01 Aug National Education Policy 2020 & Parenting
Breaking the 34-year-old shackle. How the National Education Policy 2020 has made parenting stress free – Sonam Gulati (Education Research Team) – CFMID News Network
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” The question I have for you at this point of our journey together is, “What is your genius?”
These are the words of one of the sharpest minds ever – Albert Einstein. Considering his genius, we should have allowed uniqueness to breathe. But the truth is – most of us haven’t done a great job so far.
It hasn’t been an easy road – neither for the children growing up in a structured education system or for the GenX parents.
Raised in a completely traditional setup, the parents have learned the ropes of conscious parenting on the job. They have been the pillars of strength (and sometimes the source of tension) to a generation dealing with extreme pressure and competition.
Parents have been trying to strike a balance between surrendering to the traditional education pattern and experimenting with new learning styles. The curiosity and courage to identify their child’s inborn talents and inborn skills, and help them with appropriate career selection has been slowly building up in the parents.
And with the Government bringing in the New Education policy 2020, the education system has received a much-needed overhaul. Parents (along with students) have welcomed its focus on holistic learning.
Here are a few ways in which NEP 2020 is going to make parenting a lot easier in the coming years –
1. No more forcing children to develop rote learning skills
Indian education system for long has been criticized for killing free-thinking and rewarding rote learning. Parents had no choice but to pressure their children into mugging up the concepts rather than understanding them. Characters like “Ranchod Das” from 3 idiots remained fictional on a mass level. With the NEP 2020 reducing the syllabus and focusing more on “experiential learning and critical thinking”, children will now actually learn through application and parents too will be breathing easy.
2. 10+2 = 5+3+3+4 makes parenting more about children
The current education policy had been divided into 2 broad classifications – 10 (age 6-16) + 2 (16-18). The NEP 2020 brings in a drastic change with the new curricular structure – 5 (age 3-8) + 3 (age 8-11) + 3 (age 11-14) + 4 (age 14-18). This will help the parents to focus on developmental milestones, overall learning, and well being of the child.
Every state/district will be encouraged to establish ”Bal Bhavans” as a special daytime boarding school, to participate in art-related, career-related, and play-related activities. Even in the 10th & 12th boards, the long essay type questions will be replaced by objective type questions. The overall emphasis on conceptual understanding will no more pressure the parents to breathe on their children’s neck.
3. No longer answering pesky relatives about Board results
What to do after 10th, choice of subjects, and a child’s performance in 12th boards, has always been the criteria for their future education. This was the core reason for competition and pressure for both – parents and children. The NEP 2020 takes a step in the right direction by reducing the onus on board exams and introducing common college entrance tests and a four-year multidisciplinary undergraduate program with multiple exit options. What it means is – Parents can now relax, for if a child decides to exit from the degree at any point, he/she won’t have to start all over again.
4. Doing away with the Sharma Ji ka ladka mentality.
The NEP 2020 has made offbeat as the new mainstream. Children have struggled in choosing between their hearts and mind. The creative ones, the misfits were pressured by their parents to study science or at least commerce, because arts have always been considered “not so intelligent”.
With NEP 2020 clearly stating more focus on recognizing, identifying and fostering the unique capabilities of each child, has allowed – “broad-based, multi-disciplinary, holistic Under Graduate education with flexible curricula, creative combinations of subjects, integration of vocational education, and multiple entry and exit points with appropriate certification.”
This will give parents a government-approved stamp to allow children to follow their hearts. They can now study history with biology or mathematics with philosophy without dreading the infamous – “Sharma Ji ka ladka/ladki’ mentality. In short no comparison between peers.
Parents will now have to understand that every child will not have every talent and will let them lead a life which resonates “Jiyo apni inborn zindagi”.
We at CFMID have been working towards guiding parents to identify the Inborn Intelligence of the child at a very young age and help them nuture a path which is truly Inborn in nature. And now with NEP 2020 in place, we see that most of the parents are getting sensitized on this aspect of inborn nature and we look forward to an era which we shall witness soon wherein every child pursues their passion and lead a life journey by converting their passion to profession.
CFMID lauds this initiative of the Government and shall take every step in guiding parents and students to implement swiftly the NEP 2020.