Educational Policy-XIV Special Education Zone to achieve inclusive education.

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We have heard about incentives to Doctors serving in the villages. The draft report talks about teachers being given incentives to teach in rural areas. It is surprising because teaching profession has always been ‘village friendly’. It has never been known as an urban employment. Why then is this incentive?

All ‘para-teacher’ systems across the country will be stopped by 2022 to ensure that ‘teachers are invested in, and can build strong long term relationships with their communities’. All fresh teachers will be registered with a centre for CPD so that they can be mentored and integrated into a community of peers.

‘Collaborative unit planning, review and discussion of modules, knowledge of and use of school complex resources, organising group work and collaborative learning are some of the areas that merit such specific mentoring and focus during the beginning teacher phase’. What does it mean? A lay man like me does not understand a damn thing.

Teaching is a passion that comes off naturally in a good teacher. All the suggestions listed above, if implemented, would only render the profession ‘tailor-made’, something most ‘uncharacteristic’ for the job. In stead of ‘brain storming’ sessions, a ‘heart touching’ counselling would be of great benefits.

School environment and culture that is conducive to quality education makes for good learning, says the report. ‘Schools should be aesthetically pleasing, inviting and inspiring places to be for students and teachers’. That of course is a wishful thinking and nothing more.

‘Professional progression via vertical mobility: In addition to moving across ranks, teachers will also be able to move into either educational administration or teacher education as part of their career progression.’ This should be good news to the aspiring young teachers.

‘Moving teacher education into the university system; the four year integrated B.Ed. programme’ is a recommendation that stipulates teacher education for all levels – Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary – that will take place within the university / higher education system as a stage specific, four-year integrated B.Ed. programme, combining content, pedagogy and practical training. 

‘Every B.Ed programme will be affiliated with 10-15 local schools where student – teacher internships would take place. Each student in a B.ED. programme will go through a period of  student teaching at one of these schools where she / he would be placed under a mentoring teacher.’ This may very well work out to the desired result if properly made use of by the trainees.

It appears that from the committee’s view that the whole problem lies in and would be fully resolved by altering / improving the teacher training methods. The draft speaks in detail about various changes to be brought into the B.Ed. programme and mentoring the teachers among other things.

The learned members may kindly ascertain from the well meaning parents and sociologists about what actually ails the system vis-a-vis the teaching community. It is not the professional incompetency as much as lack of commitment in teachers that is a major hurdle today. We have seen teachers doing great with a paltry sum of money as wages fully dedicated to teaching and guiding the students. In fact, teachers were once the symbols of tenacity, never giving up values for anything else.

New Education Policy has to devise plans and strategy to restore dedication and commitment in teachers and that alone would salvage the present crisis in the realm of education today. This should be the first and foremost ‘reform’ that should be strictly enforced. Everything else viz. change in B.ED. programme and such other things would only mean a ‘wasted opportunity’. Is it what the committee needs?

The next chapter talks about ‘Equitable and Inclusive Education.’ A welcome, healthy suggestion is found here – ‘certain regions of the country with large populations from Under Represented Groups should be declared Special Education Zones where all the above schemes and policies are implemented to the maximum through additional concerted efforts and funding from the Centre and the States’. The draft calls for policies and schemes should be specially targeted towards the girls in these URGs. It is really good. 

We can never overemphasise the need for a Special Zone concept particularly a region as a whole is lagging behind in matters of education and employment. This plan of a special zone with ‘concerted efforts’ of the governments would be a great boon indeed if a definite time frame is set and it is meticulously adhered to.

There is yet another good suggestion in this regard. ‘To address the under-representation of teachers from URG, alternate pathways for recruitment of high quality teachers from URGs will be developed.  Such efforts will include a “recruitment followed by training” model (instead of the typical “training followed by recruitment” model.  (as it is given in P6.1.3.b)

It is very simple. Normally, people undergo / complete a training course and then make attempts for recruitment. In the case of URGs, the report says that teachers from URG would be appointed first and they would undergo training later. It means that they need not have gone thro training. We do not know on what basis the recruitment of ‘teachers’ without training would be done.

The intention seems to be good. Unless a fool proof system is developed, the recommendation may not yield good results or may not even take off in many such regions. Except an outline on the subject, no concrete proposal has been given. It may have to go through many rounds of formal discussions before a system is put in place. Let us hope everything would be done to make the plan free from irregularities and malpractices.

P6.1.6 talks about ‘Financial support to individual students’. Scholarships, free breakfast and mid day meal are some of the recommendations. These ideas are already in practice in some / most of the states.

P6.1.7.a says that Provision for financial assistance for initiatives related to inclusion and access will be made to districts. It adds – ‘district wise financing will be accompanied with autonomy to the districts to spend funds on aspects identified by the respective district stakeholders and based on their specific needs’.

To decentralise the process of financial assistance particularly in matters of education related scholarship is a great step forward.

A poor student living in a remote village far away from the ‘Capital’ would henceforth have a ‘helping hand’ of the Government closer to his place. The local / district administration is the best suited government agency to correctly identify the deserving candidates for scholarship. And hence this suggestion holds so much of promise for the future.

‘All schools will develop credible mechanisms to ensure that they remain free of discrimination, harassment and intimidation especially women and girls.’ A much needed one has at last ‘reached’ the Policy and so we can hope for many good things happening in the field of Girls / women’ education and empowerment.

The draft has adequately dealt with the issue of ‘Education of children belonging to Scheduled Caste communities’(6.3), ‘Tribal communities’(6.4), ‘minority communities’(6.4) ‘ strengthening of madrasas, maktabs and other  traditional and religious  schools and modernising their curriculum’(6.5.2) and ‘education of children with special needs’. (6.8.2)

The new policy has done a great deal of justice by addressing every section of the society exclusively. A commendable job indeed.

(to continue…

Baskarankrishnamurthy

[email protected]