedagogy ses-
a new chapter in teaching-learning sions for parents.
around the world. It has truly begun
the era of Education 5.0 and the ef- Top 3 proposals for re-inventing India’s
fect of this transition is here to stay. K-12 education system.
In the long run, it will ensure equity, • Reform the assessment system
access and sustainability in school to develop children’s higher order
education. A school will never have thinking skills.
to close because of high levels of • Improve teacher training and ac-
pollution or a procession marching countability.
through the city anymore; it will just • Promote self-regulation of schools,
go online. with clear guidelines.

72 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2020