Education minister terms current education system ‘burdensome’ as foundational learning gets an overhaul

Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launches the 'Jaadui Pitara'

On February 20, Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan launched the play and activity-based learning programme called Jaadui Pitara. Keeping the essence of multilingualism, a key focus of India's National Education Policy, alive, the programme is available in 13 languages for children aged 3-8.

Terming it a ‘transformation in education,' the Minister called the current education system "burdensome." Stressing the need for its overhaul, he continued, "It is unfortunate when you hear cases of suicide in colleges. The reason for the same is deep-rooted. Our current education system burdens the students in a way that they fear it. We have to remove that fear from their hearts."

Working on the mandate of no textbook for children in the age group of 3-8 years, Jaadui Pitara has been developed to enable Teachers to impart play-based learning. This new scheme involves toys, games, puzzles, puppets, stories, poems, playbooks, etc., for children, and handbooks for teachers and trainers.

This is in contrast to current learning methods, where private education providers having been providing education to children above the age of three per their own ideas and means.

Speaking at an event in Delhi, Pradhan said, "Earlier, books used to be available in three languages —Hindi, English and Urdu. Now, we have released them in 10 additional languages.

"The 2011 census shows that our country has over 100 regional languages. Translation is not a difficult task now. Translating them into regional languages will mean more students understand our study material, and are encouraged to enroll in schools," said the Minister.

Pradhan further added, "We do not have anything against English. If a student wants to study their courses in English, we do not have an issue with it. But they should have the option to study in their mother tongue. Three-year-olds will understand their mother tongue best. As a national think-tank, NCERT must leverage technology to translate the material in the Jaadui Pitara into all Indian languages and endeavor to expand its reach."

"Playschools have been commercialized and there’s no standardized curriculum or study material. With this, we have now standardized classes and the teaching," said Pradhan.

While there is no mandate for private schools to be a part of this, the ministry aims to provide private educators with a model to adopt from. “They can use this as it is or make creative derivations from it. I am sure many innovative adaptations will be created in each district, in each state,” said Pradhan.

"Jaadui pitara (boxes) will be sent to all schools via the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT). These will be sent to all states, and orientation programmes for the same will also be conducted. Also, this will not remain the same for the next 20 years. NCERT will keep working to bring out better models regularly to keep up with the demands of modern education," explained Pradhan.

As part of a pilot progamme, a total of 50 such boxes will be distributed to central government schools this year.

The ministry plans to send out these boxes to over 12,000 central schools in the next academic year. Pradhan has also requested CBSE schools to include this in their curriculum.

While the curriculum for play school to kindergarten was released today, books for classes I and II are expected to be launched by the end of this month. NCERT will update the curriculum for classes above that gradually over the years.

The ministry is also working on launching a 24x7 educational TV channel. The channel will feature study material for each class at different hours of the day.

The Department of School Education & Literacy under the Ministry of Education has constituted a National Steering Committee headed by Prof K Kasturirangan to develop the National Curriculum Framework for the following stages: Foundational, Preparatory, Middle, and Secondary.

As articulated in NEP 2020, the NCF is using ‘play,’ at the core of the conceptual, operational, and transactional approaches to curriculum organisation, pedagogy, time and content organisation, and the overall experience of the child. It will deal with the role of teachers as well as parents and communities in enabling and enhancing the developmental outcomes that are sought during these stages.

The National Education Policy was announced on July 29, 2020, and proposed various reforms in school as well as higher education, including technical education. It envisions the transformation of India into a global knowledge superpower through broad-based, flexible, multidisciplinary education, and promotion of critical thinking rather than rote learning.