On the second day of the InspirED virtual conference on education, Shashi Tharoor spoke on reimagining education for all. Taking the new National Education Policy into account, he shared his perceptions and his vision for India’s children. While interacting with the audience, he drew their focus on the fact that to reimagine education overall, we must first imagine what an excellent education will look like for the backward communities.
Describing the challenges that India faced due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and how it has disturbed the society, Dr Shashi Throor said it has especially affected those in the informal sector who earn money on a daily basis. It has changed their livelihood, economy and everyday life. Closing down of schools around the globe has shifted the learning and teaching online, predicting the future. Educators are also struggling to command the attention of these online classrooms, while it is difficult for the children to stay focused in digital classrooms for longer hours.
He highlighted that this new change was inevitable and has affected students, especially those who come from low-income families as they do not have the facilities like those who can afford. “There are people in our country, who not only can’t afford a computer at home, don’t have a laptop or don’t even necessarily have a mobile phone,” Tharoor said.
He added, “If they have a phone, it’s not smart enough for digital learning and if they have a smartphone, most of them don’t have access to a fast internet data pack.”
“Societies around the world have had to deal with historic dividers of poverty and inequality, and as we move towards greater digital activity, there’s no question that we must recognize the strong digital divide that exists,” Tharoor said.
Pressure on underprivileged students
He further mentioned that the plight of the vulnerable and weaker section of the society can't be ignored. Expressing his concern regarding how for most low-income groups, education is the only way to improve the standard of living and now the digital divide has become an obstacle for them.
“The sudden push to all digital learning has left a number of our students and their families in considerable stress,” Shashi Tharoor said.
He said the educationists and education policymakers must make some decisions on how to improve this gap and help such children so that they don’t lag behind.
He added, “When we reimagine education, we must imagine it for everyone. Our imagination must embrace the marginalised, the vulnerable families who are naturally disproportionately affected by our current push towards digital learning.”
He raised questions on how we are going to prepare our children for amidst such challenging times, for careers that currently don't exist. He said our education system has been all about absorbing and not much about information. We need to prepare our children in a manner that they have well-formed minds, who can do critical thinking, problem-solving, decision making and communication, ready to face any future challenge.
Views on NEP 2020
Talking on the latest National Education Policy on suggestions such as removal of the rigid separation between streams, the introduction of recreational subjects in classrooms and even changing the university interface that would enable universities to work with organisations and companies in relevant industries, Tharoor said he's optimistic about them.
‘However, he pointed out that there are lofty goals and targets in the NEP without a clear route map such as 50% gross enrollment for higher education and 100% secondary school enrollment.’
Without high-quality teachers, retaining students and an increase in resources as well as questioning on how to appoint qualified teachers to fill the gaps in schools and colleges, the said goals cannot be achieved.
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He asked, “The reality of Indian school infrastructure shouldn't be glossed over; how many schools don’t have toilets for girls?”
On a positive note, Dr Tharoor concluded that reimagining education for everyone, to create a better future and wished everyone at inspirED that they receive opportunities to grow and have a better tomorrow.