Covid-19: A historic opportunity to redefine the Indian school system
should move away from the one-time highstakes exam of class 10 and 12 towards a model of continuous evaluation and anytime exam.
In this context, I have another suggestion about redefining our approach towards teachers’ training. We cannot expect a fundamental change in education and examinations unless our teachers are prepared for it. This would entail international level training with exposure to innovative practices across the world. Apart from training, emphasis should also be on research so that new techniques of teaching-learning can be understood and implemented at the school level. We can learn so much from Singapore’s model of teacher training, and the approach of the International Baccalaureate (IB) board towards assessments.
With a broad framework in place, we should let the schools re-imagine their role, by taking their context and resources into account, and propose their plan of reopening by consulting with their key stakeholders. In the process of learning to live with the coronavirus, there will be major changes in schools across the world. It is for us to decide whether we reorganise our schools based on the need of our society and learnings from our nation’s great history or that we wait for other countries or some other societies to do something and then we copy-paste those solutions here. In my view, we need to take decisive steps now to place the school right at the centre of the community. I am fully aware that this is not easy, and schools will require a lot of support but just like children, our schools, education systems and policymakers like us also need to learn, grow and be responsible.
I hope you will consider my suggestions and together we will give back a better and more caring school to all our children. try’s health care system. For instance, who is being held accountable for approving the purchase of faulty testing kits by the government that jeopardised the testing of Covid-19 for days, and for providing poor quality Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline health care workers who are contracting the infection?
Those in lockdown need to access the outer world. State-wise data about the movement of food grains and other essentials was given in press releases. But people need to check out the distribution data at the district and fair price shop level. They need to know whether there has indeed been any diversion of food grains, as alleged. The SICS could have done yeoman’s service at this time hearing such matters on priority.
Each of these queries relating to health care, PM Cares fund, welfare programmes and migrants ought to have been on the website portals. A broken RTI system during Covid-19 times could not respond to correct the malaise. SICS remained dormant and the CIC did not bring to book those responsible for the lapse.
The current health hazard is fast transforming into a socioeconomic crisis of an immense proportion and government-public interaction as well as information sharing need to increase befittingly. Ministers and government spokespersons cannot remain the sole disseminators of information. There has to be an institutional response through the RTI regime already in place.
RTI queries increased by 83.83%, from 8,86,681 in 2012-13 to 16,30,048 in 2018-19, indicating the rising faith of our people in the RTI system. But it is in times of such a crisis that the regime is really tested. The political executive and information commissioners, therefore, need to reflect deeply and bolster the RTI machinery in the interest of the people and the nation at large.