The Fun Of Learning

Context: National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) emphasises child-centred pedagogy as opposed to an exam-centred approach.

Issue with the culture of the present education system:

• Focuses more on strictness, examination and textbook-based learning and suppress the development of a child's curiosity.
• Teaching issues:
  • An average teacher works on the assumption that his/her job is to teach from the textbook and to prepare children for the examination. 
  • He/She does not perceive that it is a part of his responsibility to develop the child's curiosity.

NEP-2020 on reforming education system:

• Removal of "hard separations":
  • By achieving common standards for high-quality education in all schools — removing differences between public and private schools through the setting up of a State Standard Setting Authority (SSSA).
  • By removing the barrier of language through the introduction of mother tongue as the medium for a child to understand numeracy and all other items of knowledge, particularly in the foundational years.
• Elimination of silos: By promoting activity-based and experiential learning, facilitating cognitive growth through story-telling, art and craft, sports and theatre.

Way forward:

• Provide an enabling environment: in which a child is constantly learning to collaborate, think critically, solve problems, be creative and articulate.
• Education system should focus on: less curriculum but more in-depth knowledge, less content but more competency, less textbooks but more diverse learning, less stress but more joy, 
  • Less assessment by the teacher but more self and peer evaluation, fewer silos but more connections.