posted Mar 24, 2020, 4:13 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
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updated Mar 25, 2020, 7:33 AM
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College life can be overwhelming. Students are often moving away from home for the first time, trying to make sense of a new place and find their way into higher education. College is a big step up. And at first, it can seem like there’s so much to learn. Not only do student have to adapt to new living conditions, but also learning standards and specific requirements of new teachers. Piles of homework add to students’ confusion. Unable to deal with urgent assignments themselves, many students call on professional services rendered by PapersOwl.com, a tried and trusted custom essay writing company. We’ll bet you’re also struggling to manage your workload and dreaming of becoming a more efficient writer. Indeed, knowing how to effectively find, develop, and express ideas is a key to success in higher education. In our article, we’ll offer some strategies to improve your writing and research skills and thus boost your academic performance.
In the first class of many college courses, you’ll receive a syllabus, or a schedule of readings, activities, and assignments. This will help you budget your time and understand what you have to do. It’s especially important with writing assignments to get started on them as soon as possible. But how to get started? Once you’re sure you understand the assignment, here are some general steps to improve your writing.
# 1 Brainstorm
You may be given a topic or you may be given the freedom to choose. In either case, you must be clear what the assignment is asking you to do. Jot down everything you know about the topic. Think about what ideas interest you. Choose the strongest one. Then narrow your topic to a clear focus. Once you come up with a narrow and specific topic, you can proceed to do some general research. A good place to start looking for general information is on the library website.
# 2 Outline
Try to group related ideas into paragraphs. Think of what ideas, facts, arguments, and evidence should be mentioned in your outline. Done? Now you have a clear idea of what your paper is about.
# 3 Research
Now you’re ready to search for books, journal articles, and other publications. Once again you can rely on your college library. Go to the library page and type in your keywords. You’ll be provided on the list of publications that match your keywords or topic. Some will be books in the library. And you can check if they are available. Also, you can request a hard copy, if the source you need isn’t in the library. Other books are e-book which can be accessed anytime by simply clicking on them. You can save time by reading a journal article’s abstract or summary. Periodicals, such as magazines and newspapers also may come in handy in your research. Remember to save the sources of information or references that you collect. It will save you a lot of time later when you cite your sources in the text or your bibliography. Also, it will help you avoid plagiarism.
# 4 First Draft
You’re now ready to pull it together. Looking back to your outline and the information you’ve collected, get your ideas down and see how it all fits together. You may decide to alter your outline or go back to do more research.
Still need help? Don’t worry. You’re not alone. If you’re not sure if your topic is on track, speak to your instructor. If you can’t find the necessary source, you can go to the library help desk. Still, if something goes wrong with your assignment, don’t hesitate to seek help from time-tested writing services. Don’t know which one to choose. The professional PapersOwl review will clear up your doubts and help you make the right choice.
# 5 Revision
Here is where you aim for greater clarity. Verify supporting ideas, evidence, examples, and expert research to strengthen your paper.
# 6 Editing and Proofreading
When your ideas are clear, it’s time to switch over to the technical side of writing. Edit and proofread. Look at your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Also, it’s a good idea to exchange papers with your friend and do peer editing. Examine every sentence. Read your paper aloud. Check for repetition and a variety of sentence styles. Editing well can be the difference between an average and a better grade.
Congratulations! You’ve done it. Improving your academic writing skills will help you through all your studies and beyond.
posted Feb 13, 2020, 4:10 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
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updated Feb 19, 2020, 5:47 AM
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Schools, colleges and universities play very crucial role in national building. They play the vital role in preparing our next generations and bring out professionals who are responsible to drive the nation and its economy in later stage of their lives. They breed new ideas, innovations in the minds of the students and also create awareness amongst the people to make them responsible citizens. A nation and its future depend on imbibing proper education to the young minds of its children and the educational institutions play a role to play in this noble direction. Ever since the educational system came into being, it has been very difficult to find its consistency. Through continuous research and up gradation, exposure and elevation in the field of education, new ideas and concepts came into being in the quest of the feasible manner of imparting education and studies. Innumerable reforms took place to form a sustainable development in the educational system leading to greater results to have a comprehensive approach to education. As a result of these investigations based on research and policies the semester system of education has been introduced in place of annual system. Both semester and the annual system have merits and demerits. SGPA to CGPA – is Semester End Grade Point Average into Cumulative Grade Point Average.
Educational institutions or universities have different systems of imparting education to the youths of the country. Mainly there are two systems working and adopted in the many universities, annual based system and semester based educational system. In the annual based system, examinations are conducted after one academic year while in the semester based system, examinations are conducted in every five or six months. And naturally there are plenty of differences in annual based system of education or semester based system of education. But our main focus is about advantages or disadvantages of semester system.
Advantages of semester system
In the semester system, the students have option to study subjects according to their choices as the syllabus given is flexible,
In the semester based system the children are allowed to take assignment which ultimately help them to broaden their knowledge other than the defined syllabus,
In the semester system education children are allowed to study different subjects,
In the semester based educational system the students are allowed to synchronies their undergraduate studies and post graduate studies,
Course contents are decided by the teaches but these are decided only by seeing and reviewing the interest of the children
The interaction between teachers and students increases and the teachers have more information about the students
In the semester based educational system credit hours are defined and the students are allowed to study according to the defined credit hours.
In the semester system students get more leaves and vacations as they get a semester break and after the final examination of every semester.
Disadvantages of semester system
Due to short time, teachers cannot complete or finish teaching the whole subject to the students.
In the semester based educational system the students have to complete the syllabus in a short period of time
Due to shorter format of semester based examination sometimes students do not get sufficient time to study extra and as a result they just do not have more than the basic knowledge of their subject of studies.
The student in the semester based educational system do not get enough opportunity to carry research work
As the scheduled time of the semester passes quickly the students do not have enough time to complete their course of studies and naturally they do not have complete knowledge about their subjects.
In the semester based educational system students do not get chance to re-evaluate their papers and therefore they have to be very cautious to manage and maintain their grade.
Now by and large the advantage and disadvantage are more or less same and it is very difficult for us to decide which system is good and it is up to the students to decide which system of education they want to follow. But the present trend of students’ choice goes in favour of the semester system over the annual system of education
posted Feb 13, 2020, 4:08 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
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updated Feb 19, 2020, 5:48 AM
]
A mentor might be the most important person in the life of a mentee. From everyday study discussion to some very important career decisions are taken mostly with the help of a mentor. This mentor does not necessarily needs to be your teacher, he might be a friend, a family member or anyone else who can help and teach you some valuable insights of life. The relationship between the mentor and the mentee should be an open one. Such that the mentee does not hesitates to ask anything and also the mentor should give a mature solution to the mentee’s problems. Getting a good LOR would also be easy. You can check for some LOR samples online.
It is said that lucky are those people who get their boss as their mentors. Finding a good mentor is not easy but maintaining a life-long relationship with him is even more difficult. Building a stable and strong relationship with mentor requires patience, focus and efforts, just like finding your dream job. After all, this is equally important. Finding a good mentor can change your life for good and you would be blessed to find one such person at every aspect of your life when you need to take a tough decision. Building a strong relationship with the mentor depends on several factors. Let us discuss them one by one below:
The goal of the mentee should be clear and focused:
The mentee should know that what is his objective or goal. Finding the mentor who would guide you towards your goal is very important. One should also keep in mind whether they can freely interact with the person or not. If the mentee can’t interact openly with the mentor, the relationship won’t build strong. The work of a mentor is that to guide the mentee and help him achieve his goal, this can be done only by a person who has similar interest and urge towards the goal. The field of interest should be same of the mentee and the mentor otherwise it won’t be as helpful for the mentee and interesting for the mentor. Hence, the very first and foremost step is to have a goal and find a mentor accordingly.
Know more to learn more:
Like every other relationship, the key to make this relationship strong is getting to know each other. The more you know about your mentor, the more you would be able to interact with him and interacting more is the keey to build a strong relationship. Learning about his past experiences and work life challenges would be helpful for you and also would open up the mentor towards you. He would see that you are interested in his life, want to know about his struggles and learn more from them. He would open up to you more, help and guide you with whole heart.
Regular check-ins are important:
There is no better way of interacting and building strong relationship other than meeting up. In this modern day technology can work and you can drop in a text or make a phone call whenever required but it is always better if you can plan and arrange a meet up. Physical presence and face to face meetings are never out of fashion when it comes to make strong relationships. This fact remains true for all.
Sound prepared:
The key to achieve the mentor’s trust is to show him that you really want to succeed. Nothing, other than a serious and active mentee, attracts a mentor. Be prepared with your topic of discussion for the day, do your homework and be eager to learn. People who are eager to learn about new things, interested about happenings around them and come prepared are the one’s who get the best out of their mentors. Set your objectives for the day ready. Make every session productive for you as well as your mentor. This will want your mentor to give you more time and help you more.
Saying thank you is important:
Always be thankful to your mentor for the precious time he is devoting to you. It should be always remembered that a note of thanks goes a long way and you might again need your mentor’s assistance. Let your mentor know how much you value his advice and look upon him.
posted Dec 30, 2019, 7:31 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
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updated Dec 30, 2019, 7:33 AM
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When you become an expat, or perhaps even before when you are just evaluating your options, one of your biggest concerns will be your child’s education. Of course, education and a school environment embrace far more than just the curriculum, it also includes being a safe environment and somewhere where your child will be able to make friends along with feeling happy and secure.
When you are looking for the best international schools in Bangkok, you will undoubtedly have many questions running through your mind as well as lots of things to consider. You want their learning to stand them in good stead for the future, maybe you want them to learn a new language, excel at sports, art or encourage their interest in science. These are all personal to you and your child, but they will play a role in your final decision.
Whatever school you choose, whether it is at home or abroad, it will play a significant role in shaping your child’s future. If you have chosen to become an expat, it can be unsettling for a child, especially those who are slightly older and have already developed their own circle of friends. You will want to be 100% certain that you have chosen the right school and one of the things that you must do is visit each school and meet the people working there and see the facilities.
Here are some of the various things that you need to consider when making the final choice.
1. From your child’s point of view
First and foremost, your child is the most important factor in any decision that you make. There are several questions that you should ask, such as wanting to know the average class sizes and what measures or procedures does the school have in place for making it easy for a child to settle in? You should also make some observations of your own, try to establish if children are happy there and do the school give you regular updates regarding your child’s progress?
Some children may have special needs, so can these needs be met by the school, do they have the proper provisions in place? Also, depending on your child’s age, do they provide the correct support in terms of finding the “right” university or other choices regarding their education?
2. The curriculum
Obviously, you want your child to be taught in their native tongue, in most cases, English. Furthermore, you will almost certainly want them to continue with the same curriculum that they have been studying, so is this offered by the school? Remember, children of all nationalities attended international schools, so does the curriculum on offer suit your needs?
Some other points that you should consider include:
Are the lessons challenging enough for your child?
Are lessons focused on the pupils or is there too much focus on textbook learning?
Are the subjects that your child is interested in or presently studying available?
What extracurricular activities are available?
How do students perform in regular tests such as SATS, GCSEs or A-Levels?
What is the school’s record with university admissions?
3. The teachers
Unfortunately, the standard of teaching in some international schools falls below that which you may experience in your home country. The top international schools in Bangkok employ only the best teachers, but this is not the case across the board. Again, you should make observations regarding the teachers to try to establish if they are friendly and approachable.
Some questions that you could ask, should you have concerns, include:
What is the minimal level of qualification that teachers have?
Do the teachers have the skills and knowledge to meet the expectations of children with special needs or, conversely, exceptional skills or ability?
Are the teachers up to date with current “best practices” and do they receive regular ongoing training?
4. The school itself
Although in many ways, some of the other factors will play a more significant role in your final decision, the school itself should be considered. Logistically, is it practical for where you live? Remember, Bangkok is a heavily congested city so travelling short distances can be time-consuming and do you want young children to be relying on the overcrowded BTS and MTR?
It is worth establishing how long the school has been open, does the building look dated and old. Also, are the facilities such as libraries and sports equipment well maintained? In addition:
Are the IT facilities in keeping with modern standards?
What is the security like at the school?
Is transport provided by the school for pupils?
5. Parent involvement
To a certain extent, schools that cater to expats have a stronger community spirit and parent involvement is not only encouraged; in many cases, it is expected. Most families embrace this role, but it should be stressed that some international schools do not promote involvement, and indeed, it is somewhat against their culture. If it is important to you, you should be prepared to ask some of the following questions:
How much of a role are you expected to play in your child’s education?
If you have a particular skill or expertise, can this be utilised by the school and are there the opportunities available for you to do this?
Can parents participate in extracurricular activities?
How often do teachers meet parents and are there any forms of parent-teacher associations?
What can you take away from these meetings, the answers you receive and your observations?
Of course, what you take away from your meetings will play a critical role in your final decision. However, where possible we would recommend that you talk with other parents to get a feel for their experiences with the school. Also, remember schools have “personalities” and although first impressions are not the “be-all and end-all”, they will give you a good indication.
At least having some knowledge of the school, its teachers and curriculum will help you to make an informed choice about which school best addresses your child’s needs. If you are still uncertain, ask more questions and try to get as much information as possible. It is a critical decision and one that shouldn’t be made lightly.
posted Dec 30, 2019, 2:58 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
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updated Dec 30, 2019, 3:05 AM
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Since quality education is expensive and time-consuming, not all students have equal opportunities to deepen their knowledge and improve their academic skills. Moreover, the academic achievements of the students largely depend on teachers, their personalities, and the ability to communicate complex information in simple ways so that all students could comprehend that. As a result, we need tutors who would help us to study and prepare for exams.
If you do not know how to find tutors, here are six websites that may help you:
1. Savvy – Find the Right Teacher of… Anything
Regardless of your current educational needs, you can find any tutor on this website. Experienced musicians, analytics, managers, public speakers, writers, sales associates, scientists, mathematicians, IT specialists, and designers can share their knowledge with you online through a one-to-one video. In other words, Savvy connects you with the practitioners who not only know the theory, but also practical aspects of a profession and, thus, can help you to master it as well. You can choose a tutor that you want, book a lesson, confirm the time, and wait until the assigned time. Generally, the process of selecting the right instructor takes between 5 to 15 minutes.
2. GPAlabs – The Best Experts From All Around the World
There is no doubt that education is not limited to one or several specific countries and universities. Both international students and teachers contribute to the overall development of science, economics, arts, and other academic spheres. That is the reason why the best websites for finding tutors should include qualified specialists from various parts of the world in order to meet the needs of the students. GPAlabs works with experts from Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States. Most of the instructors either have or pursue a Ph.D. degree, which makes an academic report writing help more successful and unique in comparison to other online services for students. The website guarantees quality, originality, qualification, and commitment, which are essential parts of education.
3. UrbanPRO – Tutoring for Life in the Globalized Society
Urbanization and globalization pose challenges for the outdated educational systems that were focused primarily on the local needs of the students. In fact, the rapid development of the world suggests that students should know more than one foreign language, be competent in Information Technology, and preserve the individuality within a diverse society. That is why UrbanPRO works in three major directions, namely, IT courses, languages, and hobby classes. The website also has such options as exam coaching and subject tuition, but the main emphasis has been made on those three major categories. Thus, for example, if you need help in studying programming languages or Indian languages (Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu), you should consider visiting UrbanPRO.
Unfortunately, many tutors work exclusively with adult students or postgraduates but do not provide services for younger categories of learners. That is why The Tuition Teacher allows you to select classes beginning from kindergarten to university diploma degree and postgraduate studies. Moreover, if you do not want to study online and would prefer to meet with an instructor in real life, you can select a city where you live (however, the list of available cities is relatively short: Delhi, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Kanpur, and Lucknow). The most important aspect of the website is that you can select any subject according to your class, age, and learning abilities. Even if you do not know the curricular plans of your institution, tutors will help you to find all the needed materials. The reason why one should not be concerned about the quality of the website’s service is that all hired tutors must provide diplomas, and only an experienced educator can become a part of the Tuition Teacher team.
5. Vidyalai – International, Interactive, and Individual
The website is one of the largest networks that include teachers from all around the world; those are the graduates of top universities, such as the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Instituto Cervantes, University of Picardie Jules Verne, and Birla Institute of Technology and Science. You may choose courses that comply with the US curriculum, Australian Curriculum, SAT, and A-Level courses. Vidyalai is the guarantee that all students will be mentored by one tutor during the whole course in order to personalize the learning experience and create a sense of continuity of the learning process.
The website connects you with the Embrace Tutoring and Educational Services in New Jersey or New York City. Imagine that you and your friends want to study math together to prepare for the forthcoming exam. You do not want to study individually, and you decide to book a group lesson where each member of the group will be able to communicate with the same tutor at the same time. Group tutoring is significantly cheaper than private tutoring, and, what is also significant, that may help you and your friends to be on the same level of knowledge.
posted Nov 21, 2019, 12:49 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
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updated Nov 21, 2019, 12:52 AM
]
Vishnuteerth Agnihotri from GenWise very kindly shared some of the suggestions sent by GenWise.in, in response to the NEP Draft of 2019.
Response to the Draft NEP 2019 from GenWise
GenWise is a group of accomplished mentors (25+), with an excellent blend of corporate, academic, local and international perspectives. We see our role as supporting schools and parents, by bringing in contemporary knowledge and ways of thinking of researchers, experts and practitioners to young students, and we have been doing this through residential summer programs, experiential programs as well as in-school day scholar programs. Our key strength is enabling students to truly experience deep learning on contemporary themes.
We congratulate the NEP Panel on working on this very difficult task and bringing out the Draft NEP which has several excellent recommendations. In the spirit of constructive and productive engagement in the transformation of our education system, we also present a critique of some of the proposed elements. Our response focuses on the School Education section of the Draft NEP, and has 3 parts-
Overall Observations- our comments on the overall direction and focus of the Draft NEP
Specific Observations- our comments on specific sections and paras of the Draft NEP which could be considered while finalizing the NEP
Specific Recommendations- Specific implementable actions that we believe are ‘high leverage’ in achieving the goals of the NEP
For clarifications on our response to the Draft NEP below, please write to [email protected]
Overall Observations
The Draft NEP lays out the vision for the education system in India to be one that will “ensure that it touches the life of each and every citizen, consistent with their ability to contribute to many growing developmental imperatives of this country on the one hand, and towards creating a just and equitable society on the other.”. This vision appears to see the individual only from the dimension of her/his contribution to the country and not as a being whose human personality can be developed and enriched through learning. Enriched individuals will naturally make strong contributions to the country.
The Draft NEP proposes major revamps in several areas while talking very little about lessons learned from the past- why certain initiatives worked or did not work. India has extensive historical experience in education. It is crucial for the development of an effective and impactful education policy to be informed and shaped by the learnings from this experience and institutional memory.
The Draft NEP makes several excellent points that have the potential to bring huge improvements to the system. However, there are too many proposals with no prioritization. A more focused NEP will provide a clearer direction to implementing bodies.
The Draft NEP ignores the huge challenge of ‘mindset change’ among parents, teachers and educational leaders/ administrators that would be needed to promote critical thinking in democratic classrooms. It assumes that the educational leadership believes in ‘questioning, critical thinking, and teacher empowerment’ as crucially important. However, past actions of educational leaders indicate that such a belief is rare among educational leaders, and a mindset change is needed even among leaders.
For example, when one educational program is replaced by another, we rarely see an analysis of learning from the past effort and how it is informing the new one (e.g. shift in the ABL models in Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu- see pages 67, 68 and 70 of https://uni.cf/2ypO0j3). What message does this send to the system on how important we consider ‘critical thinking and questioning’? Teacher involvement in important decisions about teaching-learning models and other things that affect them, is typically quite low; what does this tell teachers about our belief in ‘teacher empowerment’? (see pages 66 and 67 of https://uni.cf/2ypO0j3) . Even the extent of input of the best teachers in our country to this Draft NEP seems unclear.
Another aspect of mindset change is to recognize that learning happens not just in school but also at home and in the larger community we are part of. Pasi Sahlberg, Finnish Educator, believes that the excellent performance of Finland in PISA is influenced by the opportunity available to Finnish children to engage in productive activities outside of school- whether reading because of the ‘dense library system’ or immersion in sports, arts and culture through one of the many ‘NGO clubs’. Closer to home, experts believe that the relatively higher levels of literacy and reading ability in Kerala was influenced by the availability of reading material at low cost and the availability of reading rooms or ‘vayanashalas’ across towns. Thus the NEP should look at ways of nurturing informal networks and communities that support the work of schools in helping all children to succeed.
Apart from initiatives to bring ‘mindset change’, significant capacity building is needed to equip key players in the education system to play their role effectively. While the Draft NEP does talk about measures needed for capacity building of teachers, it does not talk about capacity building measures for educational administrators. Capacity Building refers to-
Teacher Education- This is the rate limiting factor (to use an enzyme kinetics analogy) in the creation of a meaningful education system. The NEP articulates, fairly strongly, about the urgent need to overhaul teacher education, hiring and deployment and the overall teaching and learning culture. It also provides an extremely ambitious programme towards this but the implementation roadmap (Addendum 2) provided does not reflect this urgency. The priority as laid out in the roadmap continues to be on infrastructure and administrative arrangements.
Building a Body of Knowledge on Learning and Implementing Educational Programs- A research-based body of knowledge that is robust and easily accessible is necessary. This should be built upon the knowledge of both teachers and experts. To use the medical analogy, the teacher is a practitioner analogous to a doctor, who is in the best position to help the learner learn. Just like the doctor though, the teacher too needs to refer to research journals or speak with academic experts in the area of medicine to hone her understanding and knowledge, while also contributing to this knowledge, through her on-field experience. A similar case can be made for building a body of knowledge relevant to educational administrators and leaders on areas like ‘how to build a vibrant community of teachers’.
Training of Educational Leaders- This involves providing leaders with an understanding of the context of the education system, what a ‘system’ is and principles that are important in bringing about systemic improvement. For example, all educational leaders should be familiarized with the work of Donella Meadows, that points out how changes in social structures (like allowing teachers to self-organize) can be far more powerful that changes in physical inputs. See http://bit.ly/2Ytpecn-an article by Donella Meadows on 12 Leverage Points (or places to intervene) in a system. The recommendation on creating vibrant teacher communities, later in this document, is based on Leverage Point no. 4 in Meadows’ list- ‘The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure’. In simple words, communities of teachers who evolve teaching practices on their own (and are thus ‘self-organizing’), are far more powerful and resilient than teachers working independently relying only on ‘top-down’ inputs.
In our opinion, a more focused NEP would have Capacity Building and Mindset Change as the areas of focus in School Education. Further, the many contradictions in the Draft NEP proposals (whether real or apparent) should be addressed and clarified.
Some examples of the contradictions are shared below.
importance of instruction in mother tongue vs learning to read in 3 scripts by Grade 2
reduce curricular load by focusing on essentials vs proliferation in the number of subjects
When there are contradictions in the policy or across educational programs, the goal and approach to be adopted are unclear and leads to low adoption (see pages 67 and 68 of https://uni.cf/2ypO0j3 ). Therefore communicating a single clear goal can be very powerful. For example, to achieve Foundational Literacy and Numeracy, it would be good to give a single goal along the lines of “By Grade 5, a child should be able to read an ‘unseen passage’ in her mother tongue, write a page expressing her own ideas, do simple arithmetic involved in a real-life transaction. Nothing else is more important till 2023 by when this goal should be achieved”.
Lasting change is difficult, requires time, and moving away from entrenched paradigms. In other words, the desired outcomes- like children reading, doing arithmetic, knowing 3 languages etc. will take time (a 2-3 year process which may be achieved between age 6-7 to 10-11). Because of the time lag involved in this change, such outcomes can be termed as ‘lagging indicators’.If the system is looking only at ‘lagging indicators’, the assessments will get dumbed down to ‘show’ that these goals have been achieved. This has been seen on numerous occasions when large scale assessments are done. One striking example one of our team members saw in an evaluation study, is a child reciting a story in English confidently, but being unable to explain the story in her mother tongue! This problem is exacerbated if there is an insistence that certain goals are achieved every 3 or 6 months. This issue can be addressed by having ‘leading indicators’ of change that provide confidence that we are on the right track (for example the ‘number of pushups done daily’ is a leading indicator of increased muscle strength that may take some months to develop). Possible ‘leading indicators’ would be children speaking up freely in their mother tongue, taking part in language/ arithmetic games, sharing stories, teachers being aware of what students can/ cannot do at any given point of time. In other words, the system should be clear and confident about the ‘process’ to be employed and results will come in due time.
Assessment of learning outcomes is of course important but these should be done along with the assessment of 'leading process indicators', in a low stakes manner and perhaps less frequently (say once in 2-3 years, at least in the beginning, until significant improvements are made).
Specific Observations
Leveraging Peer Learning- P 2.5 talks of ‘best performers’ in each school being selected for the National Tutors Programme, and being selected for the NTP will be considered a ‘prestigious position’ - the spirit of such language if it seeps in is likely to create unnecessary competition and a superior/ inferior mindset among students. It would be more inclusive and effective to foster an informal culture of peers helping each other learn.
Instructional Aides from the Community- P 2.6 talks of recruiting Instructional Aides , especially women, from local communities for remedial teaching during and after school hours. While the idea of community involvement and remediation is good, one needs to take care that this does not end up like the ‘para-teacher’ scheme with core teaching activities being done by these aides.
Ethical and Moral Reasoning- Ethical and moral reasoning is rightly identified as a very important goal. Values of empathy and compassion must be nurtured which will build values of acceptance, tolerance and fraternity. Empathy, compassion, acceptance will also allow children from a very young age to value diversity – cultural and social. This is critical in the context of the deeply entrenched caste differences prevalent even today in India. Such value systems are essential for the development of a just society as envisaged in the Draft NEP's vision. However, the NEP should recognize the conflict between its goal of ‘critical thinking and questioning’ and ‘getting students to adopt certain values’. For example, the value of ‘sacrifice’ could result in gender, ethnicity, class and caste inequalities remaining unchallenged and the value of ‘patriotism’ could lead to unquestioning nationalism. We believe that it is possible to manage this conflict by recognizing values development as a process that can be nurtured and facilitated through critical engagement with issues pertaining to personal and social values and behaviour, as well as ‘modeling’ of behaviour. The most important values, in any case, cannot be ‘transmitted’ through moralizing and laying down a code of conduct. Appropriate teacher education is crucial to ensure that these values are nurtured in a sensitive and thoughtful manner rather than ‘handed down’ in a moralistic or dogmatic fashion.
How teachers and school staff engage with students in day to day interactions is extremely important in nurturing values- as it has been said, values are ‘caught’, not ‘taught’. For example, impartiality and fairness in and outside class, how teachers encourage children, how they provide feedback, whether they listen to them, how they interact with their parents, how adults in school resolve interpersonal conflicts- all of these influence values development in students more strongly than lessons on ethical and moral reasoning.
Sex Education- In the context of sex education [Section 4.6.8.5] it is important to begin this process from the Middle Stage (11-14 years) to coincide with and provide emotional support at the onset of puberty. An important objective of sex education should be to inculcate a healthy relationship and understanding of gender and sexuality.
Gender Equality- In the list of inspiring leaders [P.4.6.8.7] provided, women scientists and leaders are conspicuous by their absence (M.S. Subbalakshmi is the only woman mentioned). Such an inherent gender bias in a policy document must be immediately corrected. This is in contradiction to the proposals referred to elsewhere in the policy to promote education for girls. It is also counter to the Government's push towards ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’.
Knowledge of India- In Section 4.6.9 where integration of Knowledge of India into the education system is discussed, the NEP talks about inclusion of local and tribal knowledge into the curriculum and textbooks. Does the policy propose region specific text books to be written? As indicated in 4.8.2 and 4.8.3, SCERTs will be tasked to produce State specific sections in textbooks. Does this include integration into Science textbooks? For instance inclusion of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (recognised today as a distinct stream of study globally) and its relevance to taxonomy, understanding of ecological systems and adaptation to climate change.
Integration of Subjects- New subjects like 'Critical Issues' and 'Indian Knowledge Systems' are being introduced while talking simultaneously about 'reducing curricular load to essential ideas to permit nuanced discussion and understanding'. The objectives of the Draft NEP can be met much better by integration of the proposed 'courses/ subjects' with existing subjects. For example, there is plenty of scope to integrate Language with Social Studies/ EVS at the primary level, and important content and ideas of 'Critical Issues', ‘Current Affairs’ and 'Indian Knowledge Systems' can be integrated into Social Studies at the Middle and Secondary levels.
Critical Issues Course- It is appreciated that an effort towards creating greater awareness is proposed among children starting with Grades 7 and 8. However it seems rather strange to see a Government programme (Swacch Bharat) listed among issues such as climate change, water, sanitation etc. among the list of critical issues [P4.6.10.1]. Students should be exposed to various approaches / responses to managing water sustainably rather than specifically a programme.
Experiential Learning- The NEP mentions experiential learning at various points in the context of curriculum and pedagogy. Conspicuous by its absence is any reference to engagement with nature across all stages of learning. Innumerable studies from across the world have shown that the increased alienation of children from their natural surroundings has impacted physical, mental and emotional growth. Nature Deficit Disorder / Syndrome is being recognised as a legitimate problem. Together with reading and numeracy it is critical that the policy emphasize experiential learning through active and hands-on engagement with nature in the surrounding environment (e.g., learning through the senses, working with soil, creating with natural material, observing changes in the immediate natural environment around us etc.). This is essential not only for intellectual and emotional development of the child but also for developing motor skills, dexterity, observation and other sensory skills. At each learning level described in the NEP, suitable curriculum will need to be developed to deepen the engagement, exploration and learning. This is not something to be included merely as a part of Biology in the STEM curricula but as an essential component of experiential learning. See http://bit.ly/2ylRx1V .
Centralization of Development of Learning Material- P 4.8.2 mentions NCERT’s primary role in developing textbooks. While it is useful to have textbooks from NCERT given their expertise, there needs to be capacity at the state and local level to build good quality learning material including textbooks, given the wide diversity of contexts across the country. There is a wide diversity of contexts even within a state.
College-readiness by the end of Grade 12- Students should have depth of knowledge in at least one stream by the end of Grade 12, if they are to be college ready. Given the clubbing of Grades 9-12 under one ‘secondary umbrella’, a wider variety of subjects and the proposed semester based assessment system across 4 years, depth of learning in one stream may get compromised. In 4.9 it is proposed that between Grade 9 and 12, there will be 40 ‘subjects’ across all semesters, 24 of which will be assessed by board exams, of which 2 are Math, 2 science, one each in Indian and world history, one in economics, commerce etc. and other 15 + left to school assessment. Perhaps it would be better to focus on the ‘breadth’ goal till Grade 10 and focus more on ‘depth’ in Grades 11-12 (maintaining some degree of ‘depth’).
Lack of Clarity on Assessment System – P 4.9 talks about various points– Assessment of higher order thinking skills, Easier board exams, Repeated taking of board exams with two or more attempts to improve scores, Board exams every semester replacing end of year school assessments, assessments through open book exams for secondary school students and so on. There is no clarity on what exactly the assessment system will be, and some of the suggestions are not aligned with the others.
College Admission Testing- If the ‘board exams’ are being reformed is there a need for another testing agency for admissions to universities. Multiple high-stakes exams will increase stress. The school leaving exams and the college admission exams need to be thought through carefully and rationalized.
Specific Recommendations
Mindset change and capacity building are closely interlinked- changing mindsets itself requires capacity building, and building capacity requires changing mindsets. Still we have shared our recommendations under separate heads to emphasize the importance of each.
Mindset Change
Public Education Campaigns on a Massive Scale- Important messages that are well designed (remember the wide appeal of ‘3 Idiots’) should be disseminated through TV/ Radio/ Social Media/ Hoardings. These should be on different relevant themes. Popular national figures like Virat Kohli and Amir Khan or local figures can be used in the campaigns. Some important themes are-
The value of critical thinking and questioning- interesting questions can be used in the campaign (represent all numbers up to 1023 using 10 digits of our hands). Perhaps a mascot can be created (like Boojho/ Paheli in the NCERT textbooks) who signifies critical thinking and questioning and stories involving this mascot can be created to spread awareness of the importance of such thinking.
English medium is not equal to good education- by highlighting success stories of non-English medium learners and highlighting world-class regional language schools (see point no. 2)
Negatives of competitive pressure- highlighting the success/ well-being of students and schools which do not adopt a competitive spirit
Value of learning outside of school- The value of non-curricular learning (and the linkages between the curriculum and real life) can be highlighted using real-life case studies (the community learning hubs proposed below can be a source for such case studies). There are many children with significant knowledge, talent and skills who lose confidence in their abilities because of the excessive focus on theoretical learning and exams.
World Class Schools in Regional Languages- Highlight existing high quality schools in regional languages and have a goal of 10 world class schools in regional languages for all regional languages (say in 3 years). Make films on these schools and use in teacher training and in mass public campaigns for people to start believing in high quality education in the mother tongue.
Define and promote practices that lead to an organic shift in mindsets- Changes in mindset cannot be forced from the outside. However, mindsets can shift based on new experiences and how these are processed. Seemingly simple and specific practices have the power to bring about big change. For example, getting teachers to do regular home visits and discussing these in monthly CRC meetings could go a long way in creating a collaborative and inclusive school culture. Note that the teacher is not being told to be ‘inclusive’ but by helping her to experience the child’s home environment, we increase the likelihood of her taking a sensitive approach. Another example could be getting visitors to the school to wait in the school library to promote a culture of reading. The compendium, Eklavya Sari (http://www.eklavya.org/Eklavyasari.html) shares such culture building practices of one school. The ‘Centre of Evidence Based Practice’ proposed below could take the responsibility for compiling, evaluating and disseminating knowledge of such practices.
Contests and Events that promote Real Learning- TV shows like ‘India’s got Talent’ and ‘Indian Idol’ have played a big role in inspiring talent in music, dance and performing arts. Shows like ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, ‘India Child Genius’ and ‘Mastermind’ have encouraged general awareness and knowledge. Well designed contests or shows that promote application of knowledge in different contexts, creativity, design thinking, tinkering etc. have the potential to inspire a generation of learners as well as teachers to learn joyously and focus on what’s important in learning. For example, a seemingly simple activity of making a paper column with half an A4 sheet that can support the maximum weight without collapsing offers deep richness of learning while being open-ended and can easily go on for 2-3 episodes, also allowing all viewers to participate in the experience because of the ease of availability of material. Viewers could also send in the problems they need solved to the ‘contesting group of inventors’. These contests could have close linkages to the Community Learning Hubs proposed below.
Capacity Building
Community Learning Hubs- These will be high-quality learning spaces, with a library, ‘maker-space’, craft material, computers with internet etc. co-located in the same facility with adequate staffing. A lot can be done with simple tools and modest budgets, as long as there is a resourceful facilitator. The initial target could be to have several such centres at district/ block level and ultimately one per school-complex. The centre should be open to all children in the community (even if not enrolled in the school), and be open beyond school hours also. Local ‘vocational experts’ can operate in this facility; local craftsmen, electricians, plumbers etc. should play as important a role as facilitators in this space as scientists, engineers, doctors etc. This space should be used for local contests, study circles, community dialogues and celebrating festivals, and become the ‘learning hub’ for the community. Some of the best work and learning in colleges in the country is happening in such informal clubs and groups and the presence of a vibrant learning hub in each community could create a huge transformation.
This initiative is related to the School Complexes proposed in Chapter 7 of the Draft NEP. However, the Community Learning Hubs will be most powerful when the community takes ownership of this space, and the kind of energy of informal collaborations that is seen in a community during festivals, gets transferred to learning (learning here is defined in the broadest sense as any activity that does not involve ‘passive consumption’). School Complexes must look at their role as enabling the community to run a vibrant learning hub, rather than seeing this as hub as an extension of the formal schooling system.
Nurturing Vibrant Communities of Practice of Teachers- In Point 6b of ‘Overall Observations’, we pointed out that the importance of the teacher as a ‘professional practitioner’. All thriving professions require vibrant communities of practice. The school complexes proposed in the Draft NEP probably provide an opportunity to nurture such communities of practice. Vibrant communities of practice have always existed in our country. Some of these have also been nurtured consciously by educational leaders e.g. In Gujarat, during the early years of implementing ‘Pragya’, master resource persons from SCERT would visit schools in a block, capturing snippets of lessons on video, and these would be discussed by teachers across schools in the block after a couple of days, leading to a rich exchange and motivating teachers.
However, much more can be done to consciously nurture teacher-led communities of practice. The challenge of ‘scaling’ should be looked at as proliferating such networks of practice with ‘top-down’ initiatives nurturing ‘bottom-up’ communities and ideas. The Berkana Institute’s framework of Name-Connect-Nourish-Illuminate offers a different paradigm to look at scaling (see http://bit.ly/2ZtDuDr ). The work of Wenger-Trayner on communities of practice also offers relevant insights. The power of building a vibrant community of teacher practice is that it is a self-organizing system (see point 6c of ‘Overall Observations’ and pages 14-16 of http://bit.ly/2Ytpecn)
A powerful example of a self-organizing community of teacher practice is the practice of ‘Lesson Study’ in Japan, that has been in existence for one hundred and thirty years. Lesson Study involves teachers working together to design, test, and improve lesson sequences, with multiple teachers observing the session, reviewing the sessions jointly and other teachers reteaching the revised lesson plans. This practice introduces teachers to the power of collaborative inquiry and the important role observation plays in opening our eyes to alternative practice. Many good ideas come from the teachers’ own experiences, increasing their confidence in practising the craft of teaching. This practice gained international attention after publication of results from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) video study.
Educational Leaders with strong context of teaching-learning- Given the complexity in education, it is important to ensure in some way that Educational Leaders and Administrators have at least 10 years of teaching experience or strong context about education. A ‘governance paradigm’ without an understanding of how learning happens is not sufficient to be an effective educational leader. A career path should be available for teachers to grow into the highest roles in educational leadership. Lateral entry could also be allowed to exceptional individuals with a proven track record. IAS officers who come into education roles should be identified at least 2 years in advance of their actual posting and should undergo a rigorous orientation of at least 15 days and be certified by a committee before their appointment in an educational leadership role. Perhaps it is time to create an ‘Indian Education Service’ under the Civil Services.
Centre for Evidence Based Practice- Constitute a ‘Centre for Evidence Based Practice’ at the central level (with representation from states), staffed with high quality researchers and teachers. This can include fellows who are part of the centre for a few months to a couple of years. This centre should collate existing evidence and do new/ further research in important areas of curriculum and pedagogy, teacher development, how to bring systemic change etc. The members from this centre should be part of committees (state and central) that define and deploy educational programs. The centre should network with educators around the country and around the world. The centre should have a high quality website of resources, start its own journal and publish high-quality research (the What Works Clearinghouse initiative in the US could guide the design of this repository- see https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/ ). This centre could be responsible for training and certifying educational leaders, including those who make a lateral entry into the government education system.
Repository of good questions and projects- No effort to change the education system will work unless the ‘goal posts’ are changed. In this light, the Draft NEP rightly speaks about reforming the board examinations to assess the ability of students to think critically and reason on their own. However, such learning can happen only when teachers frame discerning questions and learning tasks and engage students in working on these. (Often it appears that there is agreement on the kind of learning that is being targeted, but on seeing the actual questions, differences in opinion surface). Initially it is difficult for teachers to differentiate between such questions and other questions, or even if they can, there is a fear that discerning questions will be too tough for students. An easily accessible repository of good questions, projects and learning tasks will go a long way towards demonstrating the kind of learning we are targeting, and catalyzing the process. Teachers and even students should be allowed to add questions and projectives to this repository with incentives for quality submissions.
Video Repository of good teaching practices- The good learning tasks repository suggested above provides teachers with engaging learning tasks that promote critical thinking and real learning. However, without specific guidance on how these should be facilitated (at least in the initial years), there is a danger that students will be taught the answers to good questions, by rote. Providing teachers with an easily accessible collection of teaching videos will help in promoting best practices in teaching-learning. Teachers can be encouraged to submit their own videos to this repository (though these will need to be curated). Examples of such videos are shared here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9VAM8yv2Ng (a lesson historical methods) https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/65013 (a lesson on getting students to think about odd and even numbers)
Lateral Induction of Teachers, Facilitators and other Education Professionals- There are several people in the country with strong capabilities in different areas of education (sometimes without formal qualifications)- teaching, teacher training, assessment, e-learning and so on. There are very few avenues for these people to be recruited into the government system at the central or state level; where these people are retained, they are hired as consultants. Given the urgent need for capacity building in the country, teachers and other professionals should be inducted at all levels, irrespective of formal qualifications, as long as they can demonstrate expertise. Independent identification of good teachers and master-teachers can be done through a process of exam + demo class + interview. Some of these people may also be used to staff the community learning hubs mentioned above.
Curriculum
Contemporary and Relevant Subject Content- The Draft NEP has already suggested new subjects/ topics like ‘Critical Issues’, ‘Current Affairs’ etc. Given the changing state of the world, some more topics should be included mandatory or optional. For example, a mandatory component should be Media Literacy and differentiating between fake news and authentic/verified news and information. Given the push for technology in education and the access that children have to the internet and other media in the NEP [P4.10.5] this should be a critical component of the learning process from an early age. Other important topics that can be offered are shared below. These could be offered as optional subjects or key ideas integrated with other subjects, or even as 2-3 days modules.
The Psychology of individuals and groups
Design Thinking and Hands-on Making
Systems Thinking
Methods of bringing social change
Cognitive Science
Linkages between higher education institutions and schools- To enable schools to help students understand the deeper ideas in their subjects and the latest happenings in the domain, a closer linkage between faculty of higher education institutions and schools should be created. Interes
Interested faculty of higher education institutions could be released for 2-3 weeks a year to work with students, train teachers and develop learning material that can be used in schools.
Gifted Students- Identification and Programs to Nurture
It is heartening to note the proposed initiatives mentioned in 4.10 on the support of students with singular talents and interests. While the goal should be to support all students’ interests and dispositions helping them to enrich themselves and fulfil their potential, identifying and nurturing gifted students has a particular relevance in nation/ world building. As Dr. Lubinski, an expert in the psychology of gifted children from Vanderbilt University says, “When you look at the issues facing society now — whether it's health care, climate change, terrorism, energy — these are the kids who have the most potential to solve these problems. These are the kids we'd do well to bet on.” We have the following recommendations in this area.
Identification of Gifted Students- Psychologists generally agree that aptitudes (or innate talent) concretize by the age of 14. This means that we are unlikely to spot new aptitudes in children after the age of 14-15. Recognizing these aptitudes early is important; if an aptitude is not recognized early enough, it will not be nurtured sufficiently. Some aptitudes may go completely unrecognized as children may have no opportunities at school or home to engage in these areas (e.g. design, playing a musical instrument).
Identification of gifted students should start by age 10 (or even earlier in some cases). Existing instruments for identification of giftedness on different dimensions (nationally and internationally) should be evaluated and a battery of quality instruments (paper-pencil tests as well as observed tasks) should be made available easily and at affordable costs (free for students of government schools). At least 10-20 master resource persons should be trained on using these instruments effectively with children. A National Gifted Talent Search Test from Grades 5-9 should be conducted annually. The test should include as many abilities that can be tested using automated scoring as possible. The existing NTSE does not test for some kinds of abilities and in any case is only available in Grade 9.
Interventions to Support Gifted Students- 4.10 mentions ‘study circles’ and ‘residential summer programs’- these are welcome initiatives and will make a difference. We have also noted through media articles that a gifted school along the lines of the ‘Sirius Educational Centre’ in Russia is being considered. Additionally, other initiatives should be explored for providing gifted students the support they need. Some suggestions are shared below-
Online mentoring- Both MOOCs and tutor-based programs can be used to provide challenging material and mentoring support to gifted students. Schools, School Complexes and the proposed Community Learning Hubs can provide the needed infrastructure.
Acceleration- Students identified as gifted in a particular subject could attend classes in that subject with students of a higher grade. Schools have been doing this informally in rare cases. A more systematic and well-defined approach will help schools to implement this more effectively.
Shorter day-scholar/ residential programs through the year- These could be 1-5 day programs during holidays, apart from longer programs in Summer. Kerala SCERT has already been conducting summer residential programs. The experience of organizations like Kerala SCERT, GenWise, NIAS etc. in India and the likes of Johns Hopkins CTY, Duke TIP and Northwestern CTD in the US would provide valuable inputs to this exercise.
Training teachers on giftedness- Gifted students can have difficulty in fitting in with their peer group, impulse control and in other areas, leading them being labelled as ‘disruptive’ or in social isolation. Many teachers are not even aware of these aspects of giftedness. Training them to do a first-level intervention will be very helpful to gifted students. Teachers should also be provided with a support system whom they can rely on for such cases. In our work at GenWise, we often come across children who have been pulled out of school at a young age because schools are unable to handle them along with the rest of the children.
This article, based on a 45 year study which tracked gifted children, is a good primer on issues related to gifted education- https://go.nature.com/332qTsU
National Level Conference on Gifted Education- An annual national level conference with experts and practitioners from around the world, will go a long way towards creating a knowledge base and awareness about gifted education. The National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC) in the US is holding its 66th convention in 2019- see http://www.nagc.org/. NAGC is a major influencer of government policy and plays a key role in creating awareness about gifted education.
posted Nov 21, 2019, 12:04 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
[
updated Nov 21, 2019, 12:45 AM
]
The NIOS (Open school, permits home-schooling) is an underutilized gem in India. Yes, this is the "open-school" system,
where students can take class 10 and 12 board examinations without being enrolled in a formal school.
However, we seldom find students or parents who have tried out this system.
One such parent, shared his experience with us. He took his family far from the madding crowds and lives in the hinterlands.
This is something the internet could revolutionize and change forever.
I have been staying away from the mundane world for sometime. Kind of retirement place. And it's in the hinterlands. We have homeschooled our children. I dont believe in providing children with fake information. One is an Engineer and one is a Doctor. Successfully completed their studies and are doing well in their jobs. You can apply for the board exams. There is no restriction. At present, the parents are sheeple who want their children to just succeed academically. They have forgotten to seek out all round development of the children. Children are very receptive and they are like sponges. If you truly can understand the children's psychology..its easy to sit with them..be like them as seek out what interests them. A child needs freedom to explore his surroundings in his or her formative years. They should develop a sense of curiosity about what's happening around them.
Never force them to do something they dislike. If we want to hone their skills..we should start doing things and soon that will get the attention of the kids.
Once they start to show interest..they start asking questions. Once the questions are answered to their understanding and satisfaction, gently prod them to give their opinions.
Keep track of their development. They also need to respect the balance of the nature. They need to look at the stars in the sky in the night. They need to feel the gentle breeze and clouds.
They need to experiment with the elements. They need to understand what compassion is about the other creations on this planet.
The child who can grow in such set up will tend to grow as a complete human being. Every experience is different. There are no benchmarks. I am not rich. My father was a ranking Officer and we moved across the land in our formative years.
He was a sincere officer. We just had three pairs of clothes and we all slept on the floor.
Both my parents came from reputed families but they left that reputation behind and we stayed incognito.
posted Nov 20, 2019, 12:29 AM by Prashant Bhattacharji
[
updated Nov 20, 2019, 12:33 AM
]
An email on the Gyankriti School group, forwarded very kindly by their founder, Yograj.
It describes how a visit to the zoo can be structured into an excellent learning session for primary kids.
School trips are a critical part of learning.
-- Namaste!
Today all the students went for a tour of the Indore Zoo.
Problem: During the tour of various places in past our students have seen broken or worn out display boards and it was very difficult to know the details of the venue or the items there. They observed the same thing at Indore Zoo. Despite of so many renovation work going on at the zoo there is no proper way to get information of the animals. Similarly the blind people can't get any information.
Brainstorming the solution: We discussed this problem with the Grade1-3 students and encouraged them to find a solution of this problem. While we were brainstorming, the students came to realize that their own student radio channel on youtube (Gyanvaani) can be put to some good use for this task. They then linked this to easily accessible paytm QR code at each shop.
The students have good experience of making audio and video presentations. They recently made video presentation as as follow up assignment of Maheshwar Trip.
Solution proposed: Then 6 students of Grade1, 2, and 3 met the Indore Zoo curator, Mr. Nihar Parulkar and proposed their plan of making audio tour of Indore Zoo. The students will record description of zoo animals in Hindi & English. The audio tours will be available on any mobile phone by simply scanning a QR code near all the animals. The Zoo Curator was delighted to hear this idea from students and immediately talked to his superiors at Indore Municipal Corporation. The IMC has accepted the proposal of students and very soon Indore will hear the guided tour in our student's voice at the zoo. Isn't that fabulous?
posted Nov 19, 2019, 11:39 PM by Prashant Bhattacharji
[
updated Nov 20, 2019, 12:03 AM
]
These are consolidated recommendations from students and faculty from about 80 schools in and around Bengaluru - @InventureK12 team facilitated the group discussion & synthesized all the inputs into a document; arranged the inputs and feedback. We thank Inventure Academy for consolidating all these inputs in a document; and we also appreciate the hard work done by the teachers and students of the 80 schools involved, in enumerating so many critical points.
It is always great, to know first hand, what schools and their administrators, teachers, students and parents feel about various policies.
We thank Ms. Nooraine Fazal of Inventure Academy, for forwarding us their draft of inputs in reponse to the New Education Policy Draft of 2019.
We also thank Ms. Mary Whabi for helping us process this information, to upload on the website.
All 80 schools deserves a special shout out for participating in a session like this, to make a comprehensive list of suggestions and inputs, to help mould a policy which will
be critical in shaping future generations in India.
OUR
FUTURE, OUR VOICE: FEEDBACK ON THE DRAFT NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY
(NEP) 2019
OF,
FOR and BY the STUDENTS and TEACHERS of KARNATAKA
Preamble
& Guiding Principles
“Don't
limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”
Rabindranath
Tagore
“Take
to the path of dharma – the path of truth and justice. Don’t
misuse your valour. Remain united. March forward in all humility, but
fully awake to the situation you face, demanding your rights and
firmness.”
Vallabhbhai
Patel
WE,
the children and teachers of Bengaluru, AFFIRM that:
EVERY
CHILD HAS THE RIGHT TO A HOLISTIC, MEANINGFUL QUALITY EDUCATION:
which prepares the child for life in India and in a dynamic,
globalised and interdependent world.
AN
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION SYSTEM MUST RECOGNISE CHILDREN, TEACHERS, SCHOOL
MANAGEMENT AND FOUNDERS AS PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS: who spend at least
about 220 days per year at school. Therefore their motivations,
concerns and needs should underpin the essence of the NEP 2019.
EACH
CHILD/TEACHER IS UNIQUE: While it is not viable or desirable to have
individualised learning plans for every child, an enabling education
system must cater to multiple intelligences, pace, style of teaching
/ learning, different needs, strengths, areas of improvement and
aspiration.
THE
FREEDOM AND AVAILABILITY OF CHOICE IS CRITICAL TO HUMAN RIGHTS AND
KNOWLEDGE CREATION: Each individual should have the freedom to
choose the education that best aligns or reflects their philosophy
and approach to education - as teachers and students / parents. In
addition to the draft NEP 2019 guiding goals of Access, Equity,
Quality, Affordability and Accountability, we believe it should
include Freedom of Choice as a core goal and guiding principle.
‘EQUITABLE’ EDUCATION IS
INCOMPATIBLE WITH A ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL APPROACH TO EDUCATION: The
proposals must strive for an equitable education aligned with the
proposed vision instead of an equal one (as the detailed proposals
seem to recommend). Thus the NEP must account for the difference in
circumstances of a variety of students, rather than mandating a one
size fits all approach for all.
ALIGNMENT
BETWEEN PROPOSALS AND FEASIBILITY OF IMPLEMENTATION IS CRITICAL:
Proposals cannot be made in isolation or separate from ability to
implement; therefore it is critical that the NEP 2019 take into
consideration the feasibility of implementation, including
availability of resources. It must be financially viable for all
stakeholders and must be scalable within the time frame specified by
the Draft NEP 2019. Otherwise, it will be a hollow promise.
These
affirmations are based on the voices of children and teachers across
almost 70 schools in Karnataka. They reflect our collective
understanding of the experiences, perspectives, aspirations,
concerns and needs of the people most directly impacted by the NEP,
i.e. children and educators. Though each stakeholder group reflected
and captured their observations separately, the issues, concerns and
recommendations that emerged from both groups were surprisingly
similar. In addition, it is worth noting that both groups, reflected
on the effect of the NEP proposals on their own interests as well as
those of other primary stakeholders. We were very heartened to see
students in particular assess the potential impact of the NEP on
themselves as well on their teachers and management.
The
Draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 - released in May 2019 by
PM Modi’s Government shortly after winning the national election -
will, in the words of Dr K. Kasturirangan, Chairman of the Committee
for the Draft NEP, “change the educational landscape” of India.
It is aimed at “preparing our youth to meet the variety of present
and future challenges”. “The Policy is founded on the guiding
goals of Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability and Accountability.”
The
Draft National Education Policy of 2019 (Draft NEP 2019) is a
long-awaited document for all. It envisions a society based on
knowledge and principles of equity, and aims to provide a high
quality education for all.
We
appreciate the Government’s efforts in developing the NEP and and
the opportunity to share our feedback. While
the policy document appears to be quite promising in terms of intent
and some of the recommendations, there are several aspects of the
policy which need to be reconsidered in light of the concerns and
feedback of all stakeholders, and in particular the groups which will
be most directly impacted by the NEP 2019 - the students and teachers
/ educators themselves.
Inventure
Academy (a PreK-12
school based in Bangalore) in partnership with Karnataka
ICSE Schools Association (KISA - 290 member schools), Associated
Management of Primary & Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS -
3000 member schools), Management of Independent CBSE Schools
Association Karnataka (MICSA - 105 member schools) and Management
Association of ICSE & ISC Schools (MAS - 75 member schools)
organised the Our
Future Our Voice, a
day long symposium at Bal Bhavan, Cubbon Park. The event was aimed at
giving students and teachers - those most directly impacted by the
National Education Policy - an opportunity to share their views and
perspectives on the Draft NEP 2019. 460 students and 80 teachers from
70+ schools from various Boards of Education, participated in the
symposium.
Key
Findings of the Charter which reflects student and faculty responses
include:
Students
and teachers recognise the importance of being “India centred”,
but strongly feel the need
to be prepared for an interdependent global world;
Both
students and teachers wantto retain the
freedom that
students, parents, faculty and management have on the choice of
vision and culture of the education institution, its leadership and
education approach, they believe is best suited to them. Most
students and teachers do not favour a common
national curriculumcreated by a single
government agency (at the Centre or State level). They want a choice
of Boards of Education (not just Boards of Assessment), type and
level of subjects, and learning materials. Failing
which, in the words of a student group, “otherwise India will
become like North Korea”;
Many
expressed concerns regarding the impact of reducing curriculum
content - whether this would adequately prepare them for college and
beyond. Also, how viable is it to expect textbook suppliers to
provide “quality textbooks at the cost of production”?
Disagreement
with the three-language
formula was evident,
with students and teachers not
thinking it is realistic for them to learn so
many languages from the Foundation Years to Grade 12. They also want
the freedom to choose how many and which languages they learn/teach.
They overwhelmingly believed they should teach / learn English;
Students
appreciated the ability to attempt Board
Exams “on up to
two occasions during any school year”. However, faculty and
students were largely unanimous in their opposition to eight sets of
board exams over four years for Grades 9 to 12;
Many
like the emphasis of co
curricular being
given as much importance as academics;
Students
and teachers overwhelmingly agreed that as primary stakeholders,
school management /
founders and teachers, and
not the general public,
should have a say in the way that schools are run. They
expressed serious concerns about their desire to continue as
teachers in the absence of this;
Everyone
welcomed the emphasis on teacher education. Teachers welcomed their
profession being acknowledged as one needing a one - four year
degree, but had apprehensions on how everyone would be certified by
the year 2030, as there is already a shortage of teachers and
teacher education institutions. Further a B.
Ed does not ensure that a teacher has the right philosophy or
attitude for education.
Concerns
about the feasibility
/ viability of implementation
of the Policy due to shortage
of teachers and funds,
therefore making the policy a “hollow promise”;
We
hope our charter is given the importance it deserves in formulating a
purposeful and effective National Education Policy that reflects and
includes the voices of the children and teachers of Karnataka. We
look forward to an opportunity to meet with the Government and the
Draft Committee to share our perspectives and findings in more
detail, and participate in an ongoing dialogue.
Children’s
Voices on Draft NEP 2019: Chapterwise Feedback
(Important to note
that this has been written by the students, in their voice)
Vision
Statement and Founding Principles
In
the words of the Student Drafting Committee, “We believe that the
vision statement in the Draft National Education Policy is too
limiting and that we can have an education policy that focuses on an
India centred education, while also educating Indians to be global
citizens. The NEP strives to level the playing field in education
across all backgrounds, ensuring equality and social justice.
However, we are concerned that it will do so not just by increasing
quality and standards in some areas but by decreasing it in others.”
Chapter
1: Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation and Learning
Things
we strongly agree with:
One
value we hold dear is the right of every child to a quality
education, irrespective of their socio-economic background. This is
shown as 90% of students in the Our Voice program are in favour of
the extension of the RTE Act to include students of ages 3-18.
Our
recommendations
The
policy should aim not only to reduce inequality in education, but
also within society itself. It ignores the fact that a child’s
family background is a huge factor in his/her educational
performance. Implementing this policy does not solve any of these
other problems. The government should also take strides to tackle
these problems as well.
Chapter
2: Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
Things
we strongly agree with:
Majority
of students liked the proposal of a Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) of
less than 30:1
Our
recommendations
While
the idea of a PTR of less than 30:1 is a step in the right
direction, the students would prefer a PTR of at least 15:1, which
is needed to implement the vision of the Draft NEP.
As
a result of the deficit of teachers in India, the students would
like to recommend the following solutions using government funding,
among others, to incentivise teaching;
Higher
salaries for teachers
Tax
cuts on teachers' salaries
Subsidising/
providing scholarships for teachers through their education
Chapter
3: Reintegrating Dropouts and Ensuring Universal Access to Education
Our
recommendations
Students
have serious concerns regarding the protection of data in the
proposed database system which aims to track out-of-school children.
We believe the data should not be available to the general public
and that it should be stored very safely. A similar policy to the EU
data laws may be best.
Chapter
4: Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools
Things
we strongly agree with:
92%
of students believe in placing equal importance on both academics
and co-curricular activities and having learning assessments for the
same.
A
large number of students are in favour of studying critical issues
and current affairs.
94%
of students agree with the proposition that the educational approach
should be more holistic, integrated & flexible; build cognitive
& soft skills, rather than emphasise rote learning; focus less
on content & more on developing skills/competencies; learning
should be discovery based, experiential, personalised and
multidisciplinary.
Students
strongly appreciate the ability to have multiple attempts at
assessment (schools must provide at least 2 attempts to students
willing to improve), but most not in favour of so many Board Exams
(8 sets of exams across Grades 9 to 12).
Over
80% are also in favour of the proposals on special needs, such as
the reduction of PTR in special needs schools to less than 25:1.
Our
recommendations:
Curriculum
We
believe that "One Nation - One Curriculum" could give rise
to the following problems and thus suggest that it should not be
implemented:
One
Committee will outline what every child in the country learns.
Centralising Education to a single body could be dangerous and
unworkable.
Doesn’t
allow for creativity and diversity in teaching and learning
methods. Doesn’t cater to every child’s personal learning needs
and aspirations.
We
believe that parents, students and teachers should be allowed to
choose what and how they want to learn and to keep what the
government mandates / dictates to a minimum
The
NEP should be implemented over a period of time, first at a smaller
scale, reviewed periodically, and then scaled up eventually.
Students
taking liberal arts subjects should undergo skill based testing over
content based testing.
This
develops critical thinking and an application based approach to
learning whereas a system based primarily on memorization and
recollection does not develop these skills which are essential for
success in any field.
Assessments
Students
should not have to take two sets of board exams per year for four
years as this will:
Create
more stress.
It
will hamper students who wish to pursue “extracurriculars” as a
profession, because students will constantly have to be preparing
for board exams.
Give
way to complacency as students may gain too much comfort from the
fact that they will be given multiple attempts at board exams.
So
we suggest that: With more investment in online testing /
technology and a logistically simple retake system, a testing
system that doesn’t impede the students ability to pursue other
activities can be put in place.
Learning Materials
Students
believe that textbooks should inculcate internationalism along with
local content and flavour in order to expose students to progress in
modern society and to prepare them for a global world:
Furthermore,
students expressed their desire to learn skills they will need to
succeed in a global world rather than learning the content of a
textbook, which provides a limited viewpoint of the world based on
what the author, publisher or the government believes is right or
what we students should learn.
Private
entities should still be allowed to produce textbooks at more than
the cost price:
The
resources available for learning should not be limited.
Governments
should subsidize these textbooks rather than restrict the right of
publishers in order to make them more easily available and so the
publishing houses can make a living.
Students
believe that teachers’ choice of learning material should not be
limited to NCERT textbooks. Our teachers know best what we need to
learn and how we learn.
Students
expressed concerns that reducing curriculum content would affect
their level of preparedness for the future (admission and
performance in college and careers). Hence, we believe there should
be an option to take subjects at higher levels of specialization.
Language Policy
Majority
of students want a 2 language system from grades 9-12 rather than a
3 language system.
English
should be a compulsory language where possible and stakeholders
should have the freedom of choice.
Foreign
languages should be offered before grade 9 and from at least grade
6.
Students
would like to emphasize language acquisition skills rather than
language learning skills.
Approximately
60% of students are in favour of a course on the ‘Languages of
India’ but would prefer for it to be compulsory for one year
rather than two.
As
much as 60% of students agreed that Classical languages should not
be compulsory and prefer it to be an optional elective.
Students
don’t believe that the language of instruction should be limited
to the local language/mother tongue as this isn’t feasible in
urban cities with immigrant populations, such as Bengaluru.
Students
also feel that if the curriculum is decided by the government, the
teacher should not be held solely responsible if a student fails to
learn.
Chapter
5: Teachers
Our
recommendations
70%
of students are in favour of the new B.Ed requirement for teachers,
provided this is a reliable way to ensure that teachers learn the
best skills and techniques to teach. However, this does pose a
problem as the majority of teachers currently teaching are doing so
without a B.Ed degree. We suggest a number of ways the government
can improve this policy:
The
B.Ed program should be updated, made more accessible, relevant and
cheaper
There
should be numerous ways for teachers to prove their capabilities
without having to stop teaching and earning as they too may have
families to support. They could do this either through part time or
online programs or other teacher training programs.
Teacher
training programs should not focus just on theory and technique but
on fostering the right temperament and attitude.
The
data on teachers should not be available to the general public, as
this could risk their safety.
Teachers’
salaries for public schools should be decided by the School
Management Committee and the State government.
Probation
for teachers should be cut down from three years to one year.
Private
schools should be given the freedom to decide what their teachers’
salaries are (ensuring that teachers are well paid). This way they
can incentivise hard work and creative teaching methods outside of
what the government proposes.
Schools
should employ separate administrative staff - to decrease the
workload on teachers, and administrative work should be kept
separate. This can be completed by others who work in their
respective fields, and who are not engaged in teaching.
Chapter
8: Regulation and Accreditation of School Education
Independence
of schools from SMCs and the general public:
We
feel that the private schools shouldn’t have to operate under the
SMCs because:
Private
individuals will be less incentivised to start an institution if its
management will rest in the SMC’s control instead of theirs.
Furthermore,
it is possible that the SMCs may be less experienced or knowledgable
than the educators and management that have been trained in this
field.
Educators’ Voices on Draft
NEP 2019
Vision
and Founding Principles
“Our
students need to fit into a global interconnected world. Learning
about their history and culture is important, but we should also
equip them to deal with the global stage.”
The
vision should include a global approach / perspective.
Chapter
1: Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation and Learning
Points
we strongly agree with:
We
strongly believe that early childhood education lays the foundation
for educational reform and are appreciative of the fact that ECCE is
now under the education framework and the RTE has been extended
downwards to the age of three.
Oversight
of ECCE by the MHRD.
Our
recommendations:
Institute
a public private partnership to help anganwadis benefit from the
pedagogy and resources available to private preschools.
Chapter
2: Foundational Literacy and Numeracy
Points
we strongly agree with:
Schooling
in the early years does not lay enough curricular emphasis on
foundational literacy and numeracy and, in general, on the reading,
writing, speaking of languages and mathematical ideas and thinking.
Teacher
capacity also plays a central role in the attainment of foundational
skills.
Chapter
4: Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools
Points
we strongly agree with:
Teachers
appreciated the balanced curriculum with curricular and co
curricular subjects being given equal emphasis.
Teachers
also liked the spiraling curriculum, as opposed to the previous,
more linear one.
The
restructuring and expansion to include early childhood and grades 11
and 12 in the NEP is appreciated.
Our
recommendations:
Curriculum
The
schools should have flexibility to choose curriculum and books.
Restricting
books and content to NCERT only will curb creativity and the freedom
of schools to choose the best available content in the market. Will
also limit teachers ability to teach learners based on each child’s
unique needs & abilities. Teacher autonomy is critical for us to
be motivated and do the best by each child.
English
should be a compulsory language to enable children to compete at a
global level.
Flexibility
and variety of subject choice is good but how will schools afford
staff & space for it.
Reduction
of the content to core only may lead to future generations being
generalists and not being prepared for further studies or make
informed decisions about their future.
Spiralling
curriculum sounds promising, but in senior grades if children are
doing subjects only for one semester how would the curriculum grow
and spiral/progress.
Assessments
Teachers
felt the pressure would increase on students if they had four
continuous years of ‘board’ exams, twice a year.
Formative
assessments are a good step but will need a mindset change as
students and parents consider any assessment stressful.
Board
exam subjects listed seem low on Science and Math: will this lead to
children moving away from those subjects? We need more scientists
and innovators in India.
Teachers
were unhappy with testing for 4 to 5 languages at board level
especially with so many children who migrate across the country.
Language
Home
language as a medium of instruction is difficult to execute with so
many different languages, particularly in urban cities.
Teachers
not native to Karnataka or fluent in Kannada felt at a disadvantage
at the suggestions to teach in a bilingual manner.
Some
teachers felt knowledge of the local languages will help children.
Three
languages from the Foundational years is too much pressure on the
young children, one language as the medium of instruction with
another language introduced at grade 1 would be better. The third
language can be introduced at grade 4.
Teachers
were unsure of how schools would find so many teachers for the
Classical or other languages (we are experiencing a severe crunch
for even Sanskrit & Kannada teachers).
Another
concern is that we will not have enough time to teach other subjects
or life skills with so much emphasis on languages.
Chapter
5: Teachers
Points
we strongly agree with:
Teachers
appreciated the fact that the profession was being given its due and
there was a requirement to be qualified in education to teach.
Our
recommendations:
Requiring
all teachers to be B.Ed certified by 2030, with the B.Ed being a 4
year or 2 year full time program means that many would have to take
a break from their jobs to get certified. This did not seem
practical or feasible and many teachers felt that it would add to
the problem of insufficient teachers available across schools &
will impact their earnings.
A
3 year probation seems inordinately long and will not attract
teachers to the profession.
The
pay scales and grades should not apply to private and unaided
schools. We do not want a cap in our earnings.
CPD
is a good initiative but clarity is required on what comes under the
purview of CPD.
SMC
should not have significant decision making powers in the appraisal
of teachers since parents, civil society etc may not have the
necessary qualifications/ abilities/ first hand knowledge to be
unbiased during the appraisals. We do not believe that private
unaided schools should be governed by SMCs.
Chapter
6: Equitable and Inclusive Education
Points
we strongly agree with:
Inclusive
education being a part of teacher preparation.
PTR
in schools with URG’s being at least 1:25 (we think it should
ideally be lower).
School
environments to have concerted set of actions to sensitise learners
to diverse cultures, backgrounds and people with disabilities.
Chapter
7: Efficient resourcing and effective governance through school
complexes
Recommendations
SMC’s
should not be applicable to Private and Unaided schools. Private
school teachers are accountable to parents and the PTA already,
being accountable to civil society / media and others not involved
with the day to day operations of a school is unfair and could be a
threat to security from local vested interests.
It
will act as a deterrent to people choosing teaching as a profession.
Chapter
8: Regulation and Accreditation of School Education
Points
we strongly agree with:
Regulation
to empower schools.
Separation
of functions of policy making, regulation and academic standards is
a good move.
Public
Government schools being held to the same standards as private
schools.
Recommendations
Public
disclosure of all information: Clarity on what details of teachers
are being shared. Any sharing needs to be mindful of the privacy of
the teachers.
Why and How Our Future Our
Voice initiative was created
Our
Inspiration for Our Future Our Voice
The
Draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 - released in May 2019 by
PM Modi’s Government - is aimed at “preparing our youth to meet
the variety of present and future challenges”. We were happy to see
the Government coming up with a new NEP given the changes that have
taken / taking place in the world since the last one was released.
The drafting committee headed up by Dr Kasturirangan, consulted a
number of Ministries, Institutions, Associations, Organisations and
individuals. But as per Appendix VII of the Draft NEP, it does not
appear to have taken into consideration voices and opinions of the
people most directly impacted by the policy - students and teachers /
educators.
Inspired
by our success with Our
Safety, Our Voice1which resulted in
the Government of
Karnataka incorporating perspectives on child safety from over 1000
students from diverse schools & socio-economic backgrounds in the
creation of the Karnataka Child Safety & Protection Law in 2018,
we decided to create a similar initiative - Our
Future, Our Voice,
aimed at giving students and teachers an opportunity to share their
views and perspectives on the Draft NEP 2019.
Participants
at Our Future Our Voice
460
students and 80 teachers from almost 70 schools from various Boards
of Education, participated in the symposium. The schools included
Delhi Public School East, Bangalore, Delhi Public School North,
Bangalore, Delhi Public School South, Bangalore, Inventure Academy,
Parikrma Humanity Foundation, Appollo National Public School, Auden
Public School, BNM Public School, Bunts Sangha R.N.S Vidyaniketan,
Cambridge Public School, Christ School, Citizens English School,
Elite Public School, Gem International Residential School Alipur,
Gopalan National School, Pratham International School, Ryan
International School, Shishu Griha Montessori & High School,
Shree Mahaveer Jain Vidyalaya, Shrunga Vidyalaya, Shri Krishna
International School, St. Anthony’s Public School, St. Charles High
School, St. Dominic’s School (ICSE), St. Joseph’s Boys High
School, St. Mary’s Convent School, St. Michael’s High School, St.
Norberth School, St. Patrick’s Academy, St. Philomena’s Public
School, Tapovan School, The Paradise Residential School, The
Sudarshan Vidya Mandir ICSE Academy, United International School,
Vidya Niketan Public School, Vidya Saudha Public School, Little
Flower Public School, Gopalan Twinkler’s School, Holy Spirits
School, Indian Public School, Insight Academy, KALS, Lady Vailankanni
English School, Mitra Academy, Nazareth School, New Baldwin
International School, New Horizon Public School, Prakriya Green
Wisdom School, and St. Mary’s Convent School, We also had
representatives from NGOs such as Whitefield Ready and Teach for
India, participate in the event.
Flow
of the day
Presenters
included:
Divya
Balagopal, Education Law Specialist - salient points of the Draft
NEP 2019 with a focus on areas that impact students & teachers
the most
Shashi
Kumar, General Secretary, KAMS - inclusive education &
teachers
Nooraine
Fazal, Co-Founder & Managing Trustee, Inventure Academy -
assessing the NEP on the desirability of the draft vision, its
suitability in terms of meeting the aspirations and needs of the
various stakeholders and the feasibility / viability of its
implementation
Panel
discussion moderated by Nooraine Fazal - students and teachers
perspectives on the NEP. Panelists included Radhika Surendran -
Founding Faculty & Lead Curriculum Developer for Theme Based
Learning, Inventure Academy, Kabir Madan - Inventure alumnus &
Student, Shiv Nadar, Sumedha Godkhindi - Whitefield Ready lead,
Rajan Thomas Choondal - Teach for India Fellow, Anitha Brijesh -
Vice Principal of DPS (Bangalore South) and Gayethri Devi -
Secretary of KISA & Principal, Little Flower Public School.
Students
and teachers then had breakout sessions facilitated by the Our Voice
Committee comprising of Inventure students and faculty to discuss
what they liked about the NEP, their concerns, clarifications they
would like and recommendations for the Government. Each group looked
at alternatives, including resolutions, petitions, and social media
posts. They then presented their top concerns/recommendations for the
Government to the entire audience.
Based
on the feedback we received at the Our Future, Our Voice workshop, we
have produced this Charter to communicate Our (children and
teachers’) Voices. It represents our shared-experience, suggested
solutions, and our aspirations for our individual and collective
future. We trust our voices will be heard and this Charter acted on
by the Government. We would be delighted to engage in a dialogue with
the HRD Ministry about the proposed education policy.
Conclusion
The
Karnataka Government and the Learning Community benefited
tremendously from incorporating feedback from students in creating
the Child Protection Policy for Karnataka. We welcome an opportunity
to contribute to the creation of the NEP. We would be delighted to
engage in a constructive dialogue with the HRD Ministry to ensure
that our futures’ voices are similarly heard for the mutual benefit
of all stakeholders.
Note:This document has
been drafted by a Charter Committee consisting of students, alumni
and faculty from Inventure Academy, and is based on the discussions
and surveys we conducted at the NEP 2019 workshop. We would like to
place on record a sincere thank you to all the schools, NGOs and to
the heads of KISA, KAMS, MICSA and MAS, and Divya Balagopal for
participating at the Our Future, Our Voice event. We are grateful for
the opportunity to learn and contribute to the future of children
across India.
1.
Our Safety Our Voice was organised by Inventure Academy in November
2014 in partnership with the UNICEF, ENFOLD (NGO), MLP (law firm) &
Feedback Consulting (market research firm). Bengaluru at the time
was awash with policies on how schools can be made safe for
children. However, students’ views had largely not been taken into
consideration. This event was organized to provide a platform for
children of varied ages, and backgrounds to voice their feelings and
opinions on personal safety and how different stakeholders can help
to ensure all children are safe everywhere. This helped shape the
Karnataka Child Safety & Protection Law implemented in January
2018. “Our
Safety, Our Voice”, brought together over 1100 children aged 8 –
18 years. In addition to group discussions, we also conducted a
survey of 1000 children, across 18 educational institutions and
NGOs. The population sample was carefully chosen to remove any
demographic, socio-economic, culture and gender biases. For more on
this please watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92_WOeVdMj4
importtweepyimportloggingimporttimeimporturllibimportrandomimportsubprocessimportcommands# Author: Vaibhav Goel, [email protected]# Consumer keys and access tokens, used for OAuth
consumer_key = REDACTED
consumer_secret = REDACTED
access_token = REDACTED
access_token_secret = REDACTED
# OAuth process, using the keys and tokens
auth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret)
auth.set_access_token(access_token, access_token_secret)
# Creation of the actual interface, using authentication
api = tweepy.API(auth)
# Sample method, used to update a status#x = api.update_status('test 3 Hello Python Central! #Bot2.0')#print x.id#y = api.update_status("very nice to see you, handshake", in_reply_to_status_id = x.id)defdiff(first, second):
second = set(second)
secondIds = [x.id for x in second]
return [item for item in first if item.id notin secondIds]
deftweet_url(t):
return"https://twitter.com/%s/status/%s" % (t.user.screen_name, t.id)
defget_replies(tweet):
user = tweet.user.screen_name
tweet_id = tweet.id
max_id = None
logging.info("looking for replies to: %s" % tweet_url(tweet))
whileTrue:
try:
replies = api.search(q="to:learning_pt", since_id=tweet_id, max_id=max_id, count=100)
except tweepy.TweepError as e:
logging.error("caught twitter api error: %s", e)
time.sleep(60)
continuefor reply in replies:
logging.info("examining: %s" % tweet_url(reply))
if reply.in_reply_to_status_id == tweet_id:
logging.info("found reply: %s" % tweet_url(reply))
yield reply
# recursive magic to also get the replies to this replyfor reply_to_reply in get_replies(reply):
yield reply_to_reply
max_id = reply.id
iflen(replies) != 100:
break
questions = [("For a string of semi-colon separated integers, write Ruby code to sum the first N numbers (results separated by semi-colons). (1 <= N <= 1000000)? \n If Input is 1;2;4 the output should be 1;3;10 (sum of first 1 number = 1, first 2 numbers = 3.. so on)",0,"1;100;1000000;10000000","1;5050;500000500000;50000005000000")]
questionTweets = []
for quizQ in questions:
if quizQ[1] == 0:
x = api.update_status(quizQ[0] + " #TLPCodeQuizBot2")
else:
x = api.update_with_media(quizQ[1], quizQ[0] + " Respond directly to this tweet (NOT to tweets below). #TLPCodeQuizBot4")
questionTweets += [x]
scanned_replies = []
congratulatoryStrings = [ a + " " + b for a in ["Aha, that is ", "Yes! That is ", " You got it, that is ", "Yup! That's", "Well done, that is "] for b in ["the right answer", "the correct answer", "correct!", " spot on! Congratulations"]]
incorrect = ["Thanks for trying. Try a bit more!", "Thanks for taking a stab. Try again!", " Think a bit harder :)", "Not yet there ... take another shot","That's not the answer I'm afraid.", "Not really. Try again!", "Thanks for trying. Try a bit harder!", "Thx for trying. Try a bit harder!", "Thx for trying. Take another shot at it!", "Nopes :( Try again."]
solved = [0for x in questions ]
defcheckAnswer(reply, answer, query):
command = 'echo \"' + query + '\"| ruby -e \'' + reply.strip() + '\''print command
print reply
replyOutput = commands.getoutput(command) #open('outputAnswer','r').read()print replyOutput
print answer
if answer in replyOutput:
returnTrueelse:
returnFalsewhile (True):
for i inxrange(0,len(questions)):
if solved[i] == 1:
continue
x = questionTweets[i]
q = questions[i]
replies = get_replies(x)
reply_list = set(diff(list(replies), scanned_replies))
print"*** Replies**"for r in reply_list:
print r.id
print r.in_reply_to_status_id
print"**"printlen(reply_list)
for reply inset(replies):
print reply.text
for reply in (set(diff(reply_list, scanned_replies))):
if reply.in_reply_to_status_id == x.id:
try:
reply_text = reply.text
print reply_text
for url in reply.entities['urls']:
reply_text = reply_text.replace(url['url'],url['display_url'])
print reply_text
if checkAnswer(reply_text,q[3],q[2]):
api.update_status("@" + reply.author.screen_name + " " + random.choice(congratulatoryStrings) + " #TLPBot3", reply.id)
linkToRightAnswer = "https://twitter.com/" + str(reply.author.screen_name) + "/status/" + str(reply.id)
api.update_status("Congratulations @" + reply.author.screen_name + " Solved! #TLPBot " + linkToRightAnswer)
solved[i] = 1else:
api.update_status("@" + reply.author.screen_name + " " + random.choice(incorrect) + " #TLPBot", reply.id)
print"@" + reply.author.screen_name + " Thanks for trying. #TLPBot"except tweepy.TweepError as e:
logging.error("caught twitter api error: %s", e)
continue
scanned_replies += list(reply_list)
print"*** Scanned Replies**"for scanned in scanned_replies:
print scanned.id
print scanned.in_reply_to_status_id
print"**"
time.sleep(10)
defconvert():
img = cv2.imread("/home/vaibhav1994/Desktop/tweepy/test.JPG")
sketch_gray, sketch_color = cv2.pencilSketch(img, sigma_s=50, sigma_r=0.07, shade_factor=0.05)
stylized = cv2.stylization(img, sigma_s=60, sigma_r=0.07)
cv2.imwrite("test_sketch.JPG",stylized)
# Consumer keys and access tokens, used for OAuth
consumer_key = REDACTED
consumer_secret = REDACTED #'oaImVO5gCpxIV7L23ZW8TzaKkNX5LhXpG1hmqfMRws'
access_token = REDACTED #'549856297-aQCu355sQXw5YNrbaLPmOE0u2qlNspATfgH9emAA'
access_token_secret = REDACTED #'nKMSB6mKbcn6a5j4t2LbWHclPswr5vm3dBhsEKVnCVTGW'# OAuth process, using the keys and tokens
auth = tweepy.OAuthHandler(consumer_key, consumer_secret)
auth.set_access_token(access_token, access_token_secret)
# Creation of the actual interface, using authentication
api = tweepy.API(auth)
# Sample method, used to update a status#x = api.update_status('test 3 Hello Python Central! #Bot2.0')#print x.id#y = api.update_status("very nice to see you, handshake", in_reply_to_status_id = x.id)defdiff(first, second):
second = set(second)
secondIds = [x.id for x in second]
return [item for item in first if item.id notin secondIds]
deftweet_url(t):
return"https://twitter.com/%s/status/%s" % (t.user.screen_name, t.id)
defget_replies(tweet):
user = tweet.user.screen_name
tweet_id = tweet.id
max_id = None
logging.info("looking for replies to: %s" % tweet_url(tweet))
whileTrue:
try:
replies = api.search(q="#TLPSketchPic to:learning_pt", since_id=tweet_id, max_id=max_id, count=100)
except tweepy.TweepError as e:
logging.error("caught twitter api error: %s", e)
time.sleep(60)
continuefor reply in replies:
logging.info("examining: %s" % tweet_url(reply))
if reply.in_reply_to_status_id == tweet_id:
logging.info("found reply: %s" % tweet_url(reply))
yield reply
# recursive magic to also get the replies to this replyfor reply_to_reply in get_replies(reply):
yield reply_to_reply
max_id = reply.id
iflen(replies) != 100:
break
questions = ["#BotTesting Want to see your pic 'Stylized'? Follow us, reply to this tweet with the hashtag #TLPSketchPic and attach a JPG image."]
questionTweets = []
for quizQ in questions:
x = api.update_status(quizQ)
questionTweets += [x]
scanned_replies = []
congratulatoryStrings = [ a + " " + b for a in ["Aha, that is ", "Yes! That is ", " You got it, that is ", "Yup! That's", "Well done, that is "] for b in ["the right answer", "the correct answer", "correct!", " spot on! Congratulations"]]
sketch = ["Here you go!", "Here's the sketch!", "And here we have a pencil sketch for you..", "The magic of picture to sketch is right here for you!", "Here it is!", "It's ready!" ]
solved = [0for x in questions ]
defcheckAnswer(reply):
if"tlpsketchpic"in reply.lower():
returnTrueelse:
returnFalsewhile (True):
for i inxrange(0,len(questions)):
if solved[i] == 1:
continue
x = questionTweets[i]
q = questions[i]
replies = get_replies(x)
reply_list = set(diff(list(replies), scanned_replies))
print"*** Replies**"for r in reply_list:
print r.id
print r.in_reply_to_status_id
print"**"printlen(reply_list)
for reply inset(replies):
print reply.text
for reply in (set(diff(reply_list, scanned_replies))):
try:
#if (api.show_friendship(target_screen_name=reply.author.screen_name)[1].following) or (reply.author.screen_name == "learning_pt"):
media = reply.entities.get('media', [])
urllib.urlretrieve(media[0]['media_url'], "test.JPG")
convert()
api.update_with_media("test_sketch.JPG", "@" + reply.author.screen_name + " " + random.choice(sketch) + " #TLPBot", in_reply_to_status_id = reply.id)
#else:#api.update("@" + reply.author.screen_name + " - Well, you need to follow us first!", reply.id)except tweepy.TweepError as e:
logging.error("caught twitter api error: %s", e)
continue
scanned_replies += list(reply_list)
print"*** Scanned Replies**"for scanned in scanned_replies:
print scanned.id
print scanned.in_reply_to_status_id
print"**"
time.sleep(30)
