In Our Opinion: Education reforms need to give teachers their due

Syllabus and its limits

The National Education Policy asks teachers to grow their teaching strategies. They are tasked with fostering captious reasoning and enhancing problem-solving skills successful their students. But crushed realities proceed to bounds creativity. Teachers successful astir parts of the state stay bound by the syllabus and they deficiency the autonomy successful designing assessments. The country’s acquisition strategy continues to beryllium geared towards rote learning and high-stakes exams, which does not marque the schoolroom a centre of innovation and improvisation. The superior occupation of teachers remains to guarantee that each kid is geared to reply questions asked successful an examination.

Experts person agelong pointed retired that the strategy does not springiness teachers of superior and pre-primary classes – the bedrock of the foundational learning strategy – their due. The superior oregon nursery teacher ranks debased successful the hierarchy of those who signifier a child’s acquisition arc, adjacent though she performs the captious task of inducting students into a assemblage of cognition successful astir each field. The younger the kid they teach, the little their presumption and salary.

However, the ASER study showcases teachers trying to marque the astir of the limiting circumstances. It highlights an encouraging inclination among teachers, particularly successful authorities schools, to subordinate schoolroom learning with the lived experiences of students. However, this is not ever an casual task. There is 1 teacher for each 27 students successful Indian schools today. On paper, this is adjacent to an perfect scenario. But the information hides determination disparities. In Bihar, for instance, determination is 1 teacher for 60 superior schoolhouse children. India has 1.2 lakh schools with conscionable 1 teacher. Faced with a teaching overload – and often forced to instrumentality up administrative responsibilities — galore teachers bash not person the clip to springiness personalised attraction to students oregon make originative pedagogies.

A divers classroom

India’s learning scenery is gradually embracing diversity. Education is progressively being seen arsenic a means of societal mobility by historically deprived and marginal communities. According to the latest All India Survey connected Higher Education (AISHE) data, schoolhouse enrollment of SC communities went up by 44 per cent betwixt 2015 and 2021. The fig was overmuch higher, 66 per cent, for ST communities. The schoolroom contiguous comprises students from a assortment of backgrounds, with antithetic lived experiences. Many students necessitate individualised acquisition plans.

Rebooting the strategy to fto teachers bash afloat justness to inclusivity is, therefore, a captious imperative. Teachers contiguous deficiency specialised grooming oregon resources that tin assistance them code the idiosyncratic needs of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Often, they besides deficiency the sensitivity to grip taste differences. As respective unfortunate incidents successful caller years person underlined, teachers are not immune to prejudices.

In 2012, the Justice J S Verma Commission recommended an summation successful concern for establishing teacher acquisition institutions and mounting up nationalist bodies to plan and show teacher education. The National Education Policy excessively talks of educating the educators.

The post-Covid learning betterment showcased successful the ASER study is simply a tribute to the teachers, galore of whom enactment nether hard circumstances. They present request manus holding. It’s present up to the policymakers to amended their moving conditions, supply them with the close resources and training. Teachers clasp the cardinal to the country’s future.

Till adjacent time,

Stay well
Kaushik