Parliamentarian – July 2019

JULY 2019 l PARlIAMENTARIAN 85

The drafT nep menTions ThaT ‘sTudenTs

musT develop noT only cogniTive skills

BoTh ‘foundaTional skills’ of liTeracy and

numeracy and ‘higher-order’ cogniTive

skills such as criTical Thinking and proBlem

solving skills, BuT also social and emoTional

skills, also referred To as ‘sofT skills’

Neha Arora, a Delhi government
school teacher. “We teach our students
to solve trigonometry problems and
make them memorise World War
dates. However, we are not teaching
them problem solving, decision
making, empathy, resilience,
emotional management and other
skills which will not only help them
live a positive life but also bring a
positive impact on the world,” she
adds.

happiness curriculum
The draft NEP mentions that ‘Students
must develop not only cognitive skills
both ‘foundational skills’ of literacy
and numeracy and ‘higher-order’
cognitive skills such as critical
thinking and problem solving skills
but also social and emotional skills,
also referred to as ‘soft skills’,
including cultural awareness and
empathy, perseverance and grit,
teamwork and leadership, among
others.’ However, it completely ignores
the integration of Social and
Emotional Learning (SEL) into our
education system. This is a glaring

blind spot. The committee needn’t

have gone too far and study the impact

of SEL in Delhi government schools

as part of its Happiness Curriculum.

The role of a teacher is of paramount

importance in developing social-

emotional skills in our students. The

Policy Draft (page no 113) has

correctly mentioned some of the key

attributes of outstanding teachers –

“...passionate, motivated and well

qualified” and teachers should be able

to “relate to the students whom they

teach, and are invested in the

communities they serve.”

But then it goes completely silent

on improving the socio-emotional

competence of the teachers and dwells

mostly in the administrative realms

of teacher motivation. “It’s almost as

if a high school student is made to

write a 5 marks question on ‘qualities

of a good teacher’, “quips Radhika

Menon, a teacher education expert.

eerie silence

“The policy draft is eerily silent on the

approach to improve teacher mindsets

and relies on the age-old traditions of

capacity building. These haven’t

worked in the past and will definitely

not work in the future, where the role

of a teacher will be to facilitate

learning and role-modelling socio-