NEP 2020 at 5: Focus on foundational literacy welcomed, but vocational push raises equity concerns

The Hindu

3 days ago

Last week marked the completion of five years of the National Education Policy 2020. While many of its features are problematic, an important positive was that it was the first official government document that talked in some detail about the requirement of imparting the essentials of basic school education: Children should be able to read from a text and write, and should be able to perform basic arithmetic operations. This is described as Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, and the NEP 2020 not only acknowledges it but also stresses it. A budget has been earmarked for it and comes under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, although there is no tracking mechanism on whether the goals are being achieved. An example of such a scheme is the Ennum Ezhuthum programme of the Tamil Nadu government that aims to improve FLN among primary school students.
The focus on FLN is significant. In the past, FLN was an expected, natural outcome of primary school education and was taken for granted. For instance, the National Literacy Mission of the Rajiv Gandhi government was focused almost exclusively on adult literacy, assuming that school education was taking care of literacy and numeracy among children. The NLM did not quite take into account the reality that students were passing out of school without basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills. It was assumed that whoever went to school would have them and proposed no measure to gauge the skill in school-going children.
Today, workers in factories are still unable to read written instructions. During Covid, many missed written instructions because they were unable to read and understand them. Others reach out for a calculator because they have simply not learned basic subtraction and addition. They get cheated on the interest payments on loans they have taken from lenders.
FLN requires a separate agenda of its own. The government has to go on mission mode and ensure that in the next five years, all school-going children have the requisite basic literacy and numeracy. A literate society can make leaps in development, advance quickly.
The means towards achieving this is not additional Board exams, such as in Classes 5 and 8, which the NEP recommends. These board exams will only lead to a surge in dropouts. Instead the assessment should be on how the respective school, district and State are performing and take corrective measures especially in teacher recruitment and training.
Another positive of NEP is Early Childhood Education. This is a welcome direction it has given, but it has not been realistic on the pathway towards achieving it. The NEP talks about school complexes – primary, middle, and high schools with their own infrastructure, teachers, and other resources within a larger university-like school. But these are tough to implement. A workable policy on ECE is a must.
A key area where the NEP misses the point is vocationalisation. While it would be welcome if everyone is taught a skill they learn by doing in addition to their subjects, introducing a separate vocational scheme after Class 8 will only lead to reinforcing structural inequalities. It would be inevitable that poorer, lower caste students will take more to vocationalisation.
Unfortunately, the NEP advances national and common entrance exams to all college courses besides Engineering and Medicine. This would further devalue school exams and give a boost to coaching classes, while bringing down enrollment in higher education.
(This article is written by Balaji Sampath, a physics and math teacher and the founder of AhaGuru. He is also a social activist and the founder of Aid India, which works on education and housing for poor communities.)