Our Correspondent
Kohima | July 14
Nagaland Chief Secretary, J Alam today said that the four stage design of Foundational, Preparatory, Middle and Secondary in school education is critical for realizing the vision of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The NEP has been designed in a manner that it allows thorough discussions and consultative meetings with the stakeholders. It also emphasizes on inclusion of the local flavour, values, socio-economic backgrounds and the best practices of any state or Union Territories in the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), said Alam while speaking at the “State Level Seminar on Development of Nagaland State Curriculum Framework” in Kohima organized by SCERT, Nagaland at Capital Convention Centre.
He said the NCF is a plan made by the government of a state or a country for the students’ better education and to fulfil the requirements of the students and the nation.
The plan has only two aims to follow-one is to aim for the needs of the students and the teachers, and other for the development and the benefit of the country or the state, he said.
Stating that teacher education is vital in creating a pool of teachers that will shape the next generation, he said “Teacher preparation is an activity that requires multi disciplinary perspectives and knowledge, formation of dispositions and values and development of practice under the best mentors. As teacher education requires multi disciplinary inputs, and education with high quality content as well as pedagogy, all teacher education programmes must be conducted within multi disciplinary institutions.” He said that the development of NCF/State Curriculum Framework (SCF) is a bottom-top approach which is a comprehensive framework to guide the development of education in the country which regulates and promotes education.
Maintaining that the 25 position papers developed by the Focus Groups are critical for the development of the National Curriculum Framework, he said “it is with great sincerity and effort that Nagaland state has completed the task of developing the various position papers for the development of the State Curriculum Framework.
The SCF in the draft form will serve as implementation guidelines for transforming the entire early childhood education and school education, teacher education and adult education in the state, he said.
‘NEP- a big step in making our state a knowledge economy’
Nagaland SCERT Director, N Chumchanbeni Kikon said that the new education policy is a big step in the direction of achieving the resolve of making our country, our state, a knowledge economy.
“This is our collective responsibility that NEP 2020 is implemented effectively,” she said in her keynote address and hoped that today’s will generate a lot of healthy interactions on issues related to the SCF drafted by various state focus groups and will pave the way for the fulfilment of new hopes and aspirations in education.
She said that NEP 2020 is a national commitment to the people of India. The Policy was framed while recognizing the need for a skilled workforce and the need for new skilled labor in the quickly changing employment landscape and global ecosystem.
This policy aims to make education more experiential, holistic, integrated, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based, flexible and enjoyable, she said.
The NEP 2020 envisages that the Indian education curriculum include basic arts, crafts, humanities, games, sports and fitness, languages, literature, culture, and values, in addition to science and mathematics so as to develop all aspects and capabilities of learners, she added. She recalled that Government of India announced NEP 2020 as approved by the Union Cabinet of India on July 29, 2020.
The purpose of the Policy is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values.
The Policy aims at producing engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society.
“The policy envisions an education system rooted in Indian ethos that contributes directly to transforming into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, and thereby making India a global knowledge superpower. The vision of the Policy is to instill among the learners a deep rooted pride in being Indian, not only in thought, but also in spirit, intellect, and deeds, as well as to develop knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions that support responsible commitment to human rights, sustainable development and living, and global well- being, thereby reflecting à truly global citizen,” Kikon said.
Development of state curriculum framework for teacher education
Dr Zavise Rume, Professor SCERT Nagaland said that ensuring an adequate supply of professionally competent teachers to run the schools in Nagaland has been the goal of the state.
“Nevertheless, the training of both in-service and pre-service teachers remains a major area of concern. Pre-service training needs to be improved and differently regulated in both public and private institutions, while systems for in-service training require expansion and major reforms that allow for greater flexibility,” he said.
While the NEP 2020 speaks of teacher educators as teachers of higher education, there is a need for specialisation, according to the specific qualifications that will be evolved. There is also a need for continuing professional development of teacher educators.
The State Government may consider for granting study leave to teacher educators so as to prepare them to meet the academic requirements of the 4- year B’Ed integrated Programme as well as M’Ed programme.
“It is not that trained teachers are incompetent to teach, so they need to be continually oriented or trained, but it is the professionalism that is rapidly growing in teaching profession. Therefore, there is a need for teachers to be trained continuously to update them so as to enable them to catch them up with the fast growing professionalism in teaching,” Dr. Rume said.
He also put forward recommendations for the state in order to move towards the goals of the NEP 2020.
The D.El.Ed. programme should continue till enough multidisciplinary institutions are set up in Nagaland and till NEP 2020 goals are met.
DIETs/EBRCs should provide support to the community – e.g. through advocacy and awareness programmes especially new developments in education.
The existing 2-year B.Ed. programmes can exist side by side for those who have already obtained Bachelor’s Degrees in other specialized subjects. But a new curriculum should be framed for both the 2-year and the 1-year B.Ed. programme as indicated in NEP 2020.
All DIETs should be upgraded to offer 2-year B.Ed.programme as Teacher Education colleges are limited in the state.
The curriculum must be reviewed on the basis of analysis of student learning outcomes and ongoing processes like broad-based consultations with teachers and classroom observations.
The Central University of Nagaland and autonomous Universities in Nagaland should offer the model four-year integrated B. Ed. programme within the next 5 years.
A study on Demand and supply of teachers and teacher educators should be conducted to assess vacancies in schools, particularly with respect to subject teachers (e.g. Science, Mathematics, Language).
Based on such study, planning should be done to determine the projected demand for teachers (e.g. next 10 years) and to ensure programmes to prepare these teachers are available in the State. Vacancies in Teacher Education Institutes should also be filled at the earliest to meet the shortage of teaching faculty.
Programmes to prepare vocational teachers (e.g. agriculture, security, beauty culture, travel and tourism, etc.), physical education, arts, music, dance, ICT, etc. should be developed. Teacher educators should be given opportunities to be qualified to teach these subjects – this can be done over a period of 10 years.
Implementation of shorter programmes, for promoting local professions, knowledge, and skills like local art, music, agriculture, business, sports, carpentry, and other vocational crafts, should take place at SCERT, DIETs and EBRCs. BITES should be made functional in the state to disseminate such programmes at the block level.
Cadre of teacher educators needs to be reviewed, particularly in alignment with the restructuring of school stages as envisaged in the NEP 2020.
Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) should be conducted twice a year and TET or NTA (National Testing Agency) test scores in the corresponding subjects should be taken into account for recruitment of teachers.
Development of state curriculum framework for adult education
James Sema, senior lecturer, DIET Dimapur said that adult education existed before the advent of Christian missionaries in Nagaland.
Traditional education or “Morung” system was the main means of education before formal education started by the Christian missionaries.
In Morung system of education, young men and women were taught and trained separately from 15 years till they reach marriageable age. Young men were taught war tactics, house construction, wood and stone carvings, handicrafts, moral and social values, indigenous games and sports, folk songs and dances etc, he said.
James said that young women were taught discipline, moral integrity, social values, weaving, cooking, songs and dance.
Establishment of formal education can be dated back to the year 1878 at Molongyimsen started by Dr Edward Winter Clark, an American Baptist Missionary.
Highlighting present status of Adult Education, he said, until modern times, literacy was very low despite several attempts made by the government to educate the mass.
Actual implementation of Adult Education was started in 1979 which was reviewed and renamed as Adult Education Programme (AEP) in 1980.
A new version of National Literacy Mission (NLM) was launched on 8th September 2009 named as “Saakshar Bharat” to establish a fully literate society through improved quality and standards of Adult Education and Literacy.
In Nagaland, “Saakshar Bharat” became operational on 8th Sept. 2011 under the aegis of School Education Department and is operating in four districts namely Mon, Tuensang, Longleng and Kiphire where the adult female literacy rate is below 50% as per 2001 census.
Objective of the programme is to impart functional literacy, basic education, vocational skill development and continuing education programme.
He stated that problems currently faced in the area of Adult Education that must be addressed in the new NCF.
He viewed that in local context in adult education curriculum, Nagas value like hard working, honesty, respect for elders and parents, simplicity, moral ethics should be taught.
Other areas includes; cultural music, songs, dance, games and sports, preservation and preparation of indigenous food, rights and duties of a citizen, human rights, voting rights and role in election, Jhum cultivation and its effects, encourage organic farming, Awareness on sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS and vocational education and skills for self-sufficiency.
Veketulu Veyie, senior lecturer and Razouvolie Peter Phewhuo, SAO, SCERT also talked on “Curriculum framework for school education” and “Issues & challenges, future course of action” respectively.
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