Page 87 - EducationWorld Aug 2020 Flipbuilder

K.E Harish crisis became just another opportu-
CEO, Sadhbhavana Group, Kozhikode nity to command and control private
schools. Government circulars in
A different states of India have thrown
political science and educa-
private education into deep crisis. In
tion postgraduate of the
a country where almost 50 percent of
University of Calicut, K.E.
Harish is CEO of the Sadhbhavana the student population is enrolled in
Group comprising five education private education institutions, state
institutions including its flagship governments should at least engage
CBSE and Cambridge International and consult with private schools
(UK)-affiliated Sadhbhavana World and/or associations before issuing
School, Kozhikode (SWS, estb. 2008) arbitrary diktats.
with an enrolment of 643 students What major initiatives has Sadhbhavana
and 75 teachers. World School taken recently to upgrade
What is your overview of the NEP 2020 teaching-learning?
released recently? SWS is in the process of transition-
NEP 2020 is a progressive and ing from content to skills-driven
welcome document. For example, schooling and developing students’
it rightly accords primacy to early the academic fraternity around the self-learning capabilities. We are one
childhood education and foundation- world was forced to take a crash of few schools in Kerala to provide
al literacy and numeracy, prioritises course in information technology. commerce and humanities streams
vocational and skills education, What would have taken a decade to at the senior secondary level and are
allows academic flexibility, and learn and adapt happened in a span committed to promoting these career
shuns excessive compartmentalisa- of four months. However, it’s impor- paths. Moreover post-Covid, we plan
tion of curricular and co-curricular tant to understand that schooling is to retain our digital learning system
domains. However, some provisions a bundle of experiences beyond mere and follow a hybrid learning model.
such as the recommendation to use teaching-learning. School is where What are your Top 3 proposals for re-
mother tongue/local language as children learn socialisation, how inventing India’s K-12 education system?
medium of instruction until class V, to manage difficult situations and • Change government policy and leg-
Right to Education Act and its impli- develop life skills. Therefore, online islation to allow ‘for-profit’ schools.
cations, funding for implementation, learning is no substitute for physical • Overhaul the teacher educa-
need to be clarified. schooling. tion system to make it flexible and
How satisfied are you with the switch of The past few months have witnessed practice-driven. Also encourage and
K-12 schools to online/blended learning increasing government interference in incentivise continuous in-service
during the current Covid-19 crisis? Is fees and online education delivery. How training.
this a beneficial development for school much damage has this caused to private • Design a school accreditation
education? schools? process based on quality and grant
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, For governments, the pandemic full autonomy to schools which have
proven high-quality standards.

AUGUST 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 87