NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's ambitious Delhi Education Board and its new curriculum will be launched in February- March next year.
The plan for bringing about a curriculum reform and creating a New Board of Education was first announced by the AAP government in the Annual Budget 2020-21.
"Both the board and the new curriculum reform were to be introduced in February but it was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
We have already lost four-five months due to the pandemic. Now, our team has started working on it and are expect ing to launch it by the early half of next year," said Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio.
Sisodia said he was personally monitoring and reviewing the progress of work on the two projects. “In the beginning, it (curriculum) will be introduced on a pilot project basis in about 25 schools.
"I am quite optimistic that other schools will come forward to adopt this model after observing the performance of the students under the new education board."
Education experts from government agencies and organisations associated with education are already working to produce a framework based on attitude-skillreadiness for the next learning stage.
"I am not enforcing this model on all schools to and we will give a model and an output based on that. When the other schools will see understanding skills, performance and results of students under the new education system, they will adopt this board," Sisodia asserted.
The minister has already held a joint review meeting along with the Secretary (Education), Director (Education), Director SCERT and Education Advisor with the board committee to see the progress.
"The Board will ensure that students are continuously evaluated in each topic and subject. A student should apply class room teachings in daily life — this is our motto. If we fail to succeed that then the entire education system fails. If a mindset of a student is filled with hatred despite being highly educated, it exposes the rote learning and failure of education system," he said.
What is your take on the NEP and will you implement it in Delhi?
Before I comment on the education policy, I would like to highlight the major problems in our current education system, where it is failing and where the problems lie.
Then we can understand what the policy is and what my take on it is. There are four major deficiencies in our education system: there is zero assurance from the government that quality education will be provided to every child, there is lack of investment in education, there is a poor evaluation system and there is no policy to recognise vocational studies.
As soon as a child is born, the first tension parents face is which school will their child go to, what will be the fees, will it be affordable.
This is the hard reality of the current education system. So, the first and foremost thing about the education system should be to assure common citizens that these things will be taken care of.
Second, the National Education Policy promises that 6 per cent of the GDP will be spent on education. But this aim has been there since 1966.
If you could not fulfil this promise in the last 54 years, what is the guarantee that this will succeed this time? My argument is if India can have a law to control fiscal deficit, then why can’t there be a law to ensure 6 per cent expenditure on education? The first and foremost responsibility of the government is to educate people. The NEP does not address this issue.
The third biggest issue with the current education system is that it is exam-driven. We have had education policies in 1966, 1986 and then we got the National Curriculum Framework in 2005 and then the Right to Education Act in 2009.
These are milestones on which we spoke about some good things but the problem is that everything vanished because of the examination system. Under the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), we discussed a lot about inculcating critical thinking in students but the question is do we have a system to evaluate the critical thinking of students? A student is taught for an entire year but his thinking and understanding skill is evaluated in a three-hour exam.
This is the hard reality. The last point is about vocational courses and its importance in our country. In the current education system, vocational studies have no value. If a student takes vocational studies in school, can he get admission in Delhi University? No, as the university does not recognise it. At present, a student with a bachelor’s degree in vocational studies such as hospitality, finance and management, tourism and others are not even eligible for the UPSC exams. .
Did you raise these points at the NEP meetings?
I cannot make vocational courses eligible for the UPSC exams at my level, only the central government can do this as it is a national-level decision.
Will the NEP have any benefit? What is the government’s plan to implement it?
A few things have to be taken care at the national level, which I mentioned earlier. In Delhi, we have taken the standard of schools to the top.
They have beaten private schools and they have become the first choice of parents. Parents are now withdrawing their children from private schools and admitting them in government schools.
A revolutionary change has been brought about in the last five years. Besides, the Delhi government has kept 25 per cent of its budget for education because that is the need.
To change the examination system, we are working on a new curriculum and education board. We started working on it by default and it is not mentioned in the NEP but we will keep working on it.
What are the new curriculum and education board that are being planned in Delhi?
The new curriculum and education board is again part of our reforms. If you see our reforms in the last four-five years, in the first year we did a lot of work on infrastructure, by the second year we started simultaneously working on the teachers training and then started working on reforms such as examinations system, ending of rote learning which will take time.
Further, we started the happiness curriculum, entrepreneurship curriculum and currently, the government is working on the deshbhakti curriculum. We are also working on a continuous evaluation system under the education board.
Currently, social inclusiveness is taught in the eighth grade. But if a student carries hatred in his heart, believes what he sees on television or around the society then it is of no use.
If you are teaching inclusiveness or any subject it should reflect in his behaviour and attitude. But, how do you evaluate that? It is challenging but we want our board to draw up that mechanism.
The Delhi Education Board will ensure that the students are continuously evaluated and students are assessed in all subjects.
How challenging is it to implement these reforms?
The reforms are an ongoing process and we are working on it for the last three years.
I agree that it is a challenging process but many countries across the world have successfully implemented these reforms and we can learn from them rather than copy-pasting them. Our team is studying the models of these countries.
By when will the ambitious Delhi Education Board be implemented?
I am monitoring and reviewing the project on a weekly basis so I hope by February-March next year, the new education board will be introduced in some schools on a pilot basis. We will not introduce the new system in all schools.
In the beginning, it will be introduced in only about 25 schools and I am quite optimistic that other schools will come forwards to adopt this model after observing the talent and performance of the students under the new education board.
You have said the NEP promotes private education. What should have been done to address this?
While drafting the policy they should have written that India as a country resolves that it will provide good quality education in our government schools and adequate funds will be provided for it. If that is not made into a policy then these are just good words.
Every country says they want to provide good education to their children but the question is how will you provide?
The NEP should have assured that it will provide good quality education in government schools across the nation.
When the policy was being drafted, did you suggest bringing in a law for 6% GDP spend on education?
Many of the education ministers supported my view and said yes you are right but again it is a national policy, the decision has to be taken at the national level.
The Delhi government is running online classes. Can online classes substitute classrooms?
No, online teaching can never be a substitute for classroom teaching. If education could run online, there are countries in the world which are 50 times ahead of us in technology.
They would have moved to online education completely but physical education and presence in the school cannot be replaced by digital learning.
Even sending students to the teacher’s house is not the solution as campus education is campus education. The aim is to minimise that damage to the students.
Will it be difficult to bring students back to the classroom? When will schools be reopened?
We don’t know when this (pandemic) will end. The reopening of schools will be assessed only after normalcy returns
It’s a big risk, we should learn from other countries which have experimented with reopening schools. In the US, 95,000 students tested positive in a week.
Many students don’t have access to online classes. Can they be provided smartphones, laptops and internet connectivity?
I wish I could, but the government is facing financial constraints. The tabs were distributed in good times. It was distributed last year when we had a good budget, but now the problem is that there are no funds.
Under the semi-online education model, about 70-80 per cent students are accessing online classes.
Another 5-10 per cent students are connected offline, they have been given worksheets and study material and the teachers are guiding them on the phone. This includes students living in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa where our students have shifted after the lockdown.
But there are students from very poor economic backgrounds, who do not even own a normal mobile?
Yes, that is why we are calling the parents of such students to schools to collect the worksheets and the teachers are guiding the parents and the students to complete the worksheet.
I am again saying, the shutting of schools has caused a huge loss and online education cannot replace classroom teaching but we are putting our best effort to minimise the damage.
There are 10 per cent students who have either left the city or changed their mobile number or do not own a mobile phone. They are enrolled but we don’t know where they are living, they are completely cut-off.
You recently mentioned that municipal corporations did not update personal details of students making it difficult to trace/ transfer them to Delhi government schools. What is the plan to contact those students?
Yes, about 30 per cent students who were untraced have been transferred to Delhi Government schools by the MCD after fifth class.
It has not submitted any proper data containing details of the students. Yet our teachers are relentlessly working to connect with the students. They are so motivated that they themselves visit the residence of students to check their whereabouts. They are doing their best.
The UGC has recently said that universities should conduct final year examinations, not promote them. But parents and teachers are against the decision. What are your views on this?
Somehow, the government of India has the mindset of an arrogant examiner. You have to be an educator rather than being an evaluator.
They are agreeing that the last semester could not happen, the syllabus was not completed yet it is saying they will pass students only after examinations.
Why are you destroying the careers of students? Declare the results based on the last five semesters and pass them so that they can start work or continue their education further.
The delay in salaries of Delhi University teachers has become a regular issue. Salaries have not been released because DU refused to add ‘names’ to the governing body of the colleges proposed by the government? Can this be resolved once and for all?
If you are not allowing the government to form the governing body then why should the government fund you? Talking about funds, I am surprised by the university’s allegation of having no money.
The budget for salaries was Rs 121 crore in 2013 and this increased to Rs 242 crore in 2019. Despite that, they are saying they don’t have funds to pay the salaries of teachers. Where is the money going? DDU College has given Rs 10.5 crore for salaries in 2010-11 and in 2019-20 this increased to Rs 32.68 crore.
There is a threefold increase in the last eight years but they say they have no money to pay salaries. I need to check where the money is going. An audit has been ordered and no one will be spared found guilty of corruption.
Delhi University teachers say the chairman of the governing body, which regulates everything, is appointed by the Delhi government. What is your response?
No one will be spared if they are involved in corrupt practices or found guilty. But why is DU not allowing the formation of the governing body?
In the last five years, five governing bodies should have been formed, but DU has only allowed the formation of two governing bodies.
If corrupt practices have taken place during the period of the governing body, they will also be uncovered and action will be taken. The same will apply to the nongoverning body period.