INVITING QUESTIONS FROM CITIZENS FOR SHIKSHAK PARV 2021 WEBINARS

Introduction

The Shikshak Parv is being organized from 5th to 19th September 2021 on the theme "Quality and sustainable schools-learnings from schools in India". During the Parv 9 webinars will be held from 10.00AM onwards on the following sub themes:

Schedule of Webinars

Process

1. Click on Submit Question to register your question under the above-mentioned themes.
2. Questions are invited from students, teachers, teacher educators, parents and community members as well.
3. At the end of each webinar session, the Chairperson of the session will conduct a question answer (Q&A) with the speakers/panelists.
4. Selected Questions shall be consolidated and asked by the Chairperson of the concerned webinar.
5. You can watch the response to your questions through live streaming of the webinar, the link of which shall be updated on this page prior to the start of webinar.
6. You can read more about the 9 identified sub-themes in the brief provided.

Shikshak Parv 2021 Theme

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) was released on 29th July 2020 and envisions providing quality education and equitable access in a sustainable manner to all learners. During the last one year, schools have adopted many innovative practices to ensure continuity of education at all levels and to all learners in the prevailing COVID 2019 pandemic. To widely disseminate the learnings of the schools pertaining to quality, inclusive practices and sustainability, the theme of this year’s Shikshak Parv has been chosen as “Quality and sustainable schools-learnings from schools in India”.  For encompassing all facets, the theme has been further segregated into nine sub-themes as listed below. Beginning 08th September, it is proposed to hold webinars of ninety (90) minutes duration on each of the sub-themes. The policy makers, administrators, academicians, experts. school principals, head-teachers and teachers will be invited to share their experience, learnings and provide a way forward to realize the  aspirations of NEP-2020.

Sub-themes for Webinars

1. Technology in Education: NDEAR

The NEP 2020 stresses that new circumstances and realities require new initiatives. The recent rise in epidemics and pandemics necessitates that we are ready with alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not possible. In this regard, the NEP 2020 recognizes the importance of leveraging the advantages of technology while acknowledging its potential risks and dangers. It calls for carefully designed and appropriately scaled pilot studies to determine how the benefits of online/digital education can be reaped while addressing or mitigating the downsides. (Para 24.1, NEP) National Digital Education Architecture is being envisioned to be a digital infrastructure for Education that will help not only the government at Centre, State and UTs but the entire education ecosystem including private sector, non-profit and technology players to enhance the quality of education in the country through innovation and experimentation. It is part of Govt of India's Digital India initiative and it endeavors to make lives simpler for students, parents, teachers and administrators.

2. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy: A Pre-requisite to Learning and ECCE

The ability to read and write, and perform basic operations with numbers, is a necessary foundation and an indispensable prerequisite for all future schooling and lifelong learning. Accordingly NEP 2020 accords highest priority to achieving Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by all students by Grade 3. It stresses on the need to develop a robust system of continuous formative/adaptive assessment to track each student's learning. The early grade curriculum will be redesigned to have a renewed emphasis and teachers to be trained, encouraged, and supported to impart foundational literacy and numeracy (Para 2 of NEP). The webinar on this sub theme will focus on initiatives to improve Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

3. Culture of Innovation in our Schools

The world is undergoing rapid changes in the knowledge landscape. With various dramatic scientific and technological advances, such as the rise of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, many unskilled jobs worldwide may be taken over by machines. Education thus, must move towards less content, and more towards learning about how to be creative and how to innovate. There is an urgent need to create a culture of innovations in the schools and make education more experiential, holistic, integrated, inquiry-driven, discovery-oriented, learner-centred, discussion-based, flexible, and, of course, enjoyable (NEP-2020, Introduction).

4. Nurturing Inclusive Classrooms

Sustainable Development Goal 4.0 obliges India to "ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all" by 2030. In tune with SDG goal, NEP-2020 provides renewed impetus to inclusive and equitable education (Para 6 of NEP). It refocuses the need to provide children with disabilities, and those belonging to disadvantaged groups and weaker sections the same opportunities of obtaining quality education as any other child. NEP-2020 is also in full sync with RPwD Act 2016 which mandates that students with and without disability learn together and the system of teaching and learning is suitably adapted to meet the learning needs of students with disabilities. NEP-2020 mandates that by 2040 India should have an education system that is second to none, with equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners regardless of social or economic background. Many schools have already taken initiatives to promote inclusive classrooms. The webinar to be held on this theme will focus on inclusive practices so that initiatives can be taken by other schools.

5. Innovative Pedagogy to Promote Enjoyable and Engaging Learning

NEP 2020 mandates that the learning should be holistic, integrated, inclusive, enjoyable, and engaging. To minimize rote learning and to encourage holistic development and 21st century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, scientific temper, communication, collaboration, multilingualism, problem solving, ethics, social responsibility, and digital literacy, curriculum, textbooks, pedagogy and assessment shall be transformed by 2022. It stresses that in all stages, experiential learning will be adopted, including hands-on learning, arts-integrated and sports-integrated education, story-telling-based pedagogy, among others, as standard pedagogy within each subject, and with explorations of relations among different subjects. To close the gap in achievement of learning outcomes, classroom transactions will shift, towards competency-based learning and education. (Para 4, NEP-2020)

6. Promoting Quality and Sustainable Schools

A sustainable school adopts a "whole-school" approach; one that extends beyond the curriculum and addresses the entire planning, operation and management of the school facility. School sustainability policies can reinforce what is taught about sustainability in the classroom, improve the school's own carbon footprint and strengthen public relations with the surrounding community. A sustainable school prepares young people for a lifetime of sustainable living through its teaching and day-to-day practices. In conformity with the concept of sustainable school, Para 4.23 of the NEP lays stress on creating environmental awareness on water and resource conservation, sanitation and hygiene. With climate change, there will be a sizeable shift in how we meet the world's energy, water, food, and sanitation needs, again resulting in the need for new skills. The initiatives taken by the schools to promote quality and sustainable practices will be deliberated during the webinar.

7. Transforming the System of Assessment- Holistic Progress Card

Para 4.35 of NEP recommends that the progress card of all students for school-based assessment, which is communicated by schools to parents, need to be completely redesigned. The progress card will be a holistic, 360-degree, multidimensional report that reflects in great detail the progress as well as the uniqueness of each learner in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. It will include self-assessment and peer assessment, and progress of the child in project-based and inquiry-based learning, quizzes, role plays, group work, portfolios, etc., along with teacher assessment. The holistic progress card will form an important link between home and school and will be accompanied by parent-teacher meetings in order to actively involve parents in their children's holistic education and development. The experiences of schools in designing innovative assessment, including those during prevailing COVID-2019 can be shared during deliberations on this sub-theme.

8. Stimulating Indian Knowledge Systems, Arts and Culture

India is a treasure trove of knowledge developed over thousands of years and manifested in the form of arts, literature and culture. The curriculum must include these components to make education more, useful, and fulfilling to the learner. Para 22.2 of NEP 2020 states that the promotion of Indian arts and culture is important not only for the nation but also for the individual. Cultural awareness and expression are among the major competencies considered important to develop in children, to provide them with a sense of identity, belonging, as well as an appreciation of other cultures and identities. The initiatives being taken by schools to promote arts and culture and the steps required to make these components integrated with the curriculum will be included in the webinar.

9. Reimagining Vocational Educational and Skill-building

The NEP 2020 aims to overcome the social status hierarchy associated with vocational education and requires integration of vocational education programmes into mainstream education in all education institutions in a phased manner. Beginning with vocational exposure at early ages in middle and secondary school, quality vocational education will be integrated smoothly into higher education. It will ensure that every child learns at least one vocation and is exposed to several more. This would lead to emphasizing on skill building, dignity of labour and importance of various vocations involving /Indian arts and artisanship (Para 16.4, NEP 2020)

Participation Guidelines

• All Citizens specially students, teachers, teacher educators, parents and community members may participate in this exercise
• Participants are required to register themselves on the platform by filling a simple registration form
• Questions must be relevant to the sub-theme of the webinar
• A participant can submit one question per sub-theme
• Selected Questions shall be consolidated and asked by the Chairperson of the concerned webinar

Important Dates:

Start Date – 23rd August 2021

End Date – 5th September 2021