NEP ignores a key aspect: The critical role of parents

Governments will do the hard slog only if their efforts are visible and impressive to parents, a key voting bloc

The new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been received with broad praise. The goal of universalisation of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and the focus on achieving universal foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) is especially laudable. The challenge now lies in translating policy into action on the ground at scale. Most policy suggestions are not new — several state governments have been trying hard to implement such reforms. However, the lack of consistent political will and the slow pace of adopting emerging technologies have stymied these efforts. We know how to educate children, as is evident in elite schools — our inability to do so for all children is due to the failure in understanding the role of politics and technology.

How are parents, from less-privileged backgrounds, expected to understand the value of the current reforms such as curriculum overhaul, teacher-training or activitybased learning in schools? These are all hidden behind school walls, parents are not involved, and the visible impact of better education manifests later in life. As a result, the public-school system has lost the perception battle to the private system. The latter takes huge pains to dazzle their most critical constituency — parents — through fancy brochures or computer labs. Public educators tend to be poor publicists.

Unfortunately, NEP ignores the politicaleconomy aspects of education and the critical need to involve the parent as a teacher and voter. Parents are only mentioned 25 times, as compared to 221 mentions for teachers. The opaqueness of progress and lack of value realisation by the constituents is why politicians across the spectrum have, in turn, not paid attention to education, as compared to other sectors such as infrastructure and skills training. Education reform attempts come and go, based on the whims and fancies of officials and their unpredictable tenures.

Even beyond political incentives, it is vital that parents are involved directly in the learning process of their children. Such home effects have been shown to be key drivers of learning outcomes. Parent and community engagement is not just a political carrot, but also essential for the child’s progress. Models designed to include teachers as key facilitators for parent interactions also increase community respect for teachers, another key