BENGALURU : Meetings to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in pre-primary schools have already commenced, with members of the policy’s preparation team inviting parents’ opinions.
On Friday, several parents were allowed to voice their opinions and give insights into issues which could be resolved with the implementation of NEP. The members focused on what parents look for in a preschool, improvements to be made to the current system of education and whether children require support at home.
This follows Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh’s announcement that NEP would be rolled out phase-wise in schools, starting from 2022. During the Assembly winter session, he said NEP would be implemented in select pre-primary schools in the coming academic year.
Parents from several schools around Bengaluru spoke on various issues that plagued their children, especially with schools opening after the lockdowns. “My child who started offline school for the first time, was overwhelmed because she had not interacted with other students previously,” said Poorna Shilpa, one of the parents. Many parents had faced similar lockdown-related issues. Padmasree, another parent, mentioned that she had difficulty limiting screen time for her child.
“Students will benefit if they are encouraged to go to libraries and read books, and move away from phones and limit screen time,” she said.Another parent, Neeharika Arvind, said she had noticed a big difference between offline and online classes, as children could take part in personal interactions and have more learning opportunities and moral lessons, when it came to sharing and other activities. Parents also said that students grasp concepts faster when teachers focused on students’ interests.
A number of parents also expressed interest in bringing back more traditional learning during playtime. Shveta Swamy, a parent, said, “We’re very happy with how moral-based learning has been implemented, however, there can be improvements on playtime”