As a parent, I have been hoping for our education system to evolve with the changing times. Now with the kids at home from school for the last 6 months, everything around us has changed. We have moved to online learning, kids and teachers developing new skills to cope with the new normal.
The Change
So, when the New Education Policy (NEP) was announced on July 29, it heralded a new era. The primary objective for the change was to overhaul the country’s education system. It’s a welcomed change that aims to help the future generations adapt to the new age demands of education and career. It is a big step in India’s pursuit to become a “global knowledge super power”.
With an emphasis on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), the 10+2 structure of school curriculum is to be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively. What does that mean? It means that our kids will have more opportunities and will be able to hone other skills besides regular academics.
Opening New Horizons
Now while on the face of it, it appears to be extremely progressive and just what we needed, there are changes of which we are not fully sure how these going to pan out. My son along with the regular academic classes he has also taken up Spanish as a language that he wants to learn. He loves studying the language and I hope he doesn’t have to give it up. He opted for Spanish so that he could have a chance to learn a foreign language and it would open up new horizons for him if he decided to go abroad to study.
The breakup of the senior schooling looks very interesting and is designed keeping in mind the international academic structure. All graduation courses can be opted for in the form of both major and minor. For example – science students can have physics as the major and music as a minor. That gives my son the option to choose any combination. Students now will be much more empowered and have the opportunity to choose the subjects they wish to learn.
Opportunity To Discover What You Like
The new education policy offers the opportunity for every child to take up at least one vocational course and get exposed to several more. A sampling of important vocational crafts, such as carpentry, electric work, metalwork, gardening, pottery making and others as decided by States and local communities during middle school years. The hands-on experience that the children would get at such an early age will definitely go a long way in helping them discover their passion.
I am really fond of pottery and like to get my hands dirty when I get some time. But I didn’t know about this hobby of mine until I tried it out for the first time in my mid-twenties. Now with the option to opt for a vocational course my son has the opportunity to try out something different other than his regular academics and if he is lucky he might discover his passion as well.
A Digitally Adept Education Environment
A dedicated unit for the purpose of overseeing the building of digital infrastructures, digital content and capacity building will be created in the government to look after the e-education needs of both school and higher education. A comprehensive set of recommendations for promoting online education consequent to the recent rise in pandemics in order to ensure preparedness with alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not accessible has been taken care of by the policy.
What Does the Future Hold for My Kid
Depending on how this new policy starts panning out and when it starts coming into effect in schools is yet to be seen. Given the current modus operandi of schooling right now, the pandemic and now the changes in the education system the future looks bright but a little uncertain.
My husband and I want our kids to have an edge in this competitive world so that they have every career option available to them. Security is our foremost concern when it comes to financial decisions. We want to be sure that we are financially secure and can provide what our kids need to forge on ahead. My husband and I are very clear that we want the kids to know that we have their back and will always push them and equip them with ways to accomplish whatever they put their minds to. To enable our kids to live a life they aspire for, we have the confidence of a financial tool like life insurance. A life insurance helps us prepare for any sort of uncertainty in the future.
Family matters, especially when things are in a state of flux and we plan to be there with ours every step of the way. We need to be tayaar for what the future holds for us and our loved ones. Kyuki agar tayari sahi hai toh jeet pakki hai!!
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