National Education Policy :  Measures taken in Odisha Set Examples for the Country

      The whole country is discussing the sixty odd page National Education Policy document (NEP) recently made public by the Government of India. It is for the first time  that the Policy talks about Early Childhood Care and  Education(ECCE), which is centered around pre primary education for which provision of breakfast has been introduced for children with universal access to ECCE. Such a provision has been made in addition to the existing mid day meal schemes in Government schools.

      There are many other provisions in the Policy which has generated debates across the country. It is alleged by some that it might lead to centralization, commercialization and communalisation of education. The biggest question is as to how huge resources would be mobilized for implementation of several schemes provided in the policy. It is also alleged that States have not been consulted adequately and the Union Government has unilaterally framed it without giving much scope to States to frame syllabus. Whatever may be the contentious issues discussed and generated on the National  Education Policy it is worthwhile to underline the point that several measures taken by the Government of Odisha in the field of education during the tenure of Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Naveen Patnaik would offer trend setting examples for the country in the context of the attempts to implement the NEP.

Biju Janata Dal, the first political party,  to organize a webinar on NEP

      BIju Janata Dal (BJD), on the instructions of its President Shri Naveen Patnaik, organised a webinar on National  Education Policy to elicit views and opinion on its diverse aspects and deeply reflect on their implications for the State of Odisha and our country. In doing so the BJD became the first political party in the country to take such a trendsetting initiative.

Bag less classes initiated in Govt Schools in Ganjam district on experimental basis

      It is instructive to note that some of the measures implemented in Odisha on an experimental basis have been advocated by  the National Education Policy document.  For instance the document prescribes 10 bag less days for students every month in primary and high school levels so that pressure on minds of students, because of heavy school bags,  would get reduced and on those ten days students would pursue other subjects like music, craft or something else. A few months back I wrote an article on that issue and stated that in 1937 Mahatma Gandhi underlined the point that burden of text books on students should be reduced and the celebrated writer late Shri R K Narayan and a nominated Member of Rajya Sabha, Council of States of Indian Parliament,  made a special mention in the House  in late 1980s to sensitise the policy makers and the Government to lessen  burden of school bags of students.  (https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/15/18448/No-School-Bag-Day-Swami-and-Friends-Dream-Almost-Comes-True )

That article focused attention on the initiative taken by Ganjam district Collector in introducing bag less pursuit of studies on Saturdays in Govt schools. There is a need to underline the point that Government of Odisha has already set an example in this regard and it should be replicated in rest of the country in pursuit of putting  into operation the NEP.

Include in Curriculum the idea of non violence and education on non-violent mass action

      The second point which needs to be flagged is that the NEP  document in several paras emphasizes on enabling students to engage in ethical reasoning for developing faculties for imbibing values of non-violence, compassion, empathy and fellow feeling. We need to contextualise it by invoking the idea of Chief Minister Shri   Naveen Patnaik who emerged as the first leader of public life in India for advocating inclusion of non-violence in the preamble of the Constitution on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Therefore, taking a cue from it Odisha should devise curriculum on non-violence based on its wider meaning as expounded by Mahatma Gandhi and  introduce it at  school, college and university levels. It should also include in the syllabus Gandhi's Constructive Programme, authored by him in the early 1940s,  containing eighteen points such as communal harmony, economic equality, sanitation, women's upliftment, famers and tribals.  In this context it is underlined that Mahatma Gandhi prescribed non-violent mass action in 1937 for progressive and peaceful social change and understood non-violence in very wider terms and explained that non-violence is more than non-application of force and interpreted it in terms of eradication of illiteracy, empowerment of women, improvement of living standards of people and maintenance of communal harmony, etc,.  The idea is to teach students at every level about these dimensions of non-violence which is now taught in some of the advanced countries including Germany and USA. It is worthwhile to note that non-violence along with other normative values such sustainability, respect and justice  is now being invoked in  literature generated at many global forums to save humanity from global warming and climate change. We need to weave such ideas with measures taken by Odisha Govt to empower women, ensure food and human security, save lives from natural disasters and COVID pandemic and address the problems caused by global warming and climate change. Such initiatives would put the deeper meaning of non-violence in the context of challenges confronted by the State of Odisha, our country and humanity.

Walking and Cycling to School and College

      The  National Education Policy provides that  students should be pooled in some clusters to encourage them to use cycles or walk to schools  located at short distances or two or three kilometers away from their houses. It is argued in the NEP that such clustering of students would encourage them develop group spirit  to  attend  schools in large numbers. This provision in the NEP should be  contextualised by invoking ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and the measures taken by Odisha Government in this regard.  Mahatma Gandhi  had said, during Dandi March in 1930, that modern generation should walk and avoid cars to cover short distances. In Europe it is suggested by experts that school busses should not be taken to gates of schools and these should stop three kilometers away from the gates of schools so that students should walk three kilometers to attend school and walk back the same distance to take the bus for returning home. In the process they would walk six kilometers a day and such walk would address child obesity and promote good health of students.

      In Odisha and possibly in several other States of India cycles are provided free of cost to the girl students to come to the school. It has encouraged large number of female students in villages to ride their cycles in  groups and attend school. It is a delightful sight to see in Odisha villages groups of girl students in school uniforms riding their cycles and attend school located a few kilometers away.   It is suggested that such examples from Odisha should be cited at the national level for taking forward the NEP and exploring possibilities of its implementation by suitable allocation of funds from the Union Government to the States.  

Introduce Mahatma Gandhi’s Bal Pothi, Text Book for School Students, in Curriculum

      Odisha became the first State to announce and implement  lock down to interrupt and check the spread of novel coronavirus and COVID pandemic in the State. It is worthwhile to note that Chief Minister  Shri  Patnaik appealed  to men, during the lock down period, to share household work with women and not to tax them by increasing  household chores. It is instructive to recall that  Mahatma Gandhi wrote a book “Bal Pothi” in 1922 for school children and there is a small chapter in that book on house work. In that chapter Gandhi asked boys and men in the family to share household work with women members so that they would be unburdened of household activities  and get free time to pursue other work in the larger society. Gandhi said that if men would share household work with women a good society would be created by ensuring gender equality at home. The  entire text of Bal Pothi should be translated  to Odia language and introduced in schools,  colleges and universities of the State for character building and education of students. In doing so Odisha would set an example for the country in taking forward the cause and vision of Mahatma Gandhi. Such a measure for the cause of gender equality at home would hugely compliment the suggested measures to introduce, in the curriculum. the idea of non-violence one critical component of which is gender equality,  interrogation of patriarchy and other structural forms of inequality.  

Recognition of Tribal language for imparting education

      Odisha has officially recognised several tribal languages. Odisha Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik had said in 2018 that “The State Government has initiated several steps for giving recognition to the tribal languages. Still, there are some tribal languages in the State which highly deserve to be included in the 8th Schedule of Constitution”. In doing so the State of Odisha has taken steps to preserve languages of tribal people who are repositories of age old indigenous knowledge.  It is understood that tribal languages are used in some schools located in tribal areas of the State to communicate with students from tribal communities  and explain the meaning of several educational concepts and ideas to them. In the National  Education Policy it is provided that languages of tribal communities should be employed to impart education to their children.  So what has already been done in Odisha finds a place in the new  National Education Policy. It is worthwhile to note that some years back the British Women’s Manifesto on Climate Change underlined the point that by respecting the tribal culture and the ways of life of the indigenous people a step can be taken forward to stem the tide of climate change and global warming. Such ideas embodied in the aforementioned statement of Chief Minister Shri Patnaik need to be incorporated in the syllabus for school, college and university education as part of the strategy to pursue the objectives of the NEP.  

Special Education Zone and Commercialization of Education 

      Many apprehensions have been expressed that there are several provisions in the National Education Policy which would  be favourable factors promoting  commercialization of education. It  on the one hand talks about retrieving the glory and prestige of Govt schools and ensuring diversity in class rooms. But  at the same time it allows for creation of Special Education Zones in the pattern of Special Economic Zones.   It is feared that  private schools can open more schools by combining several schools,  be they of Govt or private domain in those zones. It has been cautioned by several academics that along with entry given to foreign universities such attempts to create Special Educational Zones would attract only those interested to establish private schools for profit for purposes by charging exorbitant fees to students. When educational institutions would be run solely on the basis of fees collected from students then commercialization of education would be more intensified and taken to higher levels. In such a situation we would not have diversity of students in private schools as rich and well off students would take admission  there and in Government schools only  students from poorer  sections of society would prefer to be enrolled. Absence of diversity in class rooms would narrow the vision of students. The prevalence of diversity in class rooms underlined by the  National Education Policy would be negated by commercialization of education.

Modern ideas of Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das and Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das should be taught

      It is also suggested that the modern ideas of Utkalmani Gooabandhu Das and Utkalgaurab Madhusudan Das should find prominent place in the syllabus of students and in this regard I offer to submit my articles for consideration for inclusion in the syllabus. Also it is  suggested that regional history of different parts of Odisha should find place in educational curricula. In this regard attention is drawn to the  instances of people from Bargad region participating in the first war of independence of 1857 and the  then Chief Minister of Odisha Shri Biju Patnaik had unveiled a column to pay tribute to those heroes. Such information should form part of the course curriculum.

      The link below of the article of 2016 authored by the writer of the present piece  attempts to throw light on the  inputs on national  education policy made public by the Government of India in that year. It may be perused to appreciate the National Education Policy and take necessary measures in the context of Odisha.

http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article6572.html

The author served as Officer on Special Duty and Press Secretary to President of India late Shri K.R.Narayanan and had a tenure as Director in Prime Minister's Office and Joint Secretary in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.