India Education Summit 2021: CBSE board exams will be entirely different By 2025, Union Budget did not show commitment towards NEP Said Sisodiya
The 3-day event, India Education Summit 2021, will be held via video conferencing from 9 February to 11 February 2021. The event is jointly arranged by Google and The Indian Express to highlight different facets of the growth of India’s education system and reforms such as NEP (National Education Policy). The inaugural day began with a speech by Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the Union Minister of Education. Here are some of the main highlights from day 1 of the event which are considered important for school students & educators.
Pokhriyal . said during his inaugural speech at the India Education Summit (IES) 2021, that the National Education Strategy has the potential to make Atmanirbhar or self-reliant students right from the school level. Stakeholders from the government, education, university, politics, and e-learning platforms can engage in the three-day virtual event that started today. During his speech, Pokhriyal said, by connecting students with internships, we can imbibe atmanirbharta (self-reliance) in a student by vocational training as a student enters class 6. They will be fighters who can take on any challenge by the time these students finish their school education.
At school level, India will be the first country to adopt artificial intelligence (AI). Typically, AI is taught at IITs and specialized colleges, but he added that the system will begin by providing education right from the school level. Although he congratulated the scholars for taking on the mammoth challenge of going online in a few months, he also admitted that access to online education has not reached everybody.
He said, now, the challenge of bringing the 33 crore students online in the digital space, stating that in the past months, the education sector has advanced quickly in the ed-tech space that would otherwise have taken decades. The Board have sought to target students who do not have internet connectivity via television, radio, etc. Pokhriyal said that they have already asked the top 100 universities in the NIRF ranking to include online education, with around 10-20 percent of students still not having digital access. In this direction, IITs, IIMs, KVs, IISERs have operated. They are building a foundation for the future where India can continue its education, regardless of the situation. The online and offline arrangements, are being carried out concurrently. Dignitaries from around the industry who addressed some of the pressing problems attended the case. Tomorrow’s session will begin with an address by CEO Amitabh Kant of NITI Aayog. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia of Delhi will also address tomorrow’s case, followed by some panel discussions. On January 11, the Indian Education Summit 2021 will end.
CBSE Board Exams Pattern:
Changes in test practices are made from time to time by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). It launched multiple-choice questions last year and this figure will be raised annually by 10 percent. By 2025, CBSE Board Exams will be revamped:
Ashutosh Batta, Chairman of Bloom Public School, pointed out that the government planned to add 10% application-based questions each year under New Education Policy and to revamp the CBSE board exams by 2025.
Organizing & having the correct material is the key: no content shortage.
Rajnish Kumar, Director (Digital Education), Ministry of Education Department of School Education & Literacy (Diksha PoV) pointed out that there is no lack of content and it is accessible with a click, but it is necessary to arrange best-suited content to increase innovation and criticality.
NEP 2020 Streamlines Strategy, Curriculum & Administration for Education:
The former leader of ISRO lauded the 2020 NEP and said it streamlines the planning, curriculum, and administration of education. He also pointed out that prospective schooling must be reconfigured.
Day 2 of India Education Summit 2021
In his speech at the India Education Summit 2021’s day 2, Delhi Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the first budget since the rollout of the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP) does not demonstrate commitment to the policy.
The 2020 New Education Strategy (NEP) speaks about some missed points that have not been discussed in the education room before. It’s a lovely text. For both the education and finance portfolio, I realize that the government needs to pull out of many other spheres while it has to spend in education. He said that it was very unfortunate to see that the first budget after the NEP roll-out does not provide the commitment required by the vision of the NEP. Following the inaugural address by Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal on February 9, IES 2021 is entering its second day. Day 2 started with an address by CEO Amitabh Kant of NITI Aayog. ‘A grassroots approach’ is the subject of the day. In his speech, Amitabh Kant said India needs to be vigilant not to build a digital divide as the world progresses toward digital education. He requested private and public partners to join hands to meet the higher education target of 50 percent GER. He said 33 million more seats are expected, and the demand can not be fulfilled by the brick and mortar model alone.
Significant points from Sisodia’s Addressal
- Infrastructure buildings ka mudda nahi hai (infrastructure is not the problem of buildings), but digitality and equality are the question.
- For the post-COVID education system, the IT industry would have to brace itself. For techno-heads as well as educators, this will entail another degree of upskilling.
- The National Capital Area is switching to a tech-backed continuous appraisal framework from the periodic evaluation system where a child is forced to wait for a three-hour exam after the end of a year.
- NEP 2020 speaks about some missed points that have not been addressed in the educational room yet. It was very sad to see that the expenditure contribution required by the NEP’s vision was omitted from the 2021 Union Budget. In comparison, the budget allocated to the field of education was reduced by Rs 6000 crore compared to last year.
Main takeaways from Amitabh Kant’s Addressal
- We must be vigilant not to create a digital gap when we move into digital education.
- In order to meet the 50 per cent GER goal set by NEP 2020, we need an additional 33 million higher education seats. Only by the bricks can this be done and the mortar model can not perform this mission alone.
- National Digital Education Architecture has been carried out to formalize the integration of digital education. This will lead to streamlining digital education