Ms Anshu Mittal is well-known in the education fraternity for being an inspiring leader and an innovative educator. Ms. Anshu has a B.Ed. and an M.A. in English Literature and her rich experience of over 25 years includes teaching students, training teachers CBSE workshops, as well as managing school administration.
The Indian education system is currently exploring a variety of tried and tested methods, as schools and educational institutions continue to experiment their classroom sessions in the online learning mode. The schools have been shut physically for over a period of almost 15 months, relying on technology for disseminating education. Could anyone have imagined this, Pre Covid? This is close to a complete academic session, wherein students have learned, been evaluated, and also promoted to a higher standard; transforming our teaching and learning.
Parents have always perceived schools as more than just a learning institution; the sheer diligence and attention that go into selecting the ideal enriching and growth environment for their young wards are indicative of their dependence and trust in the school and its faculty members. With more and more nuclear families where both parents are working professionals and rely on schools for the social, ethical, and all-around development of their child and a disciplined demeanor. To secure admission in the best schools, the new-age parents continue to explore and research exhaustively for the final selection of school environment for their young ones for early years education.
School Searches in the COVID era
These school-searching sessions now have received a huge blow due to the limitations of physical meetings. Parents stand at crossroads as the young ones are being subjected to face screens from a very young age. They also cannot let go of their early years without any peer-to-peer interaction. In these formative years, the child’s brain development about basic life skills also begins to take shape. The more exposure, the better the scale of development is.
This changing dynamic of limited physical meetings and interactions among teachers, children, and parents has made some parents consider homeschooling and self-based learning as alternate options. Heutagogy as an educational practice has started gaining acceptance due to the flexibility and ease offered. Here, learning is not linear and planned, but depends upon the situations and experiences. Now, this practice has the potential to come across as fluid to many Indian parents and might not prove well for the students who have been accustomed to a directional course of evolution and learning. This makes the need for revision of the admission process extremely crucial as we aim to make our students globally competent and yet equipped with a strong sense of their own heritage and culture.
New Education Policy
There is one very important fact that there is ‘no one size fits all in any classroom. Each student takes away different learnings from the same classroom transaction by the facilitator. NEP comes with a vision of a learner-centric education system and curriculum structure. It prepares the facilitators to be well-equipped with new tools and best practices that are more than just simple discourse but are based on one-on-one immersive and experiential learning. We can lead by example to avoid the rote learning methodology prevalent till now and enable learners with a curriculum that promotes inquisitiveness, zeal to learn, problem-solving and out-of-the-box thinking.
With increased dependence on digital tools and increased exposure, our admission process is inevitably revised too. With digitalization hitting all the domains, the admission process can now be switched to digital formats keeping in mind the safety norms of the pandemic. As things stand, the admission criteria and the point system need to be designed carefully to provide equal opportunities to all the applicants seeking admission in this era of remote learning.
Emphasis on moving online with equity in mind would reduce the applicant’s anxiety. It is time we drop our limitations and inhibitions related to learning and proceed towards the new academic year with an openness of thoughts and concise.