Context: The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how people, places and non-human entities and processes are connected and this should be reflected in the education system also.

Present Pyramidal Structure
The Indian education system can broadly be considered as a pyramidal structure:

• Pre-primary level: 5-6 years of age.
• Primary (elementary) level: 6-14 years of age. The elementary-level education is guaranteed by our constitution under Article 21 A. For this level, the government has introduced Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) under the Right To Education(RTE) Act.
• Secondary level: Age group between 14-18. For this level, the government has extended SSA to secondary education in the form of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.
• Higher education: generally of three levels: UG→ PG→ MPhil/PhD. To cater to the requirements of higher education, the government has introduced Rashtriya Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan(RUSA).

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) related to Education

• Goal 4 of SDG: Education for all – ensures equitable, inclusive and quality education along with the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.

Issues with Indian Education system
Problems with current school education system

• Access to Education:The RTE Act provides for free and compulsory education to all children from the age of six to 14 years. Despite advances in expanding access to education, participation rates are still not universal, particularly in rural regions and among lower castes and other disadvantaged groups
• Rote learning: The Kasturi Ranjan committee observed that the current education system solely focuses on rote learning of facts and procedures. According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), 2018, only 16% of children in Class 1 in rural areas can read the text at the prescribed level, while almost 40% cannot even recognize letters.
• Incoherence in curriculum: the school curriculum in India remain incoherent and does not focus on interconnectedness of the natural world with our everyday lives. This hampers the learning process of students.
• Marks based evaluation system: Marks play the most important role in deciding the future of children and this often comes down upon students as a burdening factor and often leads to students underperforming.
• Quality of Teachers: The school education system faces issues of low teacher to student ratio and quality of teachers. Teachers are often unequipped with modern pedagogical methods of teaching.

Problems with current higher education system:

• Access: According to the All India Survey on Higher Education, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education in India is 25.8% in 2017-18. The Kasturi Ranjan Committee identified lack of access as a major reason behind low intake in higher education. It is much behind that of USA (85.8%) and China (43.39%)
• Poor investment in research and innovation: According to Economic Survey 2017-18, only 0.6-0.7% of GDP has been spent on research in India in the last two decades. This is very low as compared to 2.4% of USA, China-2.1%, Japan-3.58% and South korea-4.29%
• Curriculum and Employability: The curriculum remains outdated, theoretical in nature with low scope for creativity. There is a gap between industry requirements and curriculum leading to low employability of graduates. The government noted in 2017 that 60% of engineering graduates remain unemployed, while a 2013 study of 60,000 university graduates in different disciplines found that 47% of them were unemployable in any skilled occupation.

Government Initiatives:
For School Education:

• Samagra Shiksha: A comprehensive program subsuming Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• UDISE+ : It is an updated online real time version of UDISE (Unified District Information on School Education)
• 70-point Performance Grading Index (PGI)to assess areas of deficiency in each state’s school education system so that targeted interventions can be made at every level from pedagogy to teacher training.
• ICT driven initiatives: Shaala Sidhi (to enable all schools to self-evaluate their performance), e-Pathshala (providing digital resources such as textbooks, audio, video, periodicals etc.) and Saransh (an initiative of CBSE for schools to conduct self-review exercises).

For Higher Education

• Revitalizing Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE): It aims to increase investments in research and related infrastructure in premier educational institutions.
• IMPRINT India: It is a joint initiative of IITs and IISc to address major and science and technology challenges in India.
• Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM): E-education platform
• Ucchtar Aavishkar Abhiyaan: To promote industry-specific need-based research
• Institution of Eminence: It aims to develop 20 world-class teaching and research institutions

Suggested Reforms

Education Curriculum

• School education curriculum should focus on interconnectedness of the natural world with everyday lives in order to equip students with rising environmental challenges including climate change.
• The higher education curriculum should focus on industrial demands and skill development to increase the employability of Indian graduates.
• Learning: Schools and colleges should introduce conceptual learning rather than focusing on rote learning.
• Evaluation system: The focus of evaluation should be classroom participation by a student, projects, communication and leadership skills and extra-curricular activities.

Teacher’s Training: The recommendations of National educational Policy 2019 should be followed-

• The practice of ‘para-teachers’ (unqualified, contract teachers) should stopped across the country by 2022.
• All teachers should be able to move into either educational administration or teacher education after a minimum number of years of teaching experience.
• Merit-based scholarships to be instituted to undertake the four-year integrated B.Ed. program
• Investment in research and innovation: A National Research Foundation (NRF) should be set up as an autonomous body of the Government of India to boost investment in research and innovation.

Road Ahead

• In the larger domain of human capital, education and skill development has a big role. Census 2011 data on literacy gives us a quick perspective on the current status of education. However, education is not just about literacy.
• RTE act acts as a cornerstone for Indian education. Nevertheless, it is the various education policies, charted out since Independence, which led to the historical evolution of the education system in India.
• The results of these policies can be said to be mixed. There is still a lot of room for improvement.
• There are various government initiatives targeting each level of the education system in India. Higher Education System is given a greater focus these days.
• The latest update in the education sector is the Kasturirangan report or draft new education policy. It captures the need of the hour for reforming education.
• The modern Indian education system is crying for a revamp. The draft New Education Policy (NEP) is the right moment to take stock of its past history, achievements, misgivings and to chart out a futuristic education plan for 21st century India.