NEP 2020: New Education Paradox(?)

The (new) National Education Policy approved on July 30 can be taken as the first time since September 2016, when the nation is finally standing together in agreement of something that the current government's worked on.

If you don't remember about September 2016, September 2016 was when Indian Army did those surgical strikes on Pakistani soil against the terrorists outfits who were held responsible for an attack on one of the front line Indian army bases.

For those who've no idea about NEP 2020, here's a little something for you so that you and I get on the same page:

(make note these are snippets right from media websites and therefore, in case you have an issue with the policy, instead of making everything about nationalism, religion and God-ified politicians ; feel free to write to the PMO at their feedback section, or simply post a blog about it; jinx!)

Essentially, contrary to how Indian functions, it's essentially a step towards a more progressive approach to education; at least it seems it does.
Except, you and I very, very well know that systematic practices take the better off the system (even if the system tries to deal with those ills); for example,

Untouchability, even though the government criminalized untouchability back in 1955 itself, the systematic bullshit still persists; and mind you, the mere ability I have in knowing the word "bullshit", a slang from the West, that's something millions of children in India can't even have the privilege of knowing, of educating themselves, because they couldn't really enter schools, learn and grow because the "upper-castes" punched them down in the name of untouchability.

As much as it's just disgusting to know how systematic practices simply distort the fabric of an all inclusive growth, the purpose of me bringing up this was just to highlight how systematic practices are in fact potent enough to make an in fact good policy move a total disaster, especially in a country such as us: 2nd largest by population, 3rd largest by PPP, largest democracy and 139th by average income

yep, the "3rd largest" doesn't mean shit, if the people in picture are barely surviving on an average ₹10,000 monthly pay check.

Getting back to NEP-2020, if you want to know more about this, you could have a look at the following links, just don't ghost me, all right? I'm really looking forward to talking about this one right here with you, so. :P

Now that you and I are on the same page about the "what" the policy program suggests, let's hyperloop ourselves to "why" this policy is prone to failures; and in public policy, failures translate to disasters, disasters affecting millions and in our case, billions.

And mind you, I'm saying this here and I'll repeat this at the end as well, "pros and cons are theoretical, they're formulated on paper; but success and disasters are practically, their manifestations are in real lives"

Misplaced approach towards internships and skill-based training :

In all honesty and reasons, it makes no sense to start the skill based and internship like approach in class 6.

It is just too early to start with something like this where in a kid at 11-12 years of age is expected to choose his/her interests about the professional world.

The age of 6 is that of learning and not necessary in making choices that define educational career and therefore, this could and should have be deferred until at least the tenth grade where in the students gain some perspective about life and the society in general; because it is in that stage where in they are finally capable enough to be the first degree decision-makers, to take decisions solely based on their understanding independent of other opinions or being dependent on.

This one's for the teachers, professors and parents who are in support of this particular change, Sir/Ma'am and Uncle/Aunty :

If you really believe this is something which will totally work (I'm throwing reason out of the window for this one), then next time your son/daughter/student asks you to let him/her go out on a date with someone, please just let them go; when you "catch" them with another kid their age they feel they're in love with? please, just genuinely accept and fully support their decision,

because obviously YOU know your kid is capable and informed enough to take career related decisions, then YOU shouldn't be a HYPOCRITE in letting them take decisions on other fronts, too. :)

The mindset of the parents may not just turn progressive overnight:

Back in 2016, when I was in the 11th grade and was supposed to choose my subject combinations, even though I'd wanted to take Humanities (Arts, for the State Board kids :P ) and was in fact planning to pursue Economics in college;

I still ended up taking Science with economics; a combination in which the I hated the "science" subjects of Physics and chemistry.

You see, my parents were very progressive, one an Army officer and the other, a Post graduate, qualified to be high school teacher; still they made a very compelling argument which led to me taking Science, which was "I'll disown you, if you don't take Science"

It wasn't even the aversion to Arts, but the fixation that "Science is the most safe option"

And for those who are in disagreement of this, that this mindset, which is literally ingrained in the brains of millions of pre-1980s, 1990, and even 2010s parents : you're either lucky that you didn't have to face this as an Indian kid, or are simply in denial of this, too bad kid; or you're my mother, and are now really pissed at me. :P

We're celebrating exactly what we mock other countries for:

There are just so many memes, YouTube videos and even Maharashtra government politicians that mock Americans for being ignorant, uninformed and uneducated as a fundamental product of their education system. On the contrary, Indians are known for being so "smart with sciences, numbers and all the geek stuff".

As much as the "geek" thing annoys you and me, we both know it is in fact the geek stuff that matters in our lives, that improves our lives; and in returns we Indians call our student counterparts in the West and even State leaders "dumb".

We literally laugh at white kids when they can't solve basic math problems, solve simple physics equations or can't answer trivial GK questions, but have we ever given it a thought as to why they're like that?

I know I haven't. :(

It is in fact their overtly integrated and flexible education system that's so so light and non-pressurizing on students, that their students do in fact get away without even giving a dime's worth attention to academics.

And that's exactly why NEP-2020 is a problematic construct too; in the efforts to offering a 100 percent flexibility and freedom in choice and combinations of subjects, the inherent distortion of the essence of learning and education gets at its all time high; just like in the US.

If everything is made so easily convenient, feasible and available for the next batch of students and generations to come, they will in fact become a joke as academic individuals.

Also, if me referring to individuals as jokes upsets you, I'm glad it does. Next time you'd at least practice restrain and not smile/laugh when something mocking the US education systems comes up.

Howsoever, bad and/or grueling this "rote-learning" system was, we Indians, as a product of this very system, were known for our over-delivering working ethic and rigor far more than those from USA, Australia and countries likewise.

And with this, we inevitably create our own demons of becoming the pool of jokes that we ourselves made for the West.

We're believing way too much in Indian schools

Back when I was in 12th grade,

I wanted to take German language as my 6th subject; although we didn't really have a faulty member qualified enough to teach 12th grade German language, my parents had offered the principal that I'll take home-tuition on my own, at their own monetary cost and all they expected of the principal was to get me registered for this subject in the board exams by sending a letter to CBSE, the apex body which currently, partly oversees high school education in India.

And this was her exact reply to my letter: "Our school has not registered with the CBSE for conducting German classes in 12th; so it's better you pass this idea. Why don't you focus on physics? I heard you barely passed in your class test"
Fact check 1: No ma'am, I didn't barely pass, I failed. Scored a beautiful 22 out of 75. :)
Fact check 2: I scored the school highest in Physics in batch of 2018, so that's something you should get registered.

The same year, a school crush of mine,

she'd to shift schools just because the principal refused to offer the most fundamental subject of Humanities (Arts, you State board junkies :P ), which was "Political Science". In place, our Hawking level smart principal said
"If you want to study political science with your combination, you could go to another school"

Fact check 1: Ma'am, the subject you're offering is "Web Tech". Web..Tech. Even after all these years (just 2 though), it's a shame a subject such as "Web Tech" exists, when WIX.COM is running adds on how easy website building is these days. ;::::::::::(
Fact check 2: I don't know if you've heard about this, but Political Science is literally the most fundamental subjects in Humanities; you're actually just saving on one additional faculty member's salary (+ benefits) by hiring your IT teacher to teach a subject in the name of humanities,

at the cost of the future prospects of students,

and my heart. ;:::(

And in the 2nd year of my college,

just because the college administration was too complacent, unconcerned and ignorant about their students' academic growth and adequately lazy to fetch for a quality faculty member, me and my entire Economics batch had to study a near irrelevant and useless subject while other colleges were actually providing their students the best possible subjects. And you know what's sadder? This norm in my college has been since probably half a decade now and will continue with my juniors too; unless we get a professor who exhibits initiative, which sadly seems like yet another unreasonable prospect in the Indian space.

My point being:
Schools and colleges won't magically just build the infrastructure required to fulfill these new changes/suggested improvements. And now, it would no more be about money, but the mental and social conditioning of the people in the system.
My school was in the capital of the country and still we'd to face this BS. My college is in the capital of the country, is named after a former President and
still
we'd
to
face
this
BS.

As much as I'd like to and definitely would blame my principal, teacher in charges, professors, head of departments, probably the dean; the systematic internalization is a result of their individual social conditioning, and not their persons as such.

That mental blockade to change, that resistance to evolve, to improve, to move with the current times; that doesn't come over night, could may be take years, and/or even life times.

Hum aaj ke bacche isliye nahi kyonki hume phone chalana aata hai, ya hum instagram par lage rehte hain; hum aaj ke baache isliye hai, kyonki hum sahi me, aaj ke same me hee aaye hai, badhe hue hain

Majority of the people in system were born and educated using the now orthodox pedagogues even before 1990s (the period in which India opened up to globalization), we can't suddenly expect them to do exactly what you and I ask of them to, who were born after at least a decade of a fairly developed form of globalized India.
the generations gap might that of a factor of 4, that is 7*4= 28 years
but the ideological gap is actually immeasurable.

We WILL in fact avenge this (negatively)

this point will be directed towards you and I, so trigger warning.

Think about this, as and when people from our age get into the recruitment panel of companies, we WILL in fact be critical and additionally biased towards the job-seekers who're a product of this new system.

Recruiters like me in you would envy the students and exhibit negative bias in job interviews.

Out of sheer envy and jealousy; that these guys get to be so lucky in having a near-perfect (again, in theory), education infrastructure

We'll be cocky to them, we will undermine them and their potential, we'll be sarcastic to them, and at worst?

we'll yell at them if they sit on the interviewee chair before we've asked them too.

we will in fact, even if implicitly, have a bias against them which might unintentionally get translated to us being complete jerks to them. And who knows, we might in fact tank the outcome of their selection processes too.

The regional language provision will back fire

We need to understand that the purpose of education is driven by students and not teachers; each and every policy action, move, change and reform should solely consider the welfare of the students and NOT the teachers. If a policy action comes at the cost of teachers, go ahead, for as long as it's helps you, me and millions of students like us, go ahead.

This sounds a little too radical, but here me out on this one, students PAY to learn, teachers MAKE MONEY while learning (the argument of underpaid teachers is another thing for another day); and by that logic, for as long as the individual is being PAID to teach, he/she chooses to continue to teach.

Find me one individual today who will teach you without ANY ANY compensation (money, commodities, whatever); basically a one sided transaction where he/she will teach you for FREE; then I'll retract from this argument, I will.

Now that you get where I come from, here's what I want to clarify:

If schools, and therefore teachers and principals are left to autonomously decide what medium of instruction to choose, then till the first 12 years of schooling (6th grade), the student stands at a risk of not knowing English AT ALL. Because here teachers would choose whatever language they're comfortable with teaching, and NOT what is ESSENTIAL for the child's long term growth.

I've an anecdote related to this;
I've been very lucky to have the teachers I had back in 11th grade; but more (context) importantly, I remember this boy in class who, in the middle of our English lecture very confidently asked "Ma'am please Hindi me padhao"?
to which Ma'am had very sweetly, genuinely replied

"Beta, mai padhane ko toh Hindi me padha doon; story bhi usme acchi lagegi, lekin class toh English ki hai na? Aur fir CBSE ke rules bhi hai; aapke fayde ke liye hee hai woh
You'll learn only, so try and if you get stuck, ask your friends, and if not them, ask me directly"

This was May 2016, I guess?
And in the 3 years of my KG, 12 years of school and 2 years of college so far;

I'm yet to see a second teacher/professor who resolved this criticism so genuinely and reasonably.

And this ingenuity doesn't come from books, it comes inherently within person, especially in the rat-hole school system there is, given the significant per teacher number of students figure.

Sadly, in our education system, (school or college) and the people running it, being reasonable and as enterprising as teachers like her^ is not very abundant and largely available.

Again, I don't blame them; but they're to be blamed if they choose to prefer convenience over growth for children by neglecting to help them learn English and conveniently in the mother tongue.

Although this will help with reducing the amount of new things the children would need to process at once (new concepts and then new language), it restricts the interstate or inter communal interaction that English facilitates within the very very diverse population and communities in India.

In retrospect, had it not been for English, I'd never have had the luck to make the great friends that I've; I'd never have been able to go abroad, talk to completely random people effectively and still talk to them like we've know each other forever;
I'd have never have been able to set up this blog, even :(

and if our fears come true and the regional language thing back fires, none of those kids would be able to do, achieve and get access to even 10% of the growth opportunities than otherwise.

It's still negligent of a lot of things

With the seemingly best formula NEP seems to offer us with respect to kids being finally able to choose their subjects; the policy is negligent of many artificially created disparities we Indian have created in the name of social norms. This negligence is mostly on the basis of what we, in economics, study as "Ceteris paribus":

Please make note of the highlight, the word equal.

At nearly all metrics of improvement, the policy expects everyone to have an equal access to everything:

If coding's being taught at 6th grade, it is being assumed that a lower income and a higher income kid, both will have equal resources to buy a laptop for the same coding lecture
If the provision of regional language is being put, it is assumed that a private school and/or private college will give equal treatment while considering admission of student who had Maithili v. the kid who in fact had English till the 5th grade. considering English is in fact the language of growth, in this highly interconnected world; this will be a problem to almost all the children apart from those in the few tier 1 cities.
If vocational courses are being regularized and made a fundamental part of the fabric, it is being assumed that everyone, be it the lower income or higher income parents would in fact give equal treatment to courses like plumbing and carpentry & sciences and commerce.
With the introduction of Gender Inclusion fund, it is being assumed that our (again, conditioning wise) homophobic elder generations would suddenly start being equal and fair to the LGBTQA+ communities in offering them equal opportunities and care as teachers, professors, and mentors.

You see, I don't have a problem with the part where in the government is trying to regularize those professions which are in fact punched down and disrespected for the good intention to curb exploitation, you shouldn't too;
but we should in fact have a problem with the part where in this move limits it's efficiency to only regularizing and nothing else; because then that becomes a systematic thing again,

Aaj chahe halaat kitne hee kharab kyo na ho, hum fir bhi sarkari mehakme se kuch umeed rakh sakte hain, lekin kal ko agar khamiyo ko hee system ka hissa bana diya jaaye, toh system chalana waala kharab kyo na ho, system waise hee kharab ho jayega.

Also, there was a very specific reason as to why I'd emboldened "assumed" and "equal"; we use the "assumed equal" condition to make the formulation of theories simpler, to end up with the individually desirable conclusions;
when the journalist tells you the weather forecast for tomorrow that it's going to rain heavily he/she is assuming that the satellite system is working perfectly fine.

Similarly, it seems like the policy is trying to either be ignorant of the many many number of small ifs and buts, or is just hoping for the best to happen by assuming things will by themselves, be equal

There are so many more issues arbitrary issues associated to how effective and good NEP will turn out to be, except if I were to start writing all of them, it would take at least a day for you to read my entire piece;

and that's not because I'm sitting down to deliberately find loopholes, c'mon, I'm a barely 19 y/o kid who still seeks his mum's permission to go out for a walk in the evening;

but because, in the very diverse culture and demographics that we celebrate in the outside world about India, there are millions of children who are left unheard, unattended and neglected just because we were too busy in our own fool's paradise that India's finally grown to become better.

Sadly, it hasn't. :(

Besides,

the good effects of this can only we see once the top most positions are acquired by students who are a product of this very new system because that will be the time when we get to see whether the new education system was really able to produce "leaders of tomorrow" and "future of the country" or not.

And lastly,

The BJP government has set targets till 2030 for the complete implementation of NEP; which means, given our past experience with the current PM, even the initial stages of implementation would take at least 3-4 years (since current tenure is 2019-2024) which will then be used by the then campaigner as a basis for 2024-2029 Lok Sabha elections.

My point being, as much as this seems like a milestone reform in the education sector, it STILL at the end of the day, is a Political affair; and therefore,

unlike 2019 LS elections, let's be a little more cogniant and critical of actually reading the election manifesto by the party?

Kyonki inhone wakayi me apne manifesto me CAA-NRC, J&K aur Ram Mandir ki baat ki thi; isliye agar aaj ye ho rahe hain, toh we're at fault for empowering them to do this, not them.

And therefore, next time se thodha careful, aur careful.

I'm not saying what they're doing is right or wrong (I don't need to); all I'm saying, the distrust across masses is scary, the scale of disbelief? it's tensing; so even if we choose them again, we do that with full conviction and no "dhoka"

;::::::::(

That was a significantly long read innit?

But then what's important, is important.

Thank you for reading

this is Mayul

signing off.

:')

PS: Stay hydrated

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NEP 2020: New Education Paradox(?)

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