Age-old state-level education laws major hindrance in implementing NEP: Manish Sisodia

NEW DELHI: The age-old state-level education laws are a major hindrance in implementing the new National Education Policy (NEP) in the true spirit, and without a new legal framework, it will merely be a set of guidelines, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday. The minister said the pre-primary education system in India lacks framework, is not well regulated, and varies within states itself.

Sisodia, who is also Delhi's education minister, said unlike the national capital, the condition of 95-98 percent of government schools across the country is extremely poor barring a few "showpiece schools" in each state. "The recommendations of the recently introduced National Education Policy are progressive, but it needs an enabling legal framework to realise its full potential. There are many provisions in different state education laws which are restricting the proper implementation of the NEP," he said during the National Conference of School Education Ministers in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. "There is a need for a new legal framework for NEP to align it with the forward-looking provisions of the NEP 2020. Otherwise, the policy will not be able to cross the hurdles created by existing legal provisions and age-old practices," he added.

Sisodia said there are two major barriers in the way of smooth implementation of the NEP. "First, the age-old rules and regulations governing the functions of the education departments across the country. Some of the rules and regulations created just after independence continue to be in existence even today. These are not only irrelevant in present times, but are a hindrance in the way of NEP. Therefore, a new legal framework is needed to make the new education policy successful," he said. "For example, in the Gujarat Primary Education Act 1961, primary education (class 1-7) is compulsory, but parents are legally responsible for this. There is no mention of curriculum, training and assessment in this Act," he said. "Similarly, the Primary Education Act in Punjab, made in 1960, is also similar where parents can be compelled to send their children to school and parents can be fined for not sending them (to school)." "Uttar Pradesh's Basic Education Act made in 1972 talks about the education board there, while Kerala's Education Act made in 1952 talks about regulating aided schools," he added.

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The two-day long National Education Ministers' Conference began in Gandhinagar on Wednesday with a focus on implementation of the new NEP. The minister said the second barrier is related to practice legacy. "We talk about inclusive education in our policies, but does the teacher, while completing the curriculum in the classroom, guarantee that every child has a space for learning at their own pace. Are we training our future teachers to practice inclusion in our B.Ed. curriculum?" Sisodia said. "We need to ensure that when teachers enter the classroom, they are not only masters of their subject, but have also deeply absorbed the principles of inclusive development as their basic character," Sisodia said. "In the NEP, the maximum focus has been given on the first five years. This is in sync with the thought around early childhood education globally. But the pre-primary education system in India is very unsystematic and varies in each state," he said. "The Anganwadi focuses on 0-6 years, play schools have their own standards and class 1 has a different criteria. Whereas the new education policy focuses on foundational learning in the first 5 years. In such a situation, we need to have an implementation framework that really sets the foundation for lifelong learning," he added.

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The minister said the central government's National Achievement Survey (NAS) for schools should not end up being only a high-stakes exam. "In India we have a traditional annual examination process of three hours which decides the future of the children. This causes a lot of stress on schools and leads to pressure on students to pass the exam," he said. "I fear that NAS is also shifting on the same lines, where getting high scores in NAS has become the priority of state education departments. This will create additional pressure on students." "The government should look into the framework of NAS too and look for new assessment processes," he added.