Now, syllabus for 3 yr olds in govt schools – what an idea Modi ji!

Many parents across India have been sending their tiny tots to schools from the age of two-and-a-half years by paying heavy fees that runs up to Rs one lakh a year for each student. What once used to be a metro city affair has now spread to even tier-IV towns. Be it nursery or pre-primary, now children are attending their classes, extra classes and other activities. While higher education has become a big business for several politicians, the mushrooming nurseries turned out to be money spinners for another class. So much so, some classes have emerged as brands with franchisee chains.

I have built this backdrop to share a piece of news that you may have missed in the flood of developments related to the monsoon havoc, Manipur, Opposition and the BJP throwing charges against each other, debates on Nehru and so on so forth. This news that I am going to share now is hidden on none other than the Prime Minister’s speech. For a change, ladies and gentlemen, the PM did not resort to any comparison of education during the pre-2014 era to his rule.

Now coming to the brass tacks, it’s official now. Education will begin at the age of 3 bringing uniformity in the entire country, for the CBSE schools, said PM Modi. The Cabinet has approved the introduction of the National Research Foundation Bill in the Parliament. The National Curriculum Framework under the NEP will come soon. The framework for 3-8 years old students is ready. The entire country will have a uniform syllabus and NCERT is preparing new course books for this.

The occasion for this epoch-making announcement was the Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi on the last Saturday. The event coincided with the 3rd anniversary of National Education Policy 2020.

The Prime Minister explained that new books of about 130 various subjects are coming up for classes 3 to 12 in 22 different languages as a result of education being imparted in regional languages. Yes, 22 languages!

PM Modi admitted that we would be doing the biggest injustice to any students by judging them based on their language instead of their capabilities. “Education in the mother tongue is initiating a new form of justice for the students in India. It is also a very significant step towards social justice”, the Prime Minister remarked.

Noting the multitude of languages in the world and their importance, the Prime Minister underlined that many developed nations of the world have got the edge owing to their local language. Giving the example of Europe, the Prime Minister said that most countries make use of their own native languages. He lamented that even though India has an array of established languages, they were presented as a sign of backwardness, and those who could not speak English were neglected and their talents were not recognised. As a result, the Prime Minister said, the children of the rural areas remained most affected. He emphasized that the country has now begun to shun this belief with the advent of the National Educational Policy.

“Even at the UN, I speak in Indian language”, Modi said. Here, of course, he seems to have missed the key point that it was Atal Behari Vajpayee to first spoke in Hindi at the UN. Modi hasn’t given credit to Dr Manmohan Singh either for the evolution of the education bill which ensured the much-needed and neglected Right to Education. With this, students enjoy the right to get admissions in schools within their residential localities.

The Prime Minister discussed that subjects ranging from social science to engineering will now be taught in Indian languages. Modi takes pride in discussing the importance of the environment on global platforms but when it comes to walk the talk, his government’s record is dismal. Hence, I thought it appropriate to write to him again that he must also focus on making environment a compulsory subject from KG to PG.

Language and river waters have been the bones of contention in Indian politics and Modi was right to say that those who try to politicize language for their own selfish interests will now have to shut their shops. “National Educational Policy will give due respect and credit to every language in the country”, he said. Brilliant! Modi must make sure the BJP at least does not weaponise for divide-and-rule politics.

The idea of schools that break away from the British legacy has been on the government’s agenda for long. Dr Manmohan initiated Model Schools in 2007. About 6,000 schools were run on a 90:10 central-state funding but Smriti Irani, the HRD Minister in 2015, wound them up, as per a report in The Indian Express.

A round up carried by Congress Sandesh blog summed up the party’s “visionary education policy” by stating that its government has many achievements starting from the setting up of the UGC way back in 1956. The Congress government also started the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) which is an examination conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of school education in India, for class 10, i.e., grade 10. It has been designed to provide an examination in a course of general education, in accordance with the recommendations of the New Education Policy 1986 (India), through the medium of English. It was affiliated to French Board of Examination before 1986, the Congress Sandesh tells us.

Under the Modi government’s NEP, we have the PM Shri scheme. “Our education system has a huge role in achieving the goals with which 21st century India is moving”, he said. Emphasizing the importance of the Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam, the Prime Minister said that discussion and dialogue are important for education.

Consider this in the backdrop of what UNESCO says about the education in India which has made “great strides in improving access to quality education, increasing elementary school enrolment and reducing the number of out-of-school children”.

These achievements have been bolstered by key laws, policies and programmes such as the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act (2009), the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy (2013). However, challenges do remain, says UNESCO.

Out of 100 students, 29 per cent of girls and boys drop out of school before completing the full cycle of elementary education, and often they are the most marginalised children. (Source: SRI-IMRB Surveys, 2009 and 2014)

Around 50 per cent of adolescents do not complete secondary education, while approximately 20 million children not attending pre-school. (Source Rapid Survey of Children 2013-2014 MWCD)

Half of primary school-going children – which constitutes nearly 50 million children – not chieving grade appropriate learning levels. (Source: National Achievement Survey, NCERT 2017).

There are many other information sources that confirm these challenges which have to be addressed by the government.

The Prime Minister said that we have to create an energetic new generation in the next 25 years of Amrit Kaal and that the “NEP will play a big role in this”. Laudable. But the ground reality is that many district and rural schools lack basic amenities and they starve for funds. Come to think of it, a government-run primary school teacher is still ill-paid and in many cases the salaries are delayed forcing them to take to the streets. Half of the pre-primary school teachers do not even have contracts and their salaries are irregular, as per a UNESCO report.

Political parties, irrespective of the colour of their flags, seem to have concentrated on funding themselves rather than raising adequate resources for the essential service called education. Then the PM says it is important to have a discussion and dialogue on education. Let us hope this process starts soon and education becomes an election issue with the politicians, with a true competitive spirit, work on bettering the system rather than exploiting it. Let us make this happen as we near the 2024 general elections.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)