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.