The current situation of education throughout the world is analogous; the education industry is experiencing a revolution and technology is playing a vital role.

Indian education has always maintained a unique yet elegant form. Be it gurukuls in medieval India or schools in the modern one, Indian education has covered almost every sphere of knowledge like nature, technology, weapons, agriculture etc. Our motherland has given birth to many pioneers such as Aryabhata, Swami Vivekanand etc. who have gained recognition throughout the world just because of Indian education.

Educational Stage of India from last year

So, we have already discussed how great Indian education is, in the above paragraph. But that was all about ancient and medieval times. What about today? We all know that a global Pandemic: Corona is running which has adversely affected the educational system of India. So how has the education landscape changed? In this blog, we will be discussing the changes associated with our educational system from last year, factors related to it along its effect on students and teachers.

Due to corona, a massive lockdown was imposed throughout the country in the year 2020. All the places with crowds like schools, offices, markets etc. were shut down for an indefinite period and their work was shifted to online mode from offline one. Due to this sudden shut, students, as well as teachers, got confused as no one thought of such a disaster before. The entire classroom was shifted to wired platforms and mid, final exams were also a part of this classroom. 

NEP (National educational policy) 2020 was announced to implement higher-order skills like creativity, problem-solving, SWOT analysis etc. Karnataka became the first state to implement this policy for the academic session 2021-22. The points that are covered in this policy are: 

• The 5+3+3+4 structure will replace the existing 10+2 format which corresponds to the age group of 3-8,8-11,11-14,14-18. It means that a 3 yr pre-schooling is compulsory before entering into the actual school.
• Proper use of technology and sources equipped classrooms with the help of NEAT (National Educational Alliance for Technology).
• Regular inspection of the education system will be done by PAREKH (Performance Assessment, Review and analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development).
• Use of mother tongue till class 8th as a medium of instruction so that students can easily stick to concepts.
• The most important and historic change is that Science, commerce and arts will no longer remain separated. It implies that students will be able to choose the subject combination of their choice and vocational courses will start straight away after class 6th. Internships that are mostly restricted to college students only, will also start for school students so that they can learn what they see.
• Technical literacy for teachers is mandated to teach students with the help of smart technologies like digital boards and for that their regular training will take place according to NEP 2020.

Apart from all this, other changes include: 

1. Common entrance exam for all universities of a particular course
2. Single authority for higher education institutes
3. Degree courses will support multiple exits and entry options.

However, this policy is not implemented up till now because of the ongoing pandemic but the responsible authorities claim that the first phase of the same will be put into action by the first half of the year 2022.

Apart from this, the year 2020 saw a very important change and it is all about the exams. Many schools and colleges conducted exams in online mode and some of them even promoted their students. No-no those students were not from primary classes, they belonged to senior classes as well. College and university students were not exempted from this promotion process and due to this promotion, almost every student got good grades and passed the class or semester with flying colours.

The most surprising incident that took place this year was the cancellation of board exams for class 10th and class 12th. For the first time in the history of board examinations, no merit list was announced and the passing percentage was 99.37% for the class XII examination.

Other things include postponement of competitive exams like NEET for medical, IIT-JEE for engineering and UPSC for civil services and because of all these many problems took over like delay in admission processes, late semesters etc. Students who wanted to study abroad had to face several issues like delays in visas, a ban on international flights etc.

Key Takeaways

We all are confined to the four walls of our homes because of this epidemic. We agree that education is facing various challenges as of last one year but we have to lift it again at any cost because the future of the country depends entirely on today’s education. Students, instead of wasting their time on useless things should focus on polishing existing and learning new skills. Such skills are in great demand in future as only these skills can replicate the loss students faced in the year 2020.

Also published on Medium.