‘Teachers have to be ready for innovative teaching strategies’

The National Education Policy 2020 will prove to be highly effective, successful and beneficial for the students only after it is implemented properly by schools. It was a blessing for all of us in the education domain when the central government announced the New Education Policy to improve the quality of education in the country.

The NEP 2020 is far-sighted, realistic, progressive and very comprehensive. It has an extensive domain from early childhood to higher education, professional to vocational education to teacher training. The foremost step that needs to be taken according to me by schools is effective implementation of NEP 2020 to change the pedagogical structure and renovate the teaching learning process. What comes as a sign of relief to most schools is that there is already ECCE embedded in their curriculum. A few slight modifications in the class structure and objectives may work wonders. The two significant groups which will actually bring about the change are teachers and parents. Teachers are major contributors in bringing about the change in this new pedagogical structure. Schools have to provide ample training sessions to teachers for this. Schools will also have to spread awareness in the community by getting parents acquainted and familiarised with this change. In schools the need of the hour is to shift the focus to practical application-based learning so that teachers can have the skills to add activities related to experiential learning which will further enhance the creative and critical thinking skills of the learners.

At an early age, schools have to urge on the enhancement of reading and writing skills and learning of basic mathematical concepts should also be a top priority. For this, teachers have to be ready for innovative teaching strategies and tools to make this highly effective for students. Since children understand better in their mother tongue, wherever possible in schools, students till Class 5 should be taught in their mother tongue. The best outcome may be obtained only when teachers would practise the bilingual approach. The traditional approach of rote learning and memorising for good scores during exams needs a drastic change. Now more focus has to be given to actual conceptual understanding. The approach to complete the syllabus will now take a back seat and the new approach will require all schools to define their learning goals and modify classroom instruction techniques through innovative pedagogy. A holistic learning experience for all learners along with digital literacy, scientific temperament and computational thinking will make the implementation of NEP highly successful. The assessment pattern of all educational institutions has a massive role to play as the report cards should be devised to reflect the all-round assessment of students incorporating self-assessment and assessment by peer group and teachers and trace the progress of learners in cognitive and psycho-motor domains. In these ways, the NEP 2020 can be successfully implemented with a conscientious modification of the education process in schools.

V K Chopra is the principal of DAV Public School, Sahibabad. The views expressed are personal.