Education

Nature Kindergartens

Claire Warden explores an example of a nature kindergarten in Scotland in order to stimulate discussion around what a nature-based model in India might look like.

Published

4 years ago

March 26, 2019

Claire Warden

A nature kindergarten is a model of early years education that has evolved through Germanic and Scandinavian traditions of outdoor nurseries for children from 2 to 5 years old. However, there are also many other models of nature-based education we can explore that embrace the same underlying values of nature pedagogy (Warden 2018), but which are culturally and climatically situated in other parts of the world. This article explores an example of a nature kindergarten in Scotland in order to stimulate discussion around what a nature-based model in India might look like.

In 2006, Mindstretchers founded the first nature kindergarten in Scotland. It was called Whistlebrae and operated as a site of innovation to drive change in people’s awareness and understanding of nature-based models of early education. It developed conversations with the authorities responsible for licencing early education and care by providing a tangible context for those conversations; it drew people from across the globe to see and feel how a nature kindergarten model operated; it provided a situation to engage in dialogue to determine which educational models may be culturally relevant to Scotland; and it provided a framework for professionals to question and explore the values and beliefs in the pedagogy of practice – a process which ultimately became my PhD in nature pedagogy.

Throughout the world, there have always been people who place nature centrally to their lives, and now the number of educational settings that embrace the teachings of the natural world in their day-to-day practice has increased to a level that is growing exponentially. There are many different types or models of settings that are nature-based and they have evolved in their own cultural locations and are therefore affected by climate and curriculum. They have a wide range of names, such as Schogsmulle (Sweden); Barneharge (Norway); Waldkindergarten (forest kindergarten in Germany); Nature kindergartens (UK); Nature pre-schools (USA), but they all provide children with immersive experiences in the natural world. All of these settings share a connection and similarity in their work, in that they embrace the values of nature pedagogy (Warden 2011, 2015, 2018). I define nature pedagogy as a relational pedagogy that embraces the art of being with nature inside, outside and beyond (2018: 2).

When nature pedagogy is fully embedded in practice, it is manifested as a way of working with children and families that creates settings for care and education that embrace nature and place it at the heart of their values. Its impact is all-encompassing, from the biophilic educational environments, to the child-centred process of assessment and planning, through to the active learning journeys that we encourage children and families to take to support the children to be sustainable in their thoughts and actions (Warden 2012:7). The range of models around the world can be placed along a continuum of practice based on the amount of time they spend in contact with the natural world in their day-today practice. Our definition of a nature kindergarten is that it sits at the end of the continuum where nature pedagogy is integrated into everything, in order to create a sustainable way of educating children that brings together the health of the mind, body and spirit with education and the need to teach skills, concepts and knowledge. Models such as forest school or nature clubs are more reductionist, as only blocks of time are spent in the forest, rather than fully embracing a pedagogy for day-today living and learning. In practice that means that our current nature kindergarten, Auchlone Nature Kindergarten, is the manifestation of our nature-based, pedagogical values of love, hope and justice. We support place-based learning as it gives us cultural identity and a history-making potential that is valued by children and families.

The programming is mindful of children’s authentic experiences across three nominal spaces to ensure connection and relevance – inside the setting, outside in the outdoor area and beyond the fence to learn with the community and natural landscapes around the setting. The Auchlone site has a homestyled inside area in a 19th Century stone house; and a landscape designed by children with hills, sandcastle, hiding spaces, small pond and mud area. This links seamlessly to the area beyond the fence where the natural landscape of fields and forests exists on nature’s terms, not cleaned up, ordered or tidied. At Auchlone, children can be outside 70-100% of the time all year round, five days a week if they want to be. The staff are trained to work inside or outside. Given the damp climate here in Scotland, we sometimes settle in an open-fronted kinder kitchen that allows daily cooking, provides warmth from a log stove and light from a child-created, stick candelabra. It is in this space, where we stay in our outdoor clothes, that we develop a real sense of community, resting after a strenuous walk or sharing our tales of risk and adventure.

There are many routines that are often the backbone of our daily and seasonal rhythms – collecting wood for the fire, harvesting food, making our felt slippers, packing backpacks for our journeys, designing and making forts and shelters and celebrating the joy and love of it all through story, song, writing, drawing and making artefacts.

The planning and programming of the nature kindergarten model stems from social constructivism, where we create a balance of adult intentionality with children’s voices and theories. We use Participatory Planning through Floorbooks (Warden 1996) to combine four voices. The first is to raise and honour children’s voices; the second is the voice of the natural world as an authentic context, the third is the professional analysis which tracks the learning journey that evolves over time; and the fourth is the parent or carer who creates a link from the home to the education setting. Given that nature pedagogy embraces the natural world, we use the elements of Fire, Earth, Air and Water to guide our fascinations and project inquiries. This lends itself easily to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (S.T.E.A.M.), as many great thinkers, such as Edison, took inspiration from the natural world.

There are those who suggest that there is an unrealistic, romantic notion of childhood and nature that we seek to support in a nature kindergarten. My research (Warden 2018) suggests that although childhoods are indeed situated and complex, there is a purity in the moment where a child studies a worm or is fascinated by water droplets on a leaf, that exists below these larger cultural worlds. The unspoken question is around whether these models of nature immersion, such as nature kindergartens, are relevant in other climates and cultures, and do they have relevance in the urban landscapes where many of us live.

The answer lies in our understanding of the pedagogical values, not simply a site or name, but in the interconnectedness all the models have with nature pedagogy. An experience that uses nature as the context for learning inside or outside; a setting that seeks to be sustainable by embracing holistic learning of the mind, body and soul; a place that allows children to connect to animals and plants on a regular basis; an environment that embraces biophilic design in the décor – these aspects are not about the sites but about the situations we want to encounter. A flower vase on a children’s dining table, gentle tones of colour in the furnishings, images of the natural world on the walls, the sound of birdsong inside – all have a positive effect on the emotional wellbeing of young children, as well as the intellectual and physical benefits they offers. This is the holistic world of nature pedagogy and it can be applied anywhere.

Adults are key to the quality and intentionality of the education of young children. Auchlone Nature Kindergarten has received the highest ratings from the Scottish inspectorate for care and education. As an educational entrepreneur, my focus was to achieve this status so people could clearly see evidence that children could engage in high quality learning outside the walls of a setting. This quality of interaction was achieved through staff training in nature pedagogy that supports them to understand and connect to how to learn with nature, rather than just being in it, or learning about it. The pedagogy and landscape have become intertwined in a way that they work seamlessly together. Children and families feel this when they come to be with us – it’s a relational pedagogy that places value on all living and non-living aspects of the natural world. The staff/child ratios we work with are 1:8 for 3- to 5- year-olds and this doesn’t alter across the three spaces unless we are near water, as we don’t perceive there to be more hazards outside, in fact the reverse is normally the case!

We have built on Gill’s (2007) work, so that the risk management process records children’s voices and their ideas as the stake holders, and includes dynamic risk assessments that change daily and residual risk assessments that are written up for the site itself and the experience offered. Rather than risk assessments preventing adventure, we suggest that they enable us to think collectively as a team and therefore support us to give children the freedom they seek.

The physicality and complexity of the nature kindergarten model allows the body, brain and soul to grow. The range of simple materials provides complex learning through a range of provocations that authentically emerge from the context. The potential of nature’s store cupboard has been celebrated by theorists such as Montessori, Froebel and Pestalozzi, who give us a framework to understand the place of nature in children’s lives.

There is a rising interest in naturebased models of early education around the world. However, rather than impose one possibly inappropriate model on top of a culture context, it is vital to create place-based models that draw on culture and context to shape and define them, whilst holding onto core values and guiding principles that connect us as a profession. My husband and I founded a charity in 2010 called Living Classrooms, which was designed to bring learning alive for marginalised groups. This now runs the International Association of Nature Pedagogy, which is a free professional association that seeks to connect practitioners globally who believe in nature-based practices. The focus has tended to be towards Germanic and Scandinavian immersion models, such as nature kindergartens or forest schools, however there are many, many ways of engaging with the natural world that are rooted in Indigenous pedagogies or other cultures that embrace different ways of knowing and being with the natural world. The association seeks to embrace rather than segregate people into separate silos defined by names, and to connect them through debate and research about how to learn with nature, hence the term nature pedagogy.

When we view nature pedagogy as a way of being with nature, we can start with whatever nature we can access. It may be the park, the vegetable stall at the market, the weed in the pavement – it all has potential for learning. It is how we enter a relationship with it, to care about it, to respect it, to gather it in a sustainable way, to understand the natural world, that is the key to raising it as an invaluable element of the learning process. It is this relationship that lies at the heart of models of nature immersion, such as nature kindergartens, so it can take place anywhere – urban or rural, hot or cold, wet or dry!

International consultant Claire Warden is Director Mindstretchers, Founder Living Classrooms Charity and International Association of Nature Pedagogy.

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Education

CBSE Board Exams 2023: Competency based questions for students

The questions will comprise format of objective type, constructing response type, assertion and reasoning and case based.

Published

2 months ago

December 14, 2022

Team ScooNews

The Ministry of State for Education, Annapurna Devi said in the Lok Sabha said that at least 40 percent of questions in the CBSE Class 10 exam and 30 percent in Class 12 exams in 2023 will be competency-based. These questions will comprise multiple formats such as objective type, constructing response type, assertion, reasoning, and case-based.

“In pursuance of NEP-2020, CBSE has been introducing competency-based questions in the classes 10 and 12 board examinations to reform the pattern of examinations. These questions comprise multiple formats such as objective type, constructing response type, assertion and reasoning, and case-based format,” she said.

“In the academic session 2022-23, approximately 40 percent of questions in class 10 board examinations and approximately 30 percent of questions in Class 12 are competency-based,” the minister added. Following the introduction of the new NEP, in 2020, CBSE advised affiliated schools to follow the recommendations regarding the pattern of education.

Theory examinations for class 10 and class 12 for the academic year will begin on February 15, 2023. However, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is yet to announce the exam schedule.
The minister further said that following the introduction of the new National Education Policy, 2020, the CBSE had advised affiliated schools to follow the recommendations regarding the pattern of education.

“Prominent among these are — competency-based learning, adoption of learning outcomes, use of experiential and joyful learning pedagogies such as art-integrated education, sports-integrated learning, storytelling, etc, emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy, induction of qualified counselors at the secondary and senior secondary level,” said the minister.

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
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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

2 years 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