MERGER OF PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION WITH FORMAL EDUCATION SYSTEM OF KV: NOT YET EQIPPED TO INTEGRATE
Dr.Badal Tah,Odishabarta
Rayagada, July 30: The National Education Policy(NEP) was promulgated during the year 2020. On the eve of its third anniversary a press briefing was made Kendriya Vidyalaya Rayagada. Vaibhav Jain, I/c Principal KV Rayagada highlighted the silent features of the policy. NEP 2020 aims for Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100 % Gross Enrolment Ration(GER) in school education by 2030. New 5+3+3+4 school curriculum with 12 years of schooling and 3 years of pre-schooling (Balvatika) has been introduced.
Jain informed that the pre-school(Bal Vatika), as proposed in NEP-2020, was yet to materialise in KV, Rayagada. There are no formally trained multilingual education(MLE) teachers in the school to take care of primary education though some teachers are bi-lingual. He & other staff present in the conference drew blank when asked about the criteria of selection of pupils in Bal Vatika, which will include children in the age range of 3 to 5 years. Jain agrees that there can not be any entrance test till 6th class according to Right to Education (RTE) Act and the guidelines issued by govt will be strictly adhered. But after three years of promulgation of the policy, just hoping that the Bal Vatika will see the limelight in the next session is a point of serious concern, opined the participants.
“Odisha govt is implementing the pre-primary education through 70,000 Anganwadi Centres under the aegis of Integrated Child Development Scheme(ICDS), Women & Child Development(WCD), Deptt. The differential treatment of the Anganwadi Workers & Helpers with meagre salaries and almost no social security from the govt has really left the system in lurch. According to world famous child education experts and psychologists, 80-90% brain is developed between 0-6 years. Unfortunately, the state invests the least on human resource in our pre-primary education when it is required to invest optimally for these young children. The RTE and NEP profess regarding this and there is a differential treatment. This is the paradox. After the merger of these Anganwadi Centres in the present primary education, the fate of the Anganwadi Centres, its human resource and infrastructures is not at all clear. Already the primary education system is burdened with drop-out, push-out and other non-functioning syndromes. Still burdening it with the merger may land the whole education system to a catastrophe”, said Jogesh Das, a union leaderfrom Rayagadq and State Secretary of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangha.
In a power point presentation(PPT), Jain alongwith Sushila Singh, I/c Principal KV Gunupur, Ajay Kumar Mishra I/c Principal JNV Rayagada, Staff of Kendriya Vidyalaya discussed about bringing back 20 million out of school children into the main stream, emphasis on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, no rigid separation between academic streams, extracurricular streams in schools, Setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund to provide equitable quality education to girls and transgender students, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups, Teaching upto at least Grade 5 to be in mother tongue/regional language, Assessment Reforms with 360 degree Holistic Progress Card, tracking student progress for achieving Learning Outcomes, Every Child will come out of School adept in at least one Skill, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035, 35 million seats to be added in higher education, Higher Education curriculum to have flexibility of subjects, Multiple Entry/Exit to be allowed with appropriate certification, Academic Bank of Credits to be established to facilitate Transfer of Credits, National Research Foundation to be established to foster a strong research culture, Light but Tight Regulation of higher education, single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions, Increased use of technology with equity, role of National Educational Technology Forum, etc.
