between the artsandsciencestreams
andbetween academicandvoca-
tionaleducation. Whetherthisis
meantforall schools,public and
private, is notclear.In addition,for
teaching vocational education in
schools,trainedpersonswithboth
pedagogicalandexperientialexpert-
ise willbe required. Indian systems
of knowledgeshouldbe partof the
curriculumnot onlyfor their“histor-
icalaccuracy(which is a sufficient
reasonon its own)butalsofor the
oftenmoreholisticnatureof the tra-
ditional Indian approach, which
leadsto a deeperunderstanding,as
wellas for reasonsof increasedrelat-
ibilitydueto geographicallocation,
national pride,inspirationandself-
esteem”.
NCFTOBEREVISED
The National Curriculum Frame-
work,2005,willbe revised,saysthe
draft,by the endof 2020,takinginto
account the changing context of edu-
cation. Whilethepolicytalksabout
autonomy of highereducationalin-
stitutions,it recommends a National
Testing Agencycomprising“numer-
ousacademic, educationalandpsy-
chometricexperts” whowillfrom
2020 administer aptitude teststaken
on multipleoccasions.
A whopping 92 per cent of
teachereducationinstitutionsare
privately owned, the draft says.
Thereare 10 lakhteacher vacancies
in the country.Thepupil-teacherra-
tio was60:1in certain areas.In order
to encourage students to become
teachers, thepolicysuggestsa large
number(numbernotspecified)of
merit-basedscholarshipsat fourout-
standing BEdprogrammesin col-
legesanduniversities.Theproblem
is not justof a BEddegreebut thatof
ensuring proper remuneration
againstregularjobsandtimelypro-
motions for teachers. The draft
policydoesnot speak of the nature of
employment,whetherit willbe con-
tractual or permanent.However,the
policydoeslookat themodus op-
erandiof appointingparateachers
such as Shiksha Karmis and
ShikshakMitras,whoareteachers
employed at verylowsalariesin some
States,especially onesruledby the
BJP.It saysthispracticewillstopin
2022.Butit doesnotsaythatthe
governmentwillcreatepoststo ab-
sorbthe parateachersin permanent
posts.
Forunder-representedgroups,
thepolicyrecommendsspecial edu-
cational zones,inspiredby the exper-
ienceof specialeconomiczones.The
ideaof secluding suchgroupsfor
theirspecialeducationalneeds runscounterto theideaof universal and
equitableeducation to all in a given
geographicalarea.Thetestedwayof
ensuringthattheeducationsystem
doesnot perpetuate inequalitiesis to
providea well-fundeduniversalpub-
lic educationsystem.REGULATIONCULTURE
‘SCLEROTIC’
Thedraftstatesthat“regulation cul-
tureis scleroticanddisempowering”
andadvocates self-regulation.While
lamentingthe“rampant commer-
cialisationandeconomicexploita-
tionof parents by manyfor-profit
privateschools”, thepolicyactively
pushesfor the encouragementof the
private school sector and says it
shouldbe “enabled to playa signific-
antandbeneficialrole”.It proposes
to let private schoolsto set theirfees
and allows “reasonable increases
thatstandpublicscrutiny” butsays
“theyshall notincreasetheirfeesar-
bitrarily”.
It acknowledges that private
schoolshadbecomelesssocio-eco-
nomically diversein the last50 years.
Butit addsthatmakingthemcomply
withtheprovisionsof theRTEAct
hasnotworkedandassertsthatit is
thereforebetter to givethem the
autonomyto “do the rightthing”and
“innovate”in order to “encourageCHILDRENat
aruralschool in
Ballari district.
K.MURALIKUMAR