It would seem that NEP places the onus of reforming school education on the teachers. What do teacher feel about the responsibility that has been vested in them?
Sravanthi Challapalli
The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) launched recently puts teachers at the centre of the educational reforms it envisages. It sees teachers as the sculptors of the nation’s future and states that “the high respect for teachers and the high status of the teaching profession must be restored so as to inspire the best to enter the teaching profession.”
The NEP details the duties and role of the teachers in light of the changes it hopes to effect in the education system. It elaborates the measures it will take to empower and sensitise teachers to fulfil what is expected of them. The NEP aims to recognise, identify and foster the unique capabilities of each student and notes that teachers and faculty are at the heart of the learning process. According to it, teachers will be given more autonomy so that they can teach in the manner they find most
effective for their students. Teachers will also have to focus on socio-emotional learning to enable and expand the student’s holistic development. It expects teachers to identify students with special talents and nurture them.
The NEP recognises the need for equipping teachers with all the skills and strategies necessary to attain these goals. It notes that service conditions need vast improvement. It lists the many provisions necessary to keep teachers committed and passionate about their responsibilities. It gives importance to continuous professional development and recognition for teachers so that they stay competent and motivated.
In the light of all this, how do teachers and educators see their role changing? Is the teaching community in this country equipped to deal with these requirements? Does it feel that it has enough support? What does it think of the NEP’s proposals? The Learned Talk spoke to a number of teachers, all of whom said that policy or no policy, the teachers always look out for the student’s welfare, first and foremost, and not the marks.
Student well-being always prime
Says Priya Dixit, Head of School, Akshar Arbol International School, “Talk to any teacher and you’ll find that the well-being of the student is at the forefront of their concerns.” B. Ed. courses start off by educating aspiring teachers about the various stages and aspects of childhood, growth and development, and only then deal with the curriculum. “However, there has been a shift in implementation. With the growth of technology and industrialisation, education became examination-and marksdriven, and children had to be prepared for careers in those fields,” she explains. Under
such compulsions, the nurturing and cognitive aspects of teaching took a backseat, she adds, specifying, though, that in recent years, there has been a more holistic approach.
Training travails
Sabural Banu Ibrahim, Principal, SBOA School Senior Secondary, Madurai, says that while teachers have to do much to impart holistic education, the support of all stakeholders including parents and management is vital. Teacher training and development has to be taken seriously, she says. As of now, only a handful of schools, be it in the government or private sector, give it any importance and many education boards do not insist on it.
A teacher working in a rural government school in Tamil Nadu, who did not want to be identified, told The Learned Talk that teachers get “only namesake training”. Instead of bringing in a resource person with higher qualifications and greater experience, a senior member of the staff is roped in to train teachers. The administration is not willing to pay for experienced trainers and “as it’s our own colleague, no one listens to them or takes them seriously and the knowledge upgrade does not happen”, this teacher says.
C. Namagiri, a teacher in an SBOA school in Chennai, says, “Only if we see the full curriculum, we can understand the expectations from teachers. Teachers know how to mould themselves to new trends. Training can help them meet the new demands,” she adds. However, she does feel that the recommendations that students learn in the mother tongue is a burden on teachers. “In a single class, there will be various native languages, Tamil, Hindi, Saurashtra, and so on … how many teachers are equipped to teach in these various languages? ”
“Less policy and more implementation – that should be the mantra,” says Sabural Banu of SBOA, Madurai. “When teachers are given importance, parents will fall in line,” she says. As for teachers’ commitment, she recommends having norms for salaries even in private schools. Further, unless there is recognition and reward, there is no incentive to learn and upgrade skills so those are important, she adds.
Guidelines and benchmark
It is important that the NEP be seen as a guiding document and a yardstick by which to plot and evaluate the progress, say the teachers. Harathi D, a teacher at Lalaji Memorial Omega International School, is very optimistic that the NEP can bring about the desired change. Parents, she says, have given away the responsibility of their children’s education and well-being to teachers, but the NEP will pull them and the community back into the environment of allround caring that children deserve. “It can bring about a change in the pedagogical and curricular structure as it is making us reflect upon and go back to our roots in education.” In the old system, students learnt at the teacher’s home. They were from the same neighbourhood, which allowed the teacher to be aware of his students’ circumstances and needs. Thus, the education was customised to that as well as the individual pace of learning. According to her, this is one aspect of the teaching model that the NEP seeks to bring back, in spirit.
Akshar Arbol’s Priya Dixit says the mention of assessments in Grades 3, 5 and 8 to check if the students are reaching cognitive milestones should not take the form of examinations.
That will multiply the problem that is sought to be eliminated. “We as parents, policy-makers, employers, are putting pressure on children and teachers. Very clearly, the NEP is talking about skill development, about the ability to think. This is beyond subject content. I think teachers will be very happy to focus on thinking. Now they are torn between academics and holistic development,” she observes.
SBOA’s Namagiri points out that under the new academic structure, students in Class 10 will be 16 years of age, unlike 14 now. The teachers will have a tougher task controlling these older children, she adds. “It is high time the Seventh Pay Commission scales are implemented for teachers as the syllabus will change due to the NEP and they will be putting in more effort,” she adds.
Harathi says education should move out of the classroom and curriculum should move out of the textbooks. The average teacher has adequate training to work towards the ideals espoused by the NEP, but the implementation does not rest in one person’s hands. She says all the constituents of the school education ecosystem – the management, teachers, parents and the economy (employers, industry) – should collaborate to make education a journey of true learning.
Every school decides the balance of what its students should achieve. Teacher training has to start at that point and follow on from there. It cannot be a token effort. Priya Dixit says the training has to be customised to the teachers’ and students’ needs. In her school, one hour every week is devoted to professional development. It is critical that schools commit to that kind of time.
Harathi says teachers’ training needs proper support and funding mechanisms. According to her, in the CBSE system, much thrust is placed on teacher development. “Don’t judge the teachers, support them. Make the resources accessible to all levels. Share knowledge and best practices, share resources such as labs and sports grounds. Give thought to investments necessary for experiential teaching. If there are no funds to employ teachers, think of using retired educators, young adults who
can function as mentors, parents as well as senior citizens who have several professional and life skills to share … we have to look at a creative use of resources.”
Priya Dixit observes that teachers across India are doing phenomenal work. “As a society, we have to absorb that each child can shine. If we truly believe that, we can work towards it, though there is much to be done,” she adds. It is important, she says, that each child realise that true competition is with oneself, about bettering oneself, and education should strive for that goal.
