Education

Building a supportive bridge between EARLY YEARS and PRIMARY SCHOOL

A smooth transition between early years and primary school can only be achieved through a combined effort of all the stakeholders, believes Firdaus F Lalkaka.

Published

4 years ago

April 4, 2019

Firdaus F Lalkaka

Going to school is an exciting as well as a challenging time for young children and their families. Moving from early childhood education to an elementary school can be a positive and rewarding experience that sets children up for a happy and successful academic pathway. It can also be a period of vulnerability for many children. Effective transitions are critical to the development of children’s self-worth, confidence and resilience, and ongoing success at school. This is a time to build relationships, maintain excitement for learning and ensure children experience continuity in their learning. Ensuring continuity of learning poses quite a challenge while children move through preschool, elementary school and beyond as children are required to become familiar with new people, practices and expectations. Unless the “learning” that the children have achieved during their preschool years seamlessly transfers to and is built on, in the next stage of elementary school, it will get interrupted and cause impediments in their progress and achievement. A smooth transition can only be achieved through a combined effort of all the stakeholders namely, the government (through a robust policy framework), the schools (preschools and elementary schools) and the parents.

In order to better achieve the objective of “inclusion” under RTE for ensuring a smoother transition especially for children coming from disadvantaged families, rather than laying emphasis on preparing the “child to be ready for school,” India would greatly benefit by considering a shift of emphasis to making the “schools ready for a child”.

A. Government Policy: Suggestions

1) The 25% quota of admissions u/s 12(1)(c) of RTE Act should be made applicable beginning from the lowest section of preschool i.e. from nursery onwards instead of from class as is presently being done. For a disadvantaged child to enter schooling from class 1 without a preschool education is as risky as attempting to board a speeding bus – it’s a surefire recipe for FAILURE!

2) Need for a robust monitoring and evaluation system to handhold disadvantaged children who are admitted to an English-medium school to ensure that such children don’t get disillusioned and ultimately drop-out.

3) Need for a “One-Nation-OnePolicy” for ECCE: This involves:-

-Fixation of common “Age-atEntry” norms and a common “cutoff ” date

* (PG @ 2+, Nur @ 3+, Jr.KG @ 4+, Sr.KG @ 5+ & Std-1 @ 6+)

* With the academic year commencing in June, cut-off date should be May 31.

Designing of a developmentally appropriate ECCE and Elementary School Curriculum that is in alignment with the learning milestones to ensure a smooth transition sans any overlaps.

Defining minimum infrastructure specifications for preschools

Defining child safety norms, etc

Defining the maximum number of children per class

Scientifically designed progress reports of children that are focused on capturing the achievement of learning milestones

Leveraging technology to ensure full compliance under RTE and ensure that no child is left behind

Ensuring timely re-imbursement of fees of admissions done under RTE

4) Bearing in mind the recent instances of assault and abuse of preschoolers, it would be in the best interest of children for the government to consider drafting of a policy which makes it mandatory to run a preschool from an exclusive premise rather than from within the premises of a primary/ secondary school.

5) Priority should be given by “neighbourhood” elementary schools while granting admission in class 1 to children enrolled in neighbourhood preschools.

6) To uphold the Right to Equality (guaranteed under the Constitution of India) of all children to secure admission in class 1 regardless of whether they are doing their preschooling in a standalone preschool or a preschool run by a recognised school, the government MUST ensure that admission is granted on either first-come-first-served basis or on draw of lots (as is already approved by the Education dept.).

7) Pressing need for building an evaluation model that promotes children based on achievement of learning outcomes rather than on an examination-based model which encourages rote learning.

8) Isn’t “nation building” everyone’s responsibility?: There is no logical reason why provisions of RTE Act should not be applicable to Minority Institutions for admitting disadvantaged children under the 25% quota. If they believe in the Indian Constitution which confers upon them special rights and privileges, I fail to understand why they are unwilling to shoulder the responsibility of admitting disadvantaged children under RTE and contributing towards nation building.

9) Caught between a rock and a hard place: Rather than accepting their complete failure in discharging their constitutional responsibility of providing quality public education to its citizens and taking concrete steps to improving the quality of public education in government schools, the government is introducing laws to impose restrictions on what fees private schools can charge on one hand and forcing them to admit disadvantaged children to the extent of 25% on the other. If the government is genuinely interested in bringing quality private school education at affordable rates, they should consider giving land for free and loans for school infrastructure at special rates with long moratoriums and/or allow private enterprise to manage the existing government schools and fix a value to their services which is based on the attainment of learning outcomes in children.

B. Preschools and primary schools The ground realities have been beautifully captured in the introductory paragraphs in chapter 1 of the Report of the Committee on Pre-Primary and Pre-School Education in Delhi dated 31- 03-2007 reproduced below:

1.1 Early Childhood Care and Education has globally been recognised as critical for human resource development. The first 8 years of a child’s life are the most crucial years because during this period of early childhood the pace of development is extremely rapid, determining the cognitive and physical growth and laying the foundation for shaping the social and personal habits and values. There is a growing body of research evidence to prove that the synoptic connections in the brain that are critical for the full development of the brain’s potential take place during the early phase of childhood.

1.2 Early Childhood Development includes two main aspects, i.e., care and education. Care is a comprehensive term that includes proper nutrition, medical attention particularly in regard to immunisation, security and safety and emotional support. The ‘education’ component includes pre-school education programmes aimed at 3-6 year-olds and extends to class 1 and 2 to cover children up to the age of 8 under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). However, it is to be clearly understood that ECCE is an integrated programme that takes into account the synergistic and interdependent relationship between health, nutrition, intellectual, social and emotional development and education, addressing the imperative of holistic and all-round development of the child.

Thus, it can be seen that any discussion on pre-primary education cannot exclude other aspects of early childhood development. On the contrary an examination of issues relating to pre-primary education should necessarily focus on the developmental paradigm so that the cognitive, affective and psychomotor issues are comprehensively addressed in the context of education.

1.3 Changing socio-economic conditions have also thrown up new challenges. The changes in family structure brought about by transition from joint families to nuclear families coupled with the increasing propensity of both parents going to jobs have put greater pressure on Early Childhood Education especially in urban and semi-urban areas. As parents face the compulsion of keeping their children in ‘safe custody’ when they are out on work, they invariably turn to crèches, kindergarten and play schools. Parents are taking their children out of the home environment much earlier than ever before. While sending children to crèches by parents who are both employed with no elders to take care of their children cannot be faulted, the growing tendency on the part of overenthusiastic parents to initiate their children into ‘education’ much before the children are ready for it is a cause of great concern. So, the first question that is to be answered is: What is the suitable age for a child to begin pre-schooling? The other important question is about what is going on in the name of pre-schooling in a majority of schools in Delhi.

1.4 The enormous demand for preschooling facilities has led to a mushrooming of play schools, nursery schools, kindergarten, preparatory schools etc. indicative of a veritable boom in the ‘Alphabet Industry’. A majority of ‘big schools’ (schools which have classes up to 12) run not only nursery and kindergarten or preparatory classes before class I, some of these schools also have pre-nursery. Thus, a child of 2-2½ years of age enters into a system which also has adolescents of 17-18 years of age. Parents’ wish is to put their children early on into such a system so that they need not worry about their children’s future schooling up to class 12. It defies all logic of ‘child-centric’ education. Instead, the prevalent system has become either ‘parent-centric’ or ‘schoolcentric’. It is seen that, barring a few exceptions, these schools are nothing more than mere downward extension of the formal and structured education at the level of class 1 and above. The unrealistic expectations of parents for early stimulation of their children and the inappropriate learning environment offered by schools staffed by either untrained or unsuitably trained teachers have resulted in a confusing and often chaotic situation. To compound the matters further, preschooling by whatever name, does not come under any regulation.

While the provisions of Article 21A and 45 of the Indian Constitution coupled with the provisions in Sec. 3 and 11 of the RTE Act, 2009 have correctly defined the “suitable age” as being 6+ for Class-1 and 3+ for beginning preschooling, despite a specific provision in law, the government is yet to come up with a developmentally appropriate preschool curriculum that doesn’t overlap with the elementary school curriculum! The high expectations of parents coupled with elementary schools interviewing children and rejecting them for failing to have mastered advanced numeracy and writing skills in their preschool years are the two key reasons that are primarily responsible for most preschools (barring a few), succumbing to the pressure and being reduced to nothing more than a mere downward extension of the formal and structured education at the level of class 1 and above and overburdening the child and forcing him to learn and grasp concepts ahead of their time (i.e. before they attain their mental and physical milestones). This completely defeats the purpose!

And, as reiterated earlier, in order to better achieve the objective of “inclusion” under RTE for ensuring a smoother transition especially for children coming from disadvantaged families, India would greatly benefit by considering a shift of emphasis from preparing the “child to be ready for school” to making the “schools ready for a child”. And preparation of scientifically designed reports of each child would go a long way in building the bridge between the preschool and elementary school.

Hence, to ensure a smooth transition, three critical issues need to be dealt with: Defining the suitable age for a child to begin pre-schooling.

Designing of a developmentally appropriate ECCE and Elementary School Curriculum that is in alignment with the learning milestones to ensure a smooth transition sans any overlaps.

Preparation of scientifically designed reports of each child that enable the elementary school teachers hand-hold the child on and from the milestones that he has achieved

C. Parents

In my view, the parents cannot be faulted for having very high expectations from preschools because of the following reasons:

a) Not being experts in early childhood education, parents are clueless about the learning milestones or the learning outcomes expected of a child in his preschool years. Their expectations are primarily built based on what their child is being taught in his preschool as compared to what another preschool is teaching their neighbour’s child. They are also distressed by the fact that if their child hasn’t mastered the advanced numeracy and writing skills as expected by the elementary schools, then their child would fail to secure admission in a reputed school.

b) While on one hand, the government has failed to draft a standardised preschool curriculum, on the other, the elementary schools interview children and reject those who have failed to master advanced numeracy and writing skills! As a result, finding themselves between a rock and a hard place, most preschools not only have to design their own curriculum but have to design it in a manner that meets with the expectations of the elementary schools. As a result, most preschools (barring a few), land up being nothing more than a mere downward extension of the formal and structured education at the level of class 1 and above that force children to learn a curriculum that is age inappropriate and ahead of their time.

Hence, in conclusion, creating a supportive bridge between early years and primary school and beyond is critical to ensure a smooth transition to enable children to continue their progress and achievement uninterruptedly and excel in this journey called life.

The process to ensure smooth transition from preschool to primary school especially to children coming from disadvantaged families admitted under u/s 12(1)(c) of RTE Act

A class 1 primary school teacher who has worked as an ECE teacher is better equipped to bridge the learning experiences from ECE to primary school.

A class 1 primary school teacher can find out about each child’s interests, strengths, culture and capabilities through:

(a) talking with the child’s preschool teacher and parents, (b) referring to the child’s portfolio/journal, (c) ongoing observations and discussions with the child’s parents and (d) formal and informal testing.

Tweaking and tailoring aspects of the primary school curriculum based on the identification of the child’s interests, strengths, culture, capabilities, will greatly help in engaging, challenging and motivating the children

The needs and aspirations of a child with special needs would be better served if there was co-ordination between the preschool teacher and the primary school teacher.

A deeper partnership between the primary teacher and the parents too, would be very supportive.

Having a senior student as “buddy” for every child joining primary school also ensures a smooth transition through companionship in school.

Holding “remedial” classes coupled with regular parent-teacher meetings.

Having a “transitory” class is necessary to bring RTE children up to the mental level of the other children who have done preschool.

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Education

Nehru World School – A PASCH School

Nehru World School (NWS) celebrates being honoured as a school within the PASCH network, a cooperative organization of schools around the globe that promote the teaching of German as a foreign language and who are supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.

Published

1 year ago

December 3, 2021

Team ScooNews

The ceremony took place on 29^th November 2021 on the school premises. The official plaque was handed over by Mr. Johannes Höber, cultural counsellor of the German Embassy. The event was also graced by the presence of Mr. Matthias Stähle, head coordinator of the Central Agency of Schools Abroad (ZfA), Dr. Arunabh Singh, Director, and Ms. Susan Holmes, Head Teacher.

PASCH is an initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office in cooperation with the Central Agency for Schools Abroad, the Goethe-Institut, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Educational Exchange Service (PAD) of the Secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Awakening interest and enthusiasm for Germany, motivating young people to learn German and creating an international network of schools – those are the aims of the PASCH initiative. PASCH stands for “Schools: Partners for the Future”.

NWS is the fifth school across India and the only school from Uttar Pradesh to gain this recognition. “It has created enhanced opportunities for our students to learn German and engage with German learners around the world,” commented Ms. Holmes.

Ms. Jennifer Schridde has also joined NWS as a German teacher through this initiative in September 2021. She is a native German.

“This partnership is a milestone for students and teachers of NWS. I am sure it will lead to several opportunities for students in the future,” stated Dr. Arunabh Singh.

Education

Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti honoured with prestigious ‘Climate Action Project School of Excellence’ Award

Only 250 schools globally were recognized because of their intense work on climate education in a whole-school approach. The recognition was awarded by Cartoon Network Climate Champions and Climate Action Project.

Published

1 year ago

November 23, 2021

Team ScooNews

Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti in Guwahati, India, was awarded the Climate Action Project School of Excellence. Only 250 schools globally were recognized because of their intense work on climate education in a whole-school approach. The recognition was awarded by Cartoon Network Climate Champions and Climate Action Project.

Cartoon Network Climate Champions is a climate change awareness initiative that sets out to inspire kids to take on daily challenges that collectively can make a big difference to the health of our planet. It has been developed in collaboration with WWF, a world-renowned environmental organization.

Climate Action Project is a free, global education project that was launched by Take Action Global, an education non-profit based in the USA, involving 2,700,000 teachers and students across 146 countries. The project aims to help students learn about the climate crisis in authentic ways and disseminate solutions online. The recognized schools submitted their work for the past year and met extensive criteria, including a school-wide commitment to climate education and student solutions.

Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti has participated in global projects RiseUp4SDGs (India), Let's Be Human, Be One (Serbia), LeapEd Global Learning – Climate Change (Malaysia), the 17 Sustainable Development Goals competitions, implementing the three R's schoolwide and planting gardens in the community, at home and school. Students committed to training to become active Global SDG Ambassadors to raise awareness during virtual Student Hubs with 21 other countries. Students also actively collaborated with students in Brazil, Croatia, South Africa, Sweden and the UK in task-based projects. Currently, all Climate Change projects are student-led.

The selected 250 Climate Action Project Schools of Excellence were announced on 4 November 2021, during Climate Action Day, an annual online live event attended by 250,000 people globally. The event speakers included HRM Prince William, President James Alix Michel, Seychelles, Rick Davis, NASA, Matt Larsen-Daw, WWF, HRM Princess Esmeralda, Belgium, Juan Pablo Celis Garcia, UN Environment Programme, and other world leaders and climate scientists.

The winners were announced by Dan Russell, the voice actor behind several characters in Cartoon Network global hit series The Amazing World of Gumball, and Nandi Bushell, an 11-year-old musician, an influencer, and passionate climate advocate.

Statement by HRM Prince William “We need youth’s creativity to repair our planet. We need students to invent and to innovate – to think beyond where we are now and to be optimistic about our future.”

Statement by Koen Timmers, Climate Action Project: “Young people have the capacity to do more than learning about climate change. They all can come up with solutions, take small actions, and inspire others to change their lifestyles.”

Statement by Dr. Jennifer Williams, Climate Action Project: “Our community of educators has come together in support of climate education for all. We are committed to ensuring students have access to information, ideas, and opportunities to take action for the planet, and, today, these Schools of Excellence are leading the way for the entire world.”

Statement by Dr. Diganta Halder, Principal Sarala Birla Gyan Jyoti: “Stopping Climate Change has become a critical issue that needs to be addressed by every human being, but even more importantly in our schools. Students should be aware of Climate Action and the importance of achieving the goals set by the United Nations for peace and prosperity for all by 2030 and to become leaders of impact in the future.”

Education

Ministry of Education notifies Four Year Integrated Teacher Education Programme

Published

1 year ago

October 28, 2021

Team ScooNews

Ministry of Education notifies the Four Year ITEP, a dual-major holistic bachelor’s degree offering B.A. B.Ed./ B. Sc. B. Ed. and B.Com. B.Ed. which is one of the major mandates of the National Education Policy 2020 related to Teacher Education. As per the NEP, 2020, teacher engagement from the year 2030 onwards will be only through ITEP. It will be offered in pilot mode initially in about 50 selected multidisciplinary institutions across the country.

National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) under Ministry of Education has devised the curriculum of this course in such a way that it enables a student-teacher to get a degree in education as well as a specialised discipline such as history, mathematics, science, arts, economics, or commerce. ITEP will not only impart cutting-edge pedagogy, but will also establish a foundation in early childhood care and education (ECCE), foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN), inclusive education, and an understanding of India and its values/ethos/art/traditions, among others. The Year ITEP will be available for all students who choose teaching as a profession after secondary, by choice. This integrated course will benefit students since they will save one year by finishing it in four years rather than the customary five years required by the present B.Ed. plan. The commencement of Four Year ITEP will be from the academic session 2022-23. Admission for the same will be carried out by the National Testing Agency (NTA) through the National Common Entrance Test (NCET). This course will be offered by multidisciplinary institutions and will become as the minimal degree qualification for schoolteachers.

The Four Year ITEP is a milestone achievement in fulfilling one of the major mandates of National Education Policy 2020. The course will contribute substantially to the revitalization of the whole teacher education sector. The prospective teachers passing out of this course through a multi-disciplinary environment, grounded in Indian values and traditions will be instilled with the needs of 21^st century on global standards, and hence will be largely helpful in shaping the future of New India.

Image used for representational purposes only, source: Careers360

Education

New Age Instructional Techniques

Traditional pedagogical techniques, based on a teacher explaining a topic and students taking notes, may still be helpful occasionally. Still, education today revolves more around encouraging the students to awaken their curiosity and desire to learn.

Published

1 year ago

October 23, 2021

Siddharth Rajgarhia

Education and its purposes have evolved over time. The meaning of ‘knowing’ has changed from remembering and repeating information to finding and applying it. Education helps students identify their critical purpose in life. It is really a tool to enable young minds to become lifelong learners. It empowers them to be able to tackle any challenge that life throws at them.

The purpose of being an educator is to make the world a better place. Where people are empathizing, caring, and capable of understanding each other. The prime objective of education is to nurture the leaders of tomorrow. To impart quality knowledge and learning so that the young generation becomes responsible and future global leaders and citizens.

Advanced research in education philosophy and brain science has had a tremendous impact on instructional strategies for the classroom. As a result, the educational paradigm has seen a transitional shift in instructional strategies over the past few years. Educators now are required to step out of their comfort zone of the traditional mode of teaching confined to classrooms.

Teachers are now bound to integrate the new instructional strategies to make a mark in the educational arena. A number of different teaching techniques have emerged during this transition and due to this change in education. Some of the research-backed pedagogical practices that are appropriate for 21st-century classrooms are:

Reciprocal Teaching:

Reciprocal teaching is a method in which students in small groups predict, clarify, question, and summarize a scaffolded reading comprehension. It is similar to a small group of students sitting in circles and using a communal constructivism approach to making meaning. Here each student takes the role of both learner and teacher within the group. This technique allows the students to develop a shared understanding of the text and supports the students who find it difficult to comprehend complex texts.

Student-generated questions :

This technique allows students to work individually or collaborate with peers to generate their own set of questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy template. This technique enables students to go through a rigorous thinking process of divergent and convergent thinking that ultimately ends with a reflection-based task to summarize their learning.

Higher-order thinking questions:

This technique of instructional learning is a must-have in every classroom. Critical thinking is essential as it allows students to apply the knowledge to a context different from the one that was initially learned. Using this strategy and adding cases and real-life situations to these questions allows children to develop relevance and motivation.

Reflection questions:

Metacognition – the science of thinking about learning is a potent tool that should be used in every classroom. This allows children to strengthen their understanding and retain the information for a longer period of time. Questions like the muddiest point today? What were my three takeaways from the last 30 minutes? How would I use this learning to make my day better? And many more allow students to reflect on their learning and evolve themselves as lifelong learners.

Taking a constructivist approach, these techniques or strategies allow the learners to accommodate and assimilate knowledge. When a teacher uses group work he/she is leveraging the true nature of learning. This collective activity allows and enables the students to find relevance in the learning environment. Moreover, it will enable learners to have agency over their learning by modeling a real-world situation. Often when a teacher starts using collaborative approaches, various reasons like unequal participation deter it. The classroom space dons a chaotic look, and the teacher has no control. All these have to be minutely dealt with by developing as a facilitator rather than a sage on the stage. Working in groups allows children to develop essential life skills like empathy, compassion, and critical thinking.

About the author:

Siddharth Rajgarhia is Chief learner and Director at Delhi Public School Nashik, Varanasi, and Lava Nagpur. Having 10 years of experience in leading schools. He is an avid Mindfulness practitioner and believes in lifelong learning

Education

Shikshak Parv 2021 to commence from 5th September

President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the awards to 44 Awardees through virtual mode on 5th September 2021. A documentary film on each of the 44 Awardee Teachers will also be shown.

Published

1 year ago

September 3, 2021

Team ScooNews

Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Additional Secretary, School Education, R.C.Meena, Joint Secretary, and Vipin Kumar, Joint Secretary held a press conference on the upcoming National Award to Teachers and Shikshak Parv yesterday.

Sarangi informed that in recognition of the valuable contributions of our teachers and to take New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 a step forward, like the previous year this year too, the Department of School Education & Literacy has decided to celebrate Shikshak Parv-2021. Shikshak Parv 2021 will commence from 5th September 2021 till 17th September through virtual mode, he said.

On vaccination drive to vaccinate more than 2 crore teachers, Sarangi said that the vaccination progress in the states is being monitored by the Department of School Education and Literacy. This will also contribute to decisions pertaining to school reopening.

Meena informed that President Ram Nath Kovind will confer the awards to 44 Awardees through virtual mode on 5th September 2021. A documentary film on each of the 44 Awardee Teachers will also be shown. He further informed that the National Awards to Teachers were first instituted in 1958 to recognize the excellence and commitment of teachers in shaping the minds as well as the future of the youth. The award was to accord public recognition to meritorious teachers working in elementary and secondary schools, he added.

Vipin Kumar informed that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will be addressing the teachers, students, parents, and stakeholders associated with education on 7th September 2021 at 11 AM. He also informed that Prime Minister will be launching five initiatives of the Department, that is, Indian Sign Language dictionary of 10,000 words, Talking Books (audiobooks for visually impaired), School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF) of CBSE, NISTHA teachers' training program for NIPUN Bharat, and Vidyanjali Portal (for facilitating education volunteers/donors/CSR contributors for school development). The conclave will be attended by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Education; Smt. Annapurna Devi, Minister of State for Education; Dr.Subhas Sarkar, Minister of State for Education and Dr.Rajkumar Ranjan Singh, Minister of State for Education along with senior officials of the Ministry.

Vipin Kumar said that the inaugural conclave will be followed by webinars, discussions, presentations, etc. up to 17th September 2021 in which the educational practitioners from various schools of the country have been invited to share their experience, learnings, and the roadmap ahead. It is noteworthy that teachers and practitioners from even remote schools will be speaking on issues relating to quality and innovation in schools. The SCERT and DIETs in respective states will also be deliberating further on each of the webinars and suggesting the roadmap which will be consolidated by State SCERT. These will be shared with NCERT and provide inputs for curricular framework and teacher training modules, he said.

He highlighted that the theme of Webinars has been further segregated into nine sub-themes in the subsequent webinars such as Technology in Education: NDEAR, Foundational Literacy, and Numeracy: A Pre-requisite to Learning and ECCE, Nurturing Inclusive Classrooms, etc. to highlight the best practices and initiatives which can be adopted by schools of India.

Education

Innovation-driven virtual schools to achieve greater inclusion in school education – Dharmendra Pradhan

Education is not merely a competition to acquire degrees but is a transformative tool to leverage knowledge for character building and eventually nation-building – Education Minister

Published

1 year ago

August 25, 2021

Team ScooNews

Union Education and Skill Development Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar today jointly launched the booklet on One-year New Education Policy (NEP) – 2020 Achievement along with some major initiatives of the New Education Policy- 2020 such as NIPUN Bharat FLN tools and resources on DIKSHA; Virtual School of NIOS; Alternate Academic Calendar of NCERT; and Release of ‘Priya’- accessibility booklet developed by the NCERT and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi and Secretary, School Education Anita Karwal were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the participants, the Minister said that NEP is a guiding philosophy to transform the hopes and aspirations of millions of the youth to reality and making India self–reliant. He said that the formulation of NEP is also a live example of cooperative federalism to achieve a common goal of making India a global hub of knowledge. When we look back at the progress of NEP, we get more confident about the future of our students, he added.

Launch of key initiatives of NEP 2020. https://t.co/bvMC5xxQSs
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) August 24, 2021

Pradhan stated that Education is not merely a competition to acquire degrees, but is a transformative tool to leverage knowledge for character building and eventually nation-building. The Minister stressed that the Government is working to facilitate up-gradation of infrastructure in schools, such as ensuring that the Internet reaches the village schools across the country.

Pradhan said that the book “Priya -The Accessibility Warrior”, released today will sensitize the students on accessibility-related issues for Divyangs. Special emphasis has been laid to make the booklet simple, interesting, and interactive to create awareness on accessibility in children right from their formative years, he added.

The Minister while launching the Virtual School of NIOS said that this school is a new model of learning and is an example of how leveraging technology and innovation can facilitate greater inclusion in education. The school is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the country that will provide advanced digital learning platforms through Virtual Live Classrooms and Virtual Labs., he added. Pradhan also said that the Alternate Academic Calendar of NCERT has been developed to facilitate teachers and parents to assess the progress in the learning of children. The Alternate Academic Calendar contains a week-wise plan of interesting and challenging activities, with reference to learning outcomes, themes, and chapters taken from the syllabus or textbook.

Speaking on the occasion Virendra Kumar said that accessibility opens doorways to opportunity and growth, thus, reinstating the importance of creating an accessible environment for everyone. He further said that awareness and a sensitized community are the essential fuels driving any revolutionary change. The government’s commitment to promoting accessibility led to the development of the E-Comic cum Activity Book, titled – ‘Priya- The Accessibility Warrior’.

Kumar urged both the Departments of School Education & Literacy and the Department of Higher Education to take up the task of creating accessible educational infrastructure and content on a mission mode, consistently progressing towards Inclusive Education which is a vital component of the new National Education Policy. On the occasion of the 75th year of Independence of India, let us all work with our children to become ‘Accessibility Warriors’ and make inclusive education a reality to build a brighter future for all our citizens, he added.

Another important initiative launched was “Priya -The Accessibility Warrior”, which is the outcome of collaborative efforts of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the Department of School Education and Literacy. It provides glimpses into the world of a girl named Priya who met an accident and could not walk, due to plastered leg. The story depicts how Priya managed to participate in all activities at school, and in the process learned the importance of accessibility. She, therefore, takes the pledge of being an accessibility warrior. The comic book is also available with Indian Sign Language (ISL) explanatory videos.

NEP 2020 envisages education as a continuum without any segmentation and focuses on making education more experiential, holistic, integrated, character-building, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centered, discussion-based, flexible, and above all, more joyful. With this perspective, the Department of School Education and Literacy has taken up a multitude of initiatives at all levels of school education and has achieved 62 major milestones which will eventually transform the school education sector.

Other major achievements include: the launch of NIPUN Bharat Mission with a vision to ensure every child achieves the desired learning competencies in reading, writing, and numeracy by the end of Grade 3, by 2026-27; aligning of the existing scheme of Samagra Shiksha with Sustainable Development Goal for Education (SDG-4) and the NEP 2020 to ensure inclusive and equitable, quality, and holistic school education; Vidya Pravesh- a three months School Preparation Module for Grade I children; Blueprint of National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) conceived to energise and catalyse the education ecosystem, capacity building of Secondary teachers under NISHTHA with a focus on improvement in quality of teachers and learning outcomes of students, Assessment reforms to make learning more joyful and experiential, DIKSHA as a teaching-learning repository of engaging e-content, etc.

NIPUN Bharat FLN tools and resources have been made available under a separate vertical for FLN resources developed under DIKSHA to assist and mentor States/UTs and teachers for implementing NIPUN Bharat guidelines. This vertical has infographics and videos on learning outcomes and assessment tools for teachers to facilitate them.

The programme was attended by senior officials and heads of autonomous institutions of the department, senior officers from the School Education department of all States, and UTs, and experts.

Click the link below to see the booklet on One-year New Education Policy (NEP): https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/upload_document/nep_achievement.pdf

Click the link to see the booklet “Priya -The Accessibility Warrior”: https://ncert.nic.in/ComicFlipBookEnglish/mobile/

Click here to see the details of Virtual Open School: http://virtual.nios.ac.in/

Education

NEP provides a roadmap to establish India as a knowledge economy – Dharmendra Pradhan

Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj S Bommai, Minister for Higher Education, IT & BT, Science and Technology, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Dr. C. N. Ashwath Narayan; Chairman, Drafting Committee of NEP Dr. K. Kasturirangan and other dignitaries graced the event.

Published

1 year ago

August 24, 2021

Team ScooNews

Image (File picture) used for representational purpose only.

National Education Policy- 2020 provides a roadmap to establish India as a knowledge economy as well as help in the creation of global citizens said Union Education & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at the launch of NEP Karnataka and several education-related initiatives of the Government of Karnataka on 23rd August 2021.

Addressing the participants Pradhan said that Karnataka has taken a giant stride in transforming its education landscape by implementing the National Education Policy 2020. From translating the NEP 2020 into Kannada to forming NEP Task Force and preparing the roadmap for its implementation, Karnataka has taken lead to establish itself as the 1st state in India to implement the visionary NEP 2020, he added. The Minister further said that with the implementation of NEP in the state, Karnataka has set an example for other states to emulate.

Inauguration of NEP Implementation in Karnataka with Shri @BSBommai and Shri. @drashwathcn. #NEPKarnataka https://t.co/vhnfs49i9q
— Dharmendra Pradhan (@dpradhanbjp) August 23, 2021

The Minister stated that deeply rooted with Indian ethos yet modern in outlook India’s NEP—its policy framework, implementation strategy, outcomes, and role in the betterment of human society will serve as a case study for global policymakers. The generation that is in the age group of 3-23 today will reap the benefits of NEP and will shape India’s destiny in the future but the challenge before us is to include India’s growing population under the ambit of New Education Policy as early as possible, he added.

Pradhan stressed that NEP will catapult India into a new global world order. He urged all stakeholders to work collectively to fulfill our national ambition of making India a vibrant knowledge economy.

Education

Atal Innovation Mission & Dassault Systemes launch Student Entrepreneurship Program 3.0

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) NITI Aayog in collaboration with La Fondation Dassault Systemes in India Monday launched the third series of the ‘Student Entrepreneurship Program’ (SEP 3.0) for the young innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL).

Published

1 year ago

August 18, 2021

Team ScooNews

Image used for representational purpose only

The theme of SEP 3.0 is based on the ‘Made in 3D – Seed the Future Entrepreneurs Program’, conceptualized and rolled out in France by La Main à la Pate Foundation and La Fondation Dassault Systèmes Europe in 2017.

As part of this program, a team from each school (6 students and a teacher) will be allocated seed funding towards creating their own start-up, design and prototype their innovation using 3D printing, prepare marketing campaigns, define product pricing and create expansion strategies. With this, they will receive a real feel of ‘How a startup works!’. At the end of the program, each school’s startup will participate in a playful competition and present its marketing campaign in front of experts from industry and academia.

Keeping the essence of the program in mind, SEP3.0 will allow student innovators to work closely with Dassault volunteers and gain – Mentor support, Prototyping and testing support, End-User feedback, Intellectual Property registration, and Patenting of ideas/processes/products, Manufacturing support, and launch of the product in the market.

A total of 50 teams from 26 states are selected for the SEP 3.0. Top 20 teams of ATL Marathon 2019, 10 teams selected by Dassault, 10 teams from Aspirational Districts, and 10 teams from Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, and Northeast regions are selected.

One of the interesting parts of the program will be interaction opportunities for students and teachers, between French and Indian schools. In addition to the development of an Innovation mindset and exposure to start-up culture, school students and teachers will have a unique opportunity to interact and collaborate with French schools and French students for cultural and technical interactions.

Mission Director, AIM, NITI Aayog Dr. Chintan Vaishnav while congratulating and complimenting top students of ATL Marathon 2019 said that SEP is a life-changing opportunity for the young innovators to reach new heights.

“All the students who participated in this program must know that they have climbed the third range of mountains in terms of growth in the field of entrepreneurship having already worked on problems and innovation. I have no doubt in saying that these students are going to excel. SEP is not only about bringing solutions to the table but knowing how crucial the solution is for all of us,” he said.

Chairman, Dassault Systemes Foundation India Sudarshan Mogasale, while sharing his views said, “With the second edition, we worked with Atal Innovation Mission to assist our future generation of students become Future Innovators.”

He further added that the programme seeks to provide schoolchildren opportunities to develop an entrepreneurial and inventive mindset and suitable exposure through activities-based learning, exploration, and challenges. School students and teachers will have a unique opportunity to connect and interact with French schools and students for cultural and technical knowledge sharing.

Speaking during the virtual launch of SEP, Mission Director, Aspirational District Program NITI Aayog, Dr. Rakesh Ranjan said that SEP falls in line with the vision and mission of aspirational district program and that it has given new hope to students who were looking forward to such opportunities.

“There is no dearth of talent in the aspirational districts of India so I am sure SEP is going to be a huge success going forward,” he added.

In his address, Attaché for Scientific and Academic Cooperation for Western Region at French Embassy in Mumbai, Dr. Olivier FUDYM, said “Students learning for this pedagogy of hands-on learning is going to be a change from conventional learning.”

Moreover, AIM and La Fondation Dassault Systemes in India announced the launch of the SEP 3.0 in the presence of AIM’s Mission DirectorDr. Chintan Vaishnav, Chairman, Dassault Systemes Foundation Sudarshan Mogasale, Mission Director, Aspirational District Program, NITI Aayog Dr. Rakesh Ranjan and Attaché for Scientific and Academic Cooperation for Western Region at French Embassy in MumbaiDr Olivier FUDYM.

The Top teams of SEP 3.0 are selected through the ATL Marathon, a nationwide contest where students identify community challenges and create grassroots innovations and solutions within their ATL lab.

Industry partnerships like these are critical to nurture young students' inventiveness and will enable them to create our planet a better place.

Education

CBSE PARTNERS WITH UNICEF: LAUNCHES ONLINE CAREER GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING PORTAL FOR STUDENTS

All CBSE School students will be able to sign up on the portal with their details and access a personalised career dashboard. The Portal can be accessed at www.cbsecareerguidance.com

Published

1 year ago

August 5, 2021

Team ScooNews

The primary aim of NEP 2020 is to develop a vibrant and transformative school education sector that ensures the development of the unique potential of each learner and provides a safe and stimulating learning environment to all students and teachers.

The NEP 2020 proposes for an overhaul of the existing teaching learning patterns, by optimising learners’ academic and vocational capabilities. CBSE, has taken the task for effective implementation of online portal for Career Guidance and Counselling of class IX-XII students in all affiliated schools in the same context.

It is imperative for the students to understand their learning strengths and weaknesses; have realistic goals commensurate with their capabilities. Guidance and Counselling serves the basic needs of each individual as a unique entity as there are perceptible differences between the individuals in native capacities, abilities and interests. Equally significant are the changes within the individual during the course of time with maturity and exposure.

Besides, Guidance also enhances positive attributes of an individual which help to build a positive self- image.

“To bring scale, speed and standard to the career guidance process, CBSE has dovetailed these objective to develop a holistic integrated vision for career guidance and counselling for building knowledge and skills of students and to make them ‘Future Ready’.

CBSE has brought on board a consultative group of experts belonging to industry, academia, and government to prepare the future road map.

Likewise, CBSE has collaborated with UNICEF and its trusted technical partner iDreamCareer private limited for setting up a dynamic online system on career guidance and counselling.” Sh. Manoj Ahuja Chairman CBSE.

This initiative will help young people, especially girls, to gain knowledge and skills for self-development and to transition smoothly from school to higher education or work. To support adolescents (grades 9 to 12 students) to manage their career pathways and lifelong learning,

UNICEF, along with 13 state governments and the private sector has customized career portals in regional languages, reaching 21 million adolescents helping them access education and work-related resources and opportunities. The career portals also available on mobile apps offer information on careers, college directories, courses from several countries, scholarships and competitive entrance exams.

Speaking at the launch of the portal, Terry Durnnian, Chief of Education, UNICEF India, said, “The pandemic has heightened concerns among millions of young people about their future livelihoods and skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. UNICEF has supported career guidance portals across several states to empower adolescents and young people to make informed educational and occupational choices that support their social, financial, and emotional well-being. UNICEF is pleased to partner with the Central Board of Secondary Education with the technical partnership of iDreamCareer to develop the CBSE Career Guidance portal to facilitate students in India to have access to information on career pathways, irrespective of their school affiliation.”

The CBSE dedicated online portal on career guidance and counseling coincides with the declaration of class X and XII results for this year and includes information on various careers, courses, scholarships, and examinations for students from grades 9 to 12.

The CBSE Career Guidance and Counselling portal:

Is gender-inclusive
Informs on career options for special ability students
Uses a gamified approach to engage students
Provides personalised and unique career journey through Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
Is mobile, tablet and laptop-compatible

The portal is linked to the CBSE main portal. All CBSE School students will be able to sign up on the portal with their details and access a personalised career dashboard that will also be accessible to teachers and administrators.

The portal with the entire career curriculum will be offered to students at no cost.
Currently, each student through an individual career dashboard will be able to access:
560+ careers (English, Hindi & 8 other languages)
25,000 colleges and vocational institutes spanning over 3 lakh courses
1200 scholarships
1150 Entrance Exams

Career Counsellor/Teacher Dashboard: 2 teachers/counselors per school will be trained on the portal through a digital training session and given a personal counselor dashboard to access the entire career curriculum and use it to guide the students for their career queries. This will build their knowledge base on career guidance.

Additional 90 hours self-paced online training course will be offered to teachers/counselors in their dashboard itself where they can do the entire course and get certified as a career counselor (post clearing the online assessments for various modules). This course at present is being developed with UNICEF support in the next few months.

As the learners in schools come from diverse cultural, linguistic, social, economic backgrounds, equal access to all is essential. CBSE will help create an enabling school environment to ensure all-inclusive, strong institutional support system for concurrent motivation and capacity building of all students and teachers.

The recently set up Career guidance & Counselling Information Centre (CGCIC) in CBSE will lend a hand to ensure a Career Counselling cell in every school, create awareness of the career portal to promote the usage among students and also chalk out different offline strategies of providing uninterrupted guidance facilities to students. The Portal can be accessed at www.cbsecareerguidance.com

Education

PM launches key initiative on 1st anniversary of NEP2020

New Education Policy, assures our youth that the country is fully with them and their aspirations: PM Narendra Modi

Published

1 year ago

July 31, 2021

Team ScooNews

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed policymakers in the domain of education and skill development, students and teachers, across the country via video conferencing, to mark the completion of one year of reforms under the National Education Policy 2020. He also launched multiple initiatives in the education sector.

नई राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति को एक साल पूरा होने पर सभी देशवासियों और सभी विद्यार्थियों को बहुत-बहुत शुभकामनाएं।
बीते एक वर्ष में देश के आप सभी महानुभावों, शिक्षको, प्रधानाचार्यों, नीतिकारों ने राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति को धरातल पर उतारने में बहुत मेहनत की है: PM #TransformingEducation
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 29, 2021

Congratulating the countrymen and students for New Education Policy completing one year, the Prime Minister lauded the hard work of teachers, professors, policymakers in realizing the New education policy on the ground, even during the difficult time of Covid-19. Noting the significance of the year ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’, the Prime Minister said that the new Education Policy will play a major role in this important period. The Prime Minister said our future progress and growth are dependent on the level of education and direction given to our youth today. “I believe that is one of the bigger factors in ‘mahayagya’ of national development”, said the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister noted the changes brought by the pandemic and how normal online education became for the students. More than 23 hundred crore hits on DIKSHA portal bear testimony to the utility of portals like Diksha and Swayam.

नई ‘राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति’ युवाओं को ये विश्वास दिलाती है कि देश अब पूरी तरह से उनके साथ है, उनके हौसलों के साथ है।
जिस आर्टिफिसियल इंटेलीजेंस के प्रोग्राम को अभी लॉंच किया गया है, वो भी हमारे युवाओं को future oriented बनाएगा, AI driven economy के रास्ते खोलेगा: PM @narendramodi
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 29, 2021

The Prime Minister noted the strides made by the youth from small towns. He cited great performance at the Tokyo Olympics by the youth from such towns. He lauded the efforts of the youth in the fields of robotics, AI, start-ups, and their leadership in industry 4.0. He said if the younger generation gets the environment suitable for their dreams, there is no limit to their growth. He stressed that today’s youth wants to decide their systems and their world on their own terms. They need exposure and freedom from the shackles and restrictions. New Education Policy, assures our youth that the country is fully with them and their aspirations. The artificial intelligence programme which was launched today will make the student future-oriented and will pave the way for an AI-driven economy. Similarly, National Digital Education Architecture, (NDEAR) and National Education Technology Forum (NETF) will go a long way in providing a digital and technological framework to the entire country, the Prime Minister said.

भारतीय साइन लैंग्वेज को पहली बार एक भाषा विषय यानि एक Subject का दर्जा प्रदान किया गया है।
अब छात्र इसे एक भाषा के तौर पर भी पढ़ पाएंगे।
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इससे भारतीय साइन लैंग्वेज को बहुत बढ़ावा मिलेगा, हमारे दिव्यांग साथियों को बहुत मदद मिलेगी: PM @narendramodi #TransformingEducation
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 29, 2021

The Prime Minister highlighted the openness and absence of pressure in the New Education Policy. He said that there is openness at the policy level and openness is also visible in the options available to the students. Options like multiple entry and exit will free students from the restrictions of staying in one class and one course. Similarly, the modern technology-based Academic Bank of Credit system will bring revolutionary change. This will give confidence to the student in choosing stream and subjects. 'Structured Assessment for Analyzing Learning levels', SAFAL will take away the fear of examination. The Prime Minister reiterated that these new programmes have the capability to change India’s destiny.

21वीं सदी का आज का युवा अपनी व्यवस्थाएं, अपनी दुनिया खुद अपने हिसाब से बनाना चाहता है।
इसलिए, उसे exposure चाहिए, उसे पुराने बंधनों, पिंजरों से मुक्ति चाहिए: PM @narendramodi #TransformingEducation
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 29, 2021
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Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of local languages as a medium of instruction. The Prime Minister informed that14 engineering colleges of 8 states are starting to impart education in 5 Indian languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu. Marathi and Bangla. A tool has been developed for translating engineering courses into 11 languages. This emphasis on mother tongue as the medium of instruction will instill confidence in the students from a poor, rural, and tribal background. Even in elementary education mother tongue is being promoted and Vidya Praveshprogamme, launched today, will play a big role in that. He also informed that Indian sign language, for the first time, has been accorded the status of language subject. Students will be able to study it as a language also. There are more than 3 lakh students who need sign language for their education. This will give a boost to Indian sign language and will help the divyang people, said the Prime Minister.

भविष्य में हम कितना आगे जाएंगे, कितनी ऊंचाई प्राप्त करेंगे, ये इस बात पर निर्भर करेगा कि हम अपने युवाओं को वर्तमान में यानि आज कैसी शिक्षा दे रहे है, कैसी दिशा दे रहे हैं।
मैं मानता हूं भारत की नई राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति राष्ट्र निर्माण के महायज्ञ में बड़े factors में से एक है: PM
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) July 29, 2021

Underlining the critical role of teachers, the Prime Minister informed that from the formulation stage to implementation, teachers are an active part of the New Education Policy. NISHTHA 2.0, launched today will provide training to teachers as per their needs and they will be able to give their suggestions to the department.

Prime Minister launched the Academic Bank of Credit that will provide multiple entry and exit options for students in Higher education; 1st Year Engineering Programmes in Regional Languages and Guidelines for Internationalization of Higher Education. The initiatives to be launched also included Vidya Pravesh, a three-month play-based school preparation module for Grade 1 students; Indian Sign Language as a Subject at the secondary level; NISHTHA 2.0, an integrated programme of teacher training designed by NCERT; SAFAL (Structured Assessment For Analyzing Learning Levels), a competency-based assessment framework for Grades 3, 5 and 8 in CBSE schools; and a website dedicated to Artificial Intelligence. The event also witnessed the launch of the National Digital Education Architecture (NDEAR) and the National Education Technology Forum (NETF).

Click Here to read the text of the Prime Minister's address (in Hindi).