“New Educational Policy Aims at Holistic Development of Children”-Dr Shakila T Shamsu

KOCHI:
‘The current education policy that we have is from the 20th Century. The new National Education Policy talks about improving the process of learning by changing the role of educators to that of facilitators’, said Dr Shakila T Shamsu, Secretary to the Committee to Draft National Education Policy. She was speaking at a webinar session hosted by the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) on the topic “Implementing NEP: Charting Kerala’s Educational Goals 2025” on January 7, 2021.

Commenting on the present educational system in contrast to the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, she said, “The new National Educational Policy would outline the holistic development of children through various areas of development, not just two fields of study that are considered lucrative.”

Dr D Dhanuraj, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Chief Executive of CPPR moderated the webinar. Both discussed the merits and demerits of the new Educational Policy and how the NEP won’t restructure the educational landscape completely but make necessary changes bespoke to a State’s requirement. The deliberations further discussed how the complex school structures would ensure that resources are shared and utilised optimally. The need for preparing teachers for adapting to new changes and the importance of providing them proper training was also discussed.

The webinar further threw light on other pressing issues in the educational landscape such as provisions for mental health care among students, financial assistance to school administrations and promoting holistic growth among students.