New Delhi: The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the Conclave on “School Education in 21st Century” under the NEP 2020 today through video conference.
Speaking on the occasion Prime Minister said that National Education Policy is going to give a new direction to 21st century India and we are becoming part of a moment that is laying the foundation for building the future of our country. He said that hardly any aspect of our life remained the same in these three decades yet our education system is still running under the old system.
The new National Education Policy is a means to fulfilling new aspirations, new opportunities of a new India, he said.
The Prime Minister said that the NEP 2020 is a result of hardwork of people from every region, every sector and every language in the last 3 to 4 years. He said the actual work begins now, in implementation of the policy.
He urged the teachers to work together for an effective implementation of the National Education Policy.
The Prime Minister said it is legitimate that many questions arise after the announcement of the Policy and that it is necessary to discuss such issues in this conclave to move forward.
The Prime Minister expressed happiness that principals and teachers are enthusiastically participating in this discussion to implement the National Education Policy. He said that over 1.5 million suggestions have been received within a week from teachers across the country on implementing the National Education Policy.
The Prime Minister said that energetic youth are the engines of development of a country but that their development should begin from their childhood. He said that the education of children, the right environment they get, to a large extent determines what the person would become in his future and what his personality would be. He said the NEP-2020 lays a lot of emphasis on this.
The Prime Minister said that it is in preschool where children begin to understand their senses, their skills better. For this, there is a need for schools and teachers to provide an environment of fun learning, playful learning, activity based learning and discovery based learning to children. He said that as the child progresses, it is very necessary to develop a greater learning spirit, scientific and logical thinking, mathematical thinking and scientific temperament.
In the National Education Policy, The Prime Minister stressed the importance of replacing the old 10 Plus 2 with the system of 5 Plus 3 Plus 3 Plus 4. He said now playful education of the pre-school which is limited to private schools in cities will also reach villages once this policy is implemented.
He emphasized that focus on basic education is the most important aspect of this policy. Under the National Education Policy, the development of foundational literacy and numeracy will be taken as a national mission. The child should go ahead and read to learn, for that it is necessary that in the beginning he should learn to read. This development journey from learn to read to read to learn will be completed through foundational literacy and numeracy.
The Prime Minister said that it must be ensured that every child who crosses the third grade can easily read 30 to 35 words in a minute. He added that this will help him in understanding the content of other subjects with ease. He further said that all this will happen only when the studies are connected to the real world, to our lives and to the surrounding environment.
He added that when education is linked to the surrounding environment, it has an impact on the whole life of the student and also on the whole society. He also mentioned about the initiative when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Students from all schools were given the task to identify the oldest tree in the village, and then, write an essay based on that tree and their village. He said that this experiment was very successful, on one hand the children got information about the environment, as well as they got a chance to get a lot of information about their village.
The Prime Minister stressed on the need to increase such easy and innovative methods. These experiments should be the core of our new age learning – Engage, Explore, Experience, Express and Excel.
Also read in hindi: राष्ट्रीय शिक्षा नीति, 21वीं सदी के भारत को नई दिशा देने वाली है: PM Modi