New basic learning programme will be offered by the government for the parents which can be useful for them to teach their children up to the age of three and also during pre-schooling from three to six years of age. Multiple entry exit will be available and the stress will be on multi-disciplinary subjects. Credit system for graduation will be introduced which will allow the students to take a break during the course and come back again to complete the course. All school exams will be semester wise and the syllabus will be reduced to core knowledge of any subject only. More focus will be on practical and applications. During graduation the basic certificate can be obtained after completing one year, certificate for diploma can be obtained after two years and after the completion of full course students can get a degree. All the graduation course fees will be governed by a single authority with capping on each course. This way there will be a curtailing drop out rates and universal access to education at all levels. Curriculum and pedagogy in schools should be holistic, integrated, inclusive, enjoyable and engaging. Preference is also given to curricular integration of essential subjects and skills and reflection will be on efficient resourcing and effective governance through school complexes and clusters. There is going to be a standard setting and accreditation for the school education. An apex advisory body will be established for Indian education and Indian education service. Preschool sections governing at least one year of early childhood care and education, will be added to Kendriya Vidyalayas and other primary schools around the nation, particularly in disadvantaged areas. NCC wings in secondary and higher secondary schools will be introduced under ministry of defence including in tribal areas.

Free boarding facilities will be built matching the standards of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay as particularly for students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. A dedicated unit for the purpose of orchestrating the building of digital infra structure, digital content and capacity building will be created in the MHRD to look after the e-education needs of both school and higher education. A comprehensive set of recommendations for promoting online education consequent to the recent rise in pandemics in order to ensure preparedness with alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not possible, has been covered. National scholarship portal for SC, ST, OBC and SEDGS students to be expanded and efforts will be made to incentivise the merit of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC and SEDGS. The national scholarship portal will be expanded to support, foster and track the progress of students receiving scholarships. Private HEIs will be encouraged to offer larger numbers of free ships and scholarships to their students. A new and comprehensive national curriculum framework for teacher education, NCFTE 2021 will be formulated by the NCTE in collaboration with NCERT. The minimum qualification for teaching will be four years integrated BED degree; stringent action will be taken against sub-standardized stand-alone teacher education institutions (TEIS). The three languages leant by the students will be choices of states, out of which two will be native to India. Where ever possible the medium of instruction until at least grade five, but preferably till grade eight and beyond, will be the home language, mother tongue, local tongue, regional language. Indian sign language will be standardized across the country and national and state curriculum materials developed, for use by students with hearing impairment. Students will be given increased flexibility and choice of subjects to study, particularly in secondary school, including subjects in physical education, the arts and crafts and vocational skills. Experiential learning will include hands-on learning, arts integrated and sports integrated education, storytelling-based pedagogy, among others as standard pedagogy. Classroom transactions will shift to competency-based learning and education. The mandated concept will focus on key concepts, ideas, applications and problem solving. Teaching and learning will be conducted in a more interactive manner. Curriculum content will be reduced in each subject to its core essentials, and make space for critical thinking and more holistic, inquiry based, discovery based and analysis-based learning. The nutrition and health including mental health will be addressed through healthy meals and regular check ups and health cards will be issued to monitor the same. The students will be given 360-degree holistic report cards which will show their overall performance in studies, extracurricular activities and their skills. However, the real challenge will be to convert affiliated colleges to autonomous institutes and into full-fledged universities as the centre is required to provide funding for such purposes.

Writer is a Principal SSM College of Engineering
Email:----principal@ssmengg.edu.in