Context: Analysing the opportunities for reforms in the educational sector that comes along as pandemic related issues.
Issues with education governance system
Bureaucratic centralisation: Stemming from the bureaucratic attempt for standardisation of academic requirements, calendars, and teaching and learning processes amid the pandemic.
Unrealistic ‘one order fits all’ approach: Stressing on unnecessary bureaucratic centralisation.
Rigid insistence on rote learning,
Refusal to recognise the fact that marks obtained in exams are not the only markers of a student’s capabilities.
Reluctance to engage with fellow academicians and teachers to nurture academic engagement became a source of public distress.
Undermined proper and constructive academic interaction between teachers and students but also exposed everyone to new levels of distress.
E.g. While teachers conducted online classes daily, administrators were obsessed with monitoring them and showed scant interest in enquiring about the health and difficulties.
Way forward
Multi-stakeholder approach: Consult academic stakeholders in policymaking.
Reforms in exams and grading: Framework for continuous evaluation, open-book tests etc., shall be developed.
Decentralise decision making: Extend powers to Universities/colleges regarding academic schedule, the conduct of exams etc.