NEP 2020 envisions holistic, multidisciplinary, and universal learning: Experts
Jaipur: The India Chapter of the Humanistic Management Network (HMN) in association with IIHMR University conducted an online country-focused conference session on ‘Decoding New Education Policy 2020- The Roadmap for Inclusive Development’ on 5 November 2020. The session was held under the 2020 annual humanistic management conference, which is being held from 4-6 November 2020. Outstanding speakers delivered impactful messages during the session, which explored how the implementation of NEP could contribute to the inclusive and sustainable development agenda.
Eminent Speakers included Shri K.C. Ramamurthy, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and Chairman, CMR Group of Institutions, Bengaluru (Chief Guest), Prof. (Dr.) Naresh Chandra Gautam, Vice-Chancellor, Mahatma Gandhi Gramodaya University, Chitrakoot (Guest of Honour ), Prof. (Dr.) Alok Rai, Vice-Chancellor, Lucknow University, Lucknow (Guest of Honour), Prof. (Dr.) Ernst von Kimakowitz, Co-Founder, Humanistic Management Network, Prof. (Dr.) Prahlad Rai Sodani, President, IIHMR University, Jaipur, Dr. Rajeev Singh, CEO, Indian Chambers of Commerce, and Prof. (Dr.) Shiv K. Tripathi, Professor, and Dean (Training), IIHMR University, Jaipur (moderator), D.P Singh Advisor, AWS.
Shri K.C. Ramamurthy said that this session focuses on decoding new education policy, which will help understand the policy and prepare all Indian stakeholders in India for its effective implementation. The NEP is the outcome of sustained efforts of government of India. The NEP has been fully developed and taken shape after nationwide consultation to align our education system to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. The implementation of NEP 2020 will undoubtedly bring radical changes in the education system in teaching, delivery, and pedagogy. The NEP 2020 will give the country’s educators a robust system for quality education at all levels, which will help enhance the employability and skills of Indian youth for a better future. We will all have to work collectively to implement the policy to ensure that we change the system of mere degree providing institutions with a skill of attitude shaping vibrant education system.
Dr. P. R. Sodani welcomed the speakers and said that the policy’s objective is to transform the Indian education system. The policy has come up with many dimensions. This panel will discuss these dimensions in broad light, including the quality of education in India, accessibility of education to the students, types of opportunities at the international level, etc. There are many innovative ideas, directions, and advice put together in the policy. IIHMR has taken the lead to deliberate and discuss the new education policy as an agenda.
Dr. Naresh Chandra Gautam said NEP 2020 is a policy that has given a basket of alternatives to the students. It has given a roadmap for future education for holistic development. The policy has introduced the credit bank system, which will make a student more responsive. As educationists, we must provide a roadmap to the higher education system to meet the challenges in the NEP. We must have a good capacity building program to address the challenges for a multidisciplinary faculty. We must redefine the syllabus addressing the challenge of introducing the well-developed technology to the courses.
Dr. Alok Rai defined NEP 2020 as based on the ‘LIFES’ model where ‘L’ stands for life coaching approach for holistic development, ‘I’ stands for Internationalisation of education system. The letter ‘F’ stands for flexibility, yet another trait that our NEP aims upon. Flexibility in terms of the ability for students to move from one program to another program interdisciplinary approach. The fourth aspect- E stands for employability. In the NEP, the implementation aspect of the knowledge has been emphasized. The Fifth is the ‘S’ part, which is the significant structural change that has been forced in the country’s Higher education. The policy primarily proposes the three sets of institutions: specific reset institutions, multidisciplinary higher education institutions, and autonomous colleges. This would be a significant shift concerning the structure of higher education in the country, and the governance of higher education will immensely be affected by these proposed changes.
Ms. Radha Rani Sharma, Dean, Management Development Institute (MDI), gave a brief on the education policies which were significant in the past. She touched upon the universalization of pre-primary education, which is very important for building for education, which implies every child should receive three years of pre-primary education. An exciting part included in this policy is that a 360-degree holistic progress card will be maintained for a child throughout education.
Prof. Jyoti Rana, Dean, Skill Faculty of Management Studies & Research, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, Haryana, spoke about the challenges of skill education. She stressed that one of the crucial challenges in skill education is the less adaptability of skill education in our education system. However, NEP has highlighted the importance of skill education and how to incorporate skill education at various levels. There is a strong need that this skill development should be looked at with a different perspective. There is a need to reimage skill education and revise a curriculum and delivery methods so that skill education can be imparted in a better way. We must have a conceptual model and theory building in the area of skill education.
Rajiv Singh, CEO, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata, gave away the valedictory speech. Mr. Singh said that NEP is a path-breaking policy pragmatically addresses the Indian education system’s issues in the past. It addresses early childhood teaching in the mother tongue, reducing the curriculum, is very flexible, and focuses on vocational training. Implementing such reforms may have some challenges.
Dr. Indu Rao, Professor and Director-ASC, VIT University, Mr. Pooran Chandra Pandey, India Representative, Climate Scorecard (USA), New Delhi, Mr. Murad Ali, Representative, Sports University, were a part of the webinar and shared their insights on the NEP 2020. Dr. Shiv Tripathi moderated the session and said that all the panellists have given different dimensions on NEP 2020 and they covered all major aspects of the policy.
