How NEP will enable students to build skills in tech from the schooling level?
Blog: NASSCOM Official Blog
- By Mr. Apurv Verma, VP Operations, SRV Media Pvt. Ltd.
A few days ago, a bold & revolutionary decision was taken by the Ministry of education in an attempt to redefine education in India. The Indian education policy of the 21st century was finally released i.e National education policy 2020. A decision that seems to be in coherence with the new objective of India to become “Atma Nirbhar”.
People have a lot of questions regarding the implementation of NEP 2020 in rural & urban areas. Is Indian education prepared for it? Are NEP’s pros higher than the cons? Will privatization in the education sector increase? Will giving importance to Vernacular language till class 5th undermine the interest of students in English which is a global language? Well, the answers to these and other trending questions around NEP will only be revealed a few years down the line.
Now amidst so many points being discussed around NEP, one of the important aspects is the technical acumen of the students. The population of Switzerland is 85.7 lakhs and India produces 15 lakh engineers every year which is approximately 17.5 % of the entire population of Switzerland.
Soumitra Dutta, a professor at Cornell’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management says “While the Global Innovation Index ranks economies according to their innovation capacity and performance, it also provides valuable insights into the dynamics of global innovation”
Therefore, as a country, we need to build a strong culture of innovation. But how? Will NEP speed up the technological advancement in India by propelling changes from the grassroots level? NEP looks promising in the above-mentioned context.
Our previous education policy was more inclined towards “marks” not on skill building of students. “The Education is not learning of facts, but about training the mind to think” as quoted by Albert Einstein. Therefore, the evaluation of students from a holistic point of view as per NEP will make students apply knowledge rather than rote learning.
94% of engineering graduates are not fit for hiring. – Says CP Gurnani, CEO & MD of Tech Mahindra. That’s a serious concern. But its solution also lies within NEP.
Very few people would know that Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Facebook, started coding from the age of 6! That’s so exciting. Isn’t it? Tanmay Bakshi, the world’s youngest IBM Watson developer, started coding at the age of 5 & launched his first app when he was 8 years old.
“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it from today”- Malcom X
Thanks to NEP! In the future, we might see many Tanmays making India proud at the global stage.
Now for students in class 6 to 8 (age 11 to 14), activities involving coding will be introduced. Coding requires creative thinking & computational skills and plays a vital role in building our analytical & innovating thinking. The “technology-oriented” NEP will develop the scientific acumen of students from an early age. The employability quotient of the students will increase significantly. In the long run, India can become a leader in disruptive technologies with a reasonable amount of technically sound workforce.
Entire Teaching staff shall play an indispensable role in enabling students to build skills in tech from the school level. Teacher Eligibility Tests (TETs) will be strengthened to inculcate better teaching standards & methodology.
The purpose of the assessment of students will be focused on learning; it will enable the schooling system to continuously optimize the technological learning aspect for all students. The culture of innovation shall be built from the base level with proper teaching methodologies around the latest technologies.
An increase in public expenditure on education in India from 4.43% to 6 % GDP in NEP is the right investment decision for ensuring high-quality education to make students future-ready. The innovation & research wing might become functional from the school level itself. Students will be motivated to leverage technology & build the desired products. Indeed, NEP 2020 is aimed at making India AI-ready.
In conclusion, policy effectiveness will be determined by the implementation level. Multiple government bodies will have to work in a synchronous way to fulfill the desired objectives of NEP. If all the future initiatives are taken in the right direction, then our students’ abilities will be boosted to succeed in the age of AI.
The post How NEP will enable students to build skills in tech from the schooling level? appeared first on NASSCOM Community |The Official Community of Indian IT Industry.
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