Page 8 - EducationWorld Aug 2020 Flipbuilder

From the
Editor
THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE

Volume X XI No.8

BOARD OF ADVISORS T he National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 presented to the nation
N.R. Narayana Murthy, H.V. Gowthama, Shukla
Bose, Dr. Glenn Christo, Dr. R. Natarajan, Anand on July 29 after an interregnum of 34 years, expresses determined
Sudarshan (Bangalore); Dr. F.C. Kohli, Mala intent to revamp and universalise early childhood and primary-sec-
Ramadorai, Adi Godrej, Dr. Augustine Pinto,
Krishan Khanna, Guilherme Vaz, Ketan Gala, ondary education by 2030. In higher education, it has set the goal
Kirit Mehta (Mumbai); Dr. Ramdas Pai (Manipal); of doubling GER (gross enrolment ratio) from the current 25.7 to
Dr. Geeta Kingdon (Lucknow); Rajiv Desai, Dr. 50 percent of youth in the 18-24 years age group, and transforming India into
Parth Shah, Jeroninio Almeida, Premchand Palety
(Delhi); Robindra Subba (Kurseong); Sanjeev Bolia an international hub of high-quality collegiate and university education.
(Kolkata); Dr. Achyuta Samanta (Bhubaneswar); However, drawing up detailed roadmaps to transit to utopian destinations
Shyama Thakore (London)
and translating noble rhetoric into actionable blueprints is an altogether dif-
EDITOR ferent proposition. For a start, it requires forthright admission of past failures
Dilip Thakore and wrong-turns. Reaffirming faith in the very same failed actors and engi-
MANAGING EDITOR neers who ruined post-independence India’s education system to extricate the
Summiya Yasmeen children and youth of the nation out of the mire of low learning outcomes and
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR skills deficit in which they have been floundering for over seven decades, is to
Sundar Anand expect too much. Yet this is the major ‘reform’ that NEP 2020 has proposed.
Paromita Sengupta, Jeswant J.M, Gopi Chand N, It mandates the establishment of an alphabet soup of new supervisory and
Akhila Damodaran (Bangalore), Autar Nehru
(Delhi) 9868256512, Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) regulatory institutions — HECI, NHERC, NAC, HEGC, GEC, NRF in higher
9836491981, Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) education and Department of School Education, Directorate of School Educa-
9500506102, Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) 9920243111 tion, and SSSA, SCERT in school education apart from NCIVE and NCVET in
CHIEF EXECUTIVE skills education.
Bhavin Shah +91 9867382867 Evidently, the proposition that highly educated deans, vice chancellors and
MARKETING trustees of higher education institutions (HEIs) and experienced principals
West: Tejas Pattni (General Manager) 9022487997 and educators mindful of their own and institutional reputations can effective-
E-mail: marketing@educationworld.in ly manage schools and HEIs without supervision, is beyond the imagination of
Shruti Srivasatava +91 98216 66019
South India: S. Vijaya Lakshmi 98456 80696 the neta-babu brotherhood.
Poonam Shah 9731966373 Over the top bureaucratisation of Indian education apart, NEP 2020 makes
North: Hannan Ahmed 9810302768
no attempt to co-opt private schools and HEIs into attaining the grand vision
GRAPHICS of the policy. All it says about private schools and colleges which host over 50
Suresh K.
percent of the student population, is that they need to be controlled to prevent
SUBSCRIPTIONS
commercialisation and exploitation, allegedly practiced by private education
Ajay Kumar: 9108225694/ institutions.
080 43711141
sub@educationworld.in Likewise, unmindful of the national yearning for learning English, NEP
ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: RS.1700 2020 has resurrected settled issues of medium of instruction and the three-
OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION: USD95 language formula, and reiterated the familiar call of predecessor education
Cheques/drafts in favour of DT Media & policies for national (Centre plus states) expenditure for public education to be
Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore
raised to 6 percent of GDP, without any enabling suggestions. These and other
EDITORIAL features — positive and negative — of NEP 2020 are debated in detail in our
C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza comprehensive cover story of this Independence Day edition.
131 Residency Road, Bangalore 560 025.
Tel: 080 22480880; Fax: 2227 5962; A good suggestion for the minister steeped in the insolence of office — over
E-mail: editorial@educationworld.in a dozen requests for brief responses to an emailed questionnaire remained
Website: www.educationworld.in unanswered — would be to read our Special Report feature in which 25 highly
Printed and published by Dilip Thakore on behalf qualified and experienced principals and educationists recount how they are
of DT Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.
Printed at Rajhans Enterprises, 134, 4th Main, In- upgrading K-12 schools under their watch to globally benchmarked standards.
dustrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore-44. Published
at 703-704, Devatha Plaza, 132 Residency Road.
Bangalore 560 025.
Editor Dilip Thakore.
RNI No. KARENG/1999/00234

8 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2020