An Indian-American student gives his take on NEP based on his schooling experience in the US and how the policy can drive change
Date : 18/05/2024
Introduction
My various attempts to craft the perfect introductory paragraph for this write-up concluded each time with dissatisfaction. Frustrated, I did what I do every time my brain fails to function. I shut down my computer and stared at some fixed point, thinking intensely without really thinking productively. At some point, I came to a realization that I was sitting in the Thompson Library of The Ohio State University, one of the largest and best renowned public universities in the United States. So, here goes:
The 2020 National Education Policy was approved by the Indian central government in the month of July, about a year after the re-election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An ambitious plan that aims to revolutionize India by the next two decades, the NEP became a source of discussion; some praised it for its vision and detail while others rejected it, viewing it as impractical.
Now, a little bit about me: I was born in India and completed my education up till 8th grade over there. In 2016, I moved to the US and did my high school over here and of course, I am currently a student at Ohio State. I have distinct memories of my education experience in India and therefore a decent understanding of what effects the NEP will have on the system, immediate and far-reaching. From the perspective of someone who has been a student in India as well as the US, I would like to analyze the NEP in its content and practicality.
To clarify, I am not pitting the two countries against one another. I think the NEP in many aspects strongly resembles the model here in the States but on the other hand, India has the potential to improve on many facets of societal development. On that note, a disclaimer: This is not an advertisement for the NEP or advocacy for any political group either. I only happen to appreciate the large scale design of the policy. Further, I strongly believe that if implemented properly, it would work as intended and may just be the legislation that India needs right now for a cultural and technological renaissance.
Learning in the US: The Five Key Elements of the American Experience
To begin, I would like to establish fundamental differences between schooling in India compared to the US that I personally experienced or observed. I get asked this question constantly.
Please note that from 9th grade to 12th grade, I was not in India and therefore my descriptions may or may not apply to those levels of schooling. Listing these differences would greatly help in illustrating how the NEP will significantly improve the quality of education in India and also combat many of issues that come along with systematic failures such as the high rate of suicide in students.
Concept, Not Terminology/Technical Jargon
First and foremost, the chief goal of a majority of my classes in my high school was conceptual understanding. This is in sharp contrast to the textbook heavy learning back in India, where the only trait I truly developed was memorizing sentences for the exam day. The integral skills were ignored and while by no means am I suggesting that coursework for my high school was perfectly structured, the idea based teaching allowed for more creativity and clearer comprehension.
Also, I was of course not a perfect student in any regard. However, I always held confidence in my general understanding of a subject by the concluding days; the fact that the expectation was to demonstrate this understanding rather than score higher points than others made for more efficient learning.
There is undoubtedly a value to competition resulting from the importance attached to scores in India, but at the end of the day, there is only so much that an individual can accomplish when he or she spends all the time worrying about a percentage. Indeed, a great deal of importance is also attached to numbers here in America when it comes to something like the SAT, which will determine college status, but again it is the manner in which these standardized tests are typically approached which makes all the difference.
There is incentive to pursue greatness but in case of failure, there are alternatives.
Yet again, I must repeat that I do not hold the American educational system to some utopian pedestal; it has its own issues which I discuss ahead. I am simply saying that the core elements of American education are defined to by nature feed into the collective nation while also contributing to the growth of an individual, and this is something NEP aspires to do as well.
Use of Technology
There are negative side effects of bringing technology in a learning environment, but the gains far outweigh the drawbacks.
The possible drawbacks include loss of attention or focus, decrease in social interaction, and reduction in physical activities, which all could have effects on mental health of adolescents. The thing is, however, that these drawbacks can be addressed and amended. As a matter of fact, the NEP does very much address them and present viable solutions.
The utilization of technology is necessary today to catch up with the rapidly changing, ongoing digital age. Further, its proper use has guaranteed higher rates of success. I would strongly argue that access to internet resources helped me learn much faster and also gave me a basic mastery of the devices and tools now essential to modern livelihood. There is no surprise that technology plays such a major role in the 2020 NEP.
Teaching Yourself
The teacher is indisputably an influential and much needed figure for a student’s success. There are certain attributes, however, that can only be born through experience and exploration.
For a large part, in India, I remember reading textbooks and copying text down in notebooks. The new NEP presents a much better option: akin to the research oriented and experimentation based education in the US, NEP encourages using resources at hand to find your own answers. An example of a skill that accompanies such a method is the ability to perceive the differences in credible sources and untrustworthy ones.
I will not go into much detail because it is pretty self-explanatory but the basic premise is that instead of students being told what the answers are, they will find their own answers. These may or may not be the correct answers and in some cases, there may not be correct answers at all, but at the end of the day, everybody learned something new and since the learning process was led by the student themselves. There is a sense of achievement that can prove extremely beneficial by itself.
I am sure there are institutions already that prefer the research heavy method of teaching but NEP hopes to bring this at a systematic level.
Young Adult Labor
There were apparently some concerns from critics about the NEP encouraging internships. They claimed that this would increase child labor and detract the students’ focus on academics. I vehemently disagree.
To begin with, internships are designed typically with the main goal of real world experience in a specific field, and as I mentioned earlier, the NEP emphasizes on the importance of experience in shaping our characters. Internships generate a career oriented mindset among students and smoothens the transition from a school setting to a professional one.
There are legitimate concerns to be raised in regards to child labor but I fundamentally disagree with the idea that internships are ‘child labor’ because the phrase implies exploitation but internships do not exploit, they enhance. Internships by definition do not take advantage of students unlike what falls under ‘child labor’; rather, they provide growth opportunities to students at an equivalent rate as student work is to them.
Here in the US, it is common for teenagers to start working part time around the age of fifteen. Part of this is the cultural difference wherein family units are of lesser importance than in India, and part of it is simply that colleges are extremely expensive in the States. Nevertheless, such jobs imbibe a sense of responsibility among students and once again, greatly helps in developing maturity.
The internship programs that are part of the NEP are not even proposing this kind of part time work at, say for the sake of example, Pizza Hut. These are initiatives integral to proficiency in coursework, no matter what major or subjects.
Structure
The structure of Indian primary and secondary education as I knew it until 2019 at least was, in my humble opinion, ‘claustrophobic’. It left for too little a breathing space and considering that, there is no doubt that schoolwork has become such a major source of stress and conflict.
In America, elementary school usually goes up till 5th grade. 6th grade to 8th grade is middle school and 9th grade to 12th grade is the high school. This way, there is a value attached to middle school rather than it feeling like just a set up for higher education. More notably, there isn’t a single year that dominates the space in terms of its worth unlike in India where the 10th grade is, according to my understanding, the ‘make it or break it’ year.
The NEP’s structuring categorizes education in five levels and by age: from 3 to 6, 6 to 8, 8 to 11, 11 to 14, and 14 to 18 with the 10th grade being no more anxiety inducing than any other grades.
An Overview of NEP
Having gone over numerous sources summarizing the 2020 National Education Policy, here is a general overview of the content that appeal to me having gone through the system in US:
The appealing factors as I see it
The Objective: The long term goals
The direct steps from the government
Conclusion
I am going to try to make this section short because it covers pretty simple, straightforward ideas.
Why is the 2020 NEP important?
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi surmised, the National Education Policy teaches not WHAT to think, but HOW to think.
There, that’s it. That is why the NEP is important. Nothing for me to add here.
Will it actually work?
The truth is, I don’t know. It may or it may not. I am no expert on policy matters. However, what I firmly believe is that the core tenets and the step by step procedure of bringing them into life are viable and durable, and NEP is most certainly not some poorly thought out utopia.
The NEP has received praise for its ambition, and has been censured also for the very same reason. Shashi Tharoor from the INC, the JNU vice-chancellor and Najma Akhtar from JMI have responded positively, which is all the more impressive for a Modi administration policy, if one chooses to look at it from an optimistic lens.
Concerns as to whether a policy will be properly implemented are valid, but to suggest that said policy can never achieve its intended goals is ludicrous.
Learning from the US
Readers may interpret that I am suggesting that we model ourselves after the West. It is not an offensive remark to suggest that we can learn from America, or at least I don’t mean it to be if I recommend it. In this world, there are always things each nation can learn from another and each individual from another as well. But the first step to solve a problem is to recognize its existence and there are genuine systematic issues that may contaminate the future generation to a dangerous level, as are there in the US too.
Either way, the NEP is not modelled after American education system.
It takes the best from the pre-existing systems at work and eliminates the elements that don’t work, while introducing ‘new’ principles inherent to Indian culture that we used to follow ardently long ago.
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The point pertinent to internships is very significant. The professional world actively seeks out candidates who have gained a degree of experience in applying their skills.
Hi Varad, let me first co gratulate you for your successful journey from India to US to Ohio...which shows your devotion and enthusiasm towards your bright future. Now about an article written by you: .. firstly it really shows your affection about your own country..( till today, I do not know if you could be a American Citizen in the future)...perfectly pointed and listed the things...even I feel ki India is now moving towards the global education pattern..as it is the great and utmost requirement for the nextgen to interact with each other globally...it won't be restricted to any particular country or state...the technology is being developed very fast..but only the thing I would like tosuggest that it would have been a gr8 thing if you could mention little bit about the journey of ancient Gurukul education system to education system developed by Britishers ...because Indian education system has been revolutionized N number of times..and every time it attempted to cope up with the global changes.. To summarize, Really appreciate your views towards it, gr8 ly penned....I really congratulate you for the same ..hoping more such articles from you in the future...commendable.. Shilpa H.
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Excellent analysis. Well done. It is worth reading. The ending is well articulated. India is trying to be true to it’s Indian values while learning from other countries. The author remained objective in his analysis. I enjoyed reading it. Kudos.