Is the New Education Policy 2020 Relevant post Covid19?– The Growing Frustration of Students and Teachers with Rote Learning Aimed at Examinations and Grades

“The purpose of education must be to elevate the individual; otherwise education would be of no use. This must be the goal of education. We must wish to love humanity, instead of merely wanting to apply a preconceived plan” – Maria Montessori

We are in concurrence with the words of an educator who understood ‘learning and education’ as it should be, for children. Education should have a scientific basis, meaning an approach that is experimental and based on observation – the substratum of learning that transcends rote education. Post the Covid19 pandemic, the frustration of both students and teachers has peaked and the reason of their growing ire is rote learning and memorization that is aimed at grades and examinations.This resentment is deep seated and seemed to be simmering prior to the pandemic as well, however, the pandemic that has forced online ‘classrooms’, seems to have pushed the boundaries of ‘tolerance’.

Children go through several ‘delicate’ periods of learning and stages of growth and progress. These stages must define education and learning, such that their self-construction is rounded and holistic. The NEP 2020 presented by the Ministry of Education in India, seems to be futuristic but how well it is implemented, especially to combat the effects of Covid19, remains to be seen. It will be relevant albeit challenging to implement, for several reasons.

Overwhelmed Instructors and Teachers

The pandemic shook up the world – forcing it down on its knees. The effects have been overwhelming and unprecedented in all realms, education and learning included. With the effects lingering on, educational institutions and their teachers and faculty have had to make overnight changes, some of which have not worked as desired. This however, is not a shortcoming of the educators. They are facing changes that everyone was unprepared for – learning new technologies, dealing

with diverse students and larger numbers, matching the exacting demands of the government and their employers, enhanced accountability to produce students who would be ‘employable’, and a lot more.

To manage change of such magnitude, both students and teachers need a solid foundation of theory and knowledge, to help them deal with the pressures of these changes. The NEP 2020, we hope will be a relevant and pioneering set of guidelines that would steer effective learning that goes beyond rote learning, memorization, and myopic focus on examination grades. The hope is that this new policy brings about understanding that every subject is distinct, teachers and instructors have their particular strengths, and that each student has a unique style of learning and absorbing knowledge. This exposition is about understanding the relevance of the NEP 2020, post Covid19, and how this policy would help students and teachers build the skills and knowledge they would need in this new world that is dominated by digitization. In the end, it is not about the number and intensity of digital skills, but rather how the NEP would elevate knowledge and thought processes in a way that leads to success. It has to go beyond rote learning and move to the realm of real world adaptability, employability, and even methodology that will enable successful entrepreneurship.

The Force of Digitization

There is no denying that digital technologies have had and continue to exert an overpowering and intense impact on societies and economies at large. They drive innovation and creativity across realms – education included. It is therefore not surprising that when the pandemic severely restricted movement and social interactions, refuge was sought in digitization to impart learning and education. Despite the significant improvements the impact of digital technologies on education is superficial and rote learning continues to rule.

Schools and other educational institutions have had to invest heavily in Information and Communication Technology owing to the effects of the pandemic and to ensure that learning continues. However, these investments have failed to bring about the metamorphosis in educational methods, as was hoped and expected. This is probably because the focus is on ensuring hardware and connectivity works and that the software and data are safe. The focus on these aspects has not been equaled by the focus on enhancing the ICT skills of teachers and educators. There is also a lack of focus on – the overall knowledge enhancement of these professionals, refining pedagogies, and producing content that would enable holistic learning. The attempts to transcend rote learning and memorization, from the perspective of examinations and grades, seem to have given out. However, it is erroneous to expect schools and educational institutions to make this tough and significant transition in silos. Student and teacher segments both, want emancipation from rote learning and memorization, and examinations only to assess grades.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that focuses on global education development was adopted in India in the year 2015. This agenda speaks to the importance of inclusive education and learning opportunities that are consistent, compatible, and in line with every person – by the year 2030. It is vital therefore to ensure that kids learn in a manner that sustains the knowledge. They must move away from rote learning and stride towards critical thinking, learn strategies for efficient problem solving, while being innovative and creative. This would challenge them and the teachers, urging them to think and understand beyond learning that is focused on grading and examinations. The NEP 2020 thus, if implemented timely and meticulously, can prove to be the ‘paradigm shift’ that the morass of the current

education system needs today.

The Current Pitfalls

This is not an attempt at criticism, but rather a genuine attempt to revamp and elevate the current system of learning. Incertitude does not exist when stating that the schooling system today is shallow – it is ‘ill’ with an overload of information and sordidly lacks curiosity and creativity building abilities. The focus on ‘grades/marks’ scored through examinations that will be recorded and ‘going on file’ – is erroneous and detrimental. The system needs an urgent refurbishment and remodeling, away from the chimera of digitization.

While innovation seems to be a much loved word, is there really scope for it in the current system of education? Are not the young students – brimming with dreams, craving, and ardor – the actual workhorses for innovation? However, is the system actually producing such people of the future? Superficially, it may seem as though this is happening – what with ‘scores and results’ of the board examinations. Digging deeper, the reality is far removed from this surface level appearance. There is deep seated frustration, both in teachers/educators and students.

The NEP 2020 seems to cover the ‘must haves’ for innovation – the focus on critical thinking, curiosity, creativity, and competence. Theoretical knowledge is not enough – learners must have the competence to be creative and take in other forms of knowledge as well. The Theory of Constraints must be understood too, if learners are to conceptualize and put into action, ideas that would be revolutionary and progressive. Innovation for the sake of it will not stand the storms of time and would at best be make believe.

While we want kids and learners to think progressively, we continue to bind them in clichés that can limit even intrinsically creative minds. If we were to take examples from the lives of the super-rich,

we see that a number of them dropped out of ‘formal education’. They focused their energy of learning new ideas and thinking creatively.

Relevance of the NEP 2020

1. Building Up Character: The NEP 2020 strives to ensure that learning must be experiential, holistic, driven by curiosity, fun, and several other such positive aspects. The premise seems to be one of ensuring that education does not rest on the learning of subjects, but rather embraces character building. It premises elevated principles,logical thinking, compassion, empathy, and more, leading to well-balanced adults – ready to face challenges that even careers of their choice would present. This in turn would help them live fruitful and content lives.

2. National Pride combined with Morality: The NEP propagatesthe learning of skills critical to enhance ethical, social, and emotional capacities and dispositions. As an undeniable portion of the NEP 2020, these characteristics work towards ensuring national pride, knowledge of and confidence in one’s abilities, amalgamation and acceptance of of diversity, and cooperation with everyone.

3. Respectingself and others: Learning should be fun – which rote learning cannot be and neither can it instill respect for self and others. The NEP talks encouraging traits such as empathy, respect for others, courtesy, gratefulness, and life skills such as communication, cooperation, teamwork, and resilience.

4. Comprehensive and Encompassing Development: Referring to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the NEP lays emphasis on creating ‘global citizens’. This effectively means teaching children to do the right things, which would serve as the foundation for making ethical (even if unpopular) decisions even in the face of resistance. By ‘speaking’ about righteous conduct, gender sensitization, diversity, inclusion, respect for self and others, integrity, and other such attributes – the NEP 2020 is relevant not just post Covid19 but would have lasting positive effects.

5. Equality, Respect, and Sensitization: With the pandemic restricting social interactions, rote learning for grades and examinations can prove even more detrimental. The NEP focuses on enabling kids to discover their latent and innate talents and disposition, while also helping each one to appreciate the strengths and talents of others. ‘Armed’ with such a disposition, children can learn equality, respect, dignity, and privacy of self and others – these traits are not possible with rote learning.

6. Global ‘Citizenship’: The NEP speaks about including human values and the methods of learning how to be global citizens.Such attributes would keep learning relevant not just in school, but in every realm of a learners life.

Aligning Teaching with the NEP 2020

Actual learning and rote learning are separated by two simple premises – meaning and longevity. Learning with the intent of scoring higher grades and marks in an examination, ends with the examination. Learning from the view of sustainable values proves to long lasting and NEP seems aligned with this perspective. The education system has been and continues to be a thrall of evaluation and grades. It is therefore incumbent that we find ways to address the root causes of rote learning – possibly to bid goodbye to the concept of evaluation in the form of exams.

Back in the 1900s, education was focused on creating people skilled in rote jobs – factory employees, clerks, and others – which meant that the system of rote learning worked. However, with the significant and rapid progression of the world, especially through the constructs of digitization, innovation and creative thinking are the new norms even in the realm of learning and education. The ‘haloed’ corridors of corporate houses today are fast paced, dynamic, challenging, and collaborative spaces – the kind that actively seek those who can think creatively and independently,

and fast. These traits therefore, are what the children need to learn and practice..

If we look at the recommendations within the NEP 2020, it seems to indicate that if they are implemented in a timely and structured manner, some of the rote learning issues can be uprooted. The hopes are high for this set of recommendations:

• Gaining excogitative learners/students – those who can think on their own, rather than those who follow blindly or need ‘spoon feeding’ at every step. Such learners would rather uncover opportunities through enquiry and skillfully evaluate his or her strengths against the requirements and move forward with confidence

• Development of teachers and educators – those that feel encouraged to explore, question, learn consistently, take concrete steps towards their professional and personal development, and actively seek feedback. It is imperative for them to build and sustain a growth and inquiry based mindset, since only then would they be able to disseminate nowledge (as opposed to the talk and chalk to board teaching) in a progressive manner

• Pertinent and Germane Curriculum and Learning Material – to ensure that what students learn in the structured classroom environs, is easily simulated and applied in the real world. The curriculum must transcend the limits of grades and examinations.

• Steady and Relentless Augmentation – to match up with the frenzied pace of the 21^st century, without which the consequences could prove brutally upsetting. Anyone unable to keep pace and adapt could be at the losing end of the spectrum – harsh yet true. Schools/educational institutions must become the home of constant improvement and innovation – now.

The scary part is that the dependency on memorization and rote learning is systemic – one person/institution alone cannot overthrow the ‘tyranny’. The NEP 2020, especially post Covid19 seems to be a sound choice, as of now.