The Union HRD Minister, Prakash Javadekar in a recent forum, Aaj Tak Agenda 2016, talked about various ways for improving the Education in India. He emphasized that there was a visible change in the pattern of education and that it must be managed well in order to improve the overall development of the country. Understanding the recent changes and the positive impact of implementation of Right to Education, Prakash Javadekar suggested bringing out effective changes within the framework. He spoke about the improved state of education overall, the increased participation of students and the vision of the central government towards educating all. He laid out many interesting points as well as the suggestion to include humanities in the curriculum of IITs – the leading engineering institutes in the country.
While the Union HRD Minister essentially spoke about the many facets of education, he emphasized that education should not be mixed with politics. He also stated that government’s priority was to give impetus o development and education for all. Apart from the vision, he detailed out various reports of various surveys that were conducted to ascertain the situation of education and educational institutes in the country and highlighted some grim facts. He also suggested the road map the Union Government and HRD Ministry is considering to improve the same.
Here are the key takeaways from
The states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were listed out as major concern areas vis a vis the level of teachers employed. As per the survey, Javadekar said, many teachers in the two states could not even read or spell properly. This was indeed a grim prospect and in order to remedy the same, the ministry is planning on implementing teacher training programs and also using various means to motivate the educators.
On the matter of language education in the country, the Union HRD minister suggested a three language formula. He suggested that there should be uniformity across the country when it came to teaching different languages at the school level.
Delhi University’s dearth of teachers was also talked about. The Union HRD Minister assured all present that the government was looking into the matter and planning to call for meetings for discussing appointment of faculty members at the University.
The enthusiastic participation of students in the boards examination held in Kashmir was also talked about. While the reduction in curriculum was questioned, the minister said that the intent of educating mattered and not the amount. He was happy to report that about 95 to 99 percent of students appeared for the examinations. Also, that girls in particular were performing well in Kashmir, even in comparison to other states.
Implementation of Yoga at school education level across the country to improve the mental ability of he students was also suggested. Among other suggestions, the Union HRD minister laid stress on cultural acclimatization of the students of the country. While he appreciates the importance of engineering education and lauded the IITs for providing world class education, he suggested that the IITs should consider including humanities within their curriculum. Encouraging humanities would help students better understand the Indian culture and traditions, and further assist in development of the entire country.