Need for discipline in the university

The nation needs discipline and peace in the university campuses. It can only flourish with dedicated academicians and meritorious learners. Universities have been established to impart knowledge. Their role is most important in making the nation and society- wise and well-informed. 

However, in the name of freedom of expression and autonomy, their most important aim of knowledge has weakened. Now, academicians, as well as the learners, want that the government should finance them fully and leave them free of any government guideline and regulation. They must have complete autonomy about all the matters.

So many shoddy forums and institutes have come-up to misguide or instigate the teachers and learners about the so-called academic freedom and autonomy. One such institute the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI) has established The Academic Freedom Index that described that academic autonomy and freedom has been under attack in universities in many nations. Here, it would be in the fitness of things the famous comment by Albert Einstein, "By academic freedom, I understand the right to search for truth and to publish and teach what one holds to be true. This right also implies a duty: One must not conceal any part of what one has recognised to be true."

All want liberal financial support by the government, certificate and degrees with high grades, good hostel facilities, flexible time frame, quotas, scholarships, government jobs with high perks and no work and whatnot but nobody wants any duty, restrictions, discipline and rule of law.

During the last few years, vested interests have turned the university into a place only for freebies, strikes, dharnas, demonstrations, the boycott of classes and exams and shut down. Their only aim is to de-stabilize the system. These elements want their complete say right from admissions to the appointment of the Vice-chancellor and professors. They only want academic freedom and institutional autonomy but no to regulatory strictness. They involve politicians, media, caste and communal leaders, NGOs, professional activists in the name of academic freedom and public debate.

The nation needs to understand this deep conspiracy, which will disturb the workings and future of Indian universities in India and across the world. At the very outset, it should be clear to all that if academicians and learners want academic freedom as fundamental and the most important issue, then they should also arrange their financial resources. They should not look at the taxpayers' money to fill their coffers for their enjoyment. They should understand their duties as teachers and students. There was a time when the nation took pride in its universities and educational institutions. However, this excellence has been ruined in the name of freedom of speech and autonomy.

It is good to enjoy the freedom of expression but it must be free from ideological manipulations. Stakeholders must understand their duty with discipline in a democracy promoting knowledge and morals. As educators should understand their complex role as a guide to society. They should not be swayed by the ideological pressures: favouring one or disfavouring the other. They should design academic freedom within the academic context. They should not follow the historical, social, political and economical aspects blindly.

For this, recruitment should be done by the faculty. Appraisal and assessment of faculty and staff ought to be done by regular and senior faculty within the university. They must be seniority cum performance-based, following their contribution to teaching and the institution. The authority for decision and policy-making must be vested in the college or university's senior-most faculty, which includes the VC, principals, deans and professors appointed based on seniority.  Outsiders, including politicians, bureaucrats, donors, and faculty on long leave should be excluded from this process.  Internal governance of a college and university have to be led by the regular teaching faculty and not anybody from outside the university. Even faculty on long leave in the name of projects, research, visiting fellows etc should be denied all the promotions and offices.

Internal and senior faculty members should be appointed as Vice-chancellors, principals, deans, professors and head of the departments permanently. They will be better equipped to tackle and solve the problems of the universities and colleges in a much better way.  

Preparation of programmes, courses, curriculum, teaching methods, and administration of colleges/departments ought to be within the university administration as per recognized system, rules and regulations of the university with all powers of decision-making controlled by the faculty and staff of the university. Internal evaluation system and internal assessment system should be discouraged and discontinued. All the decisions are taken following the laws, rules, regulations and guidelines given by the government and regulatory bodies. Nobody from outside the university system is encouraged to exercise control or influence decisions and workings.

The emphasis should be on teaching. Research and project work should not be encouraged at the cost of teaching and classes. In such matters, the head of the department's ought to have full freedom and academic autonomy. Those faculty members who're involved in projects, academic research ought to be treated as junior to those who are involved in teaching and institutional work. There should be separate institutions for research work and publications. It is commonly seen that incompetent teachers hide their incompetency behind research, projects and publication.

With academic freedom, the university system should give meaningful importance to higher regulatory bodies. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has visualized substantive regulatory reforms to empower Indian universities. Multiple stakeholders for governance should be reduced. Multiple stakeholders just create confusion, corruption and delays and achieve nothing.

No university can function in an honestly autonomous manner without the support of the government. NEP 2020 is very clear about this. There will be a regulatory framework to ensure integrity, efficiency, transparency and resource generation. For research, innovation and new ideas separate research institutions are envisaged in NEP 2020.  

However, for decision-making one has to give acceptance and legitimacy to the seniority and commitment to teaching and institution should be the hallmark. Politics, strikes, nepotism, boycott and favouritism  and disagreements lead to acrimonious engagements that can vitiate the academic and intellectual and academic ecosystem, and universities and colleges must be cautious against that.

The vision and imagination of NEP 2020, if implemented honestly, will enable Indian universities to endow with world-class education, while promoting excellence and contributing to nation-building. 'Atmanirbharta', for the society and nation, institutions, especially educational institutions and universities, is tangled with the fundamental principles of freedom, excellence, autonomy and governance and India will be 'Vishvaguru' once again.

 

Delink research and teaching

 Higher Education system in India is facing so many challenges. The biggest one is quality or the standard of teaching.  In the New Education Policy 2020, the biggest thrust is on research. This makes one believe that developing a big pool of quality research and teaching is enough to conquer the fort.

Teaching is the hinge around which all the system of colleges/universities revolves but hardly anyone is talking about the component of 'Leadership' in the teachers. The Fortune 500 survey found that only 5 to 8 percent of managers are effective. So this is also applicable to teachers and due to this ailment, education is acutely ill in India.

Instead of improving the quality of teachers and teaching, the main emphasis in NEP 2020 is to improve the standard of research in colleges and universities. But this is a faulty notion. Colleges and universities are established to teach. They are not research institutions. College and University teachers are poor researchers. Failed and poor teachers opt for projects, research grants and visiting fellowships to hide their failures and grab fat benefits with comforts and promotions. Many such teachers are on leave for years and decades and their contribution to the parent institutions is big ZERO. They manipulate projects and research grants for years and decades.

When one thinks about the great teachers who were great leaders too, the list is very small. Vishvamita, Dronacharya, Parshuram, Chanakya, Rabindranath Tagore, Maharshi Karve, Dayanand  Saraswati, and Dr.S.Radhakrishnan only. So why do teachers lack leadership now?

The government should open a pure research institute. Teachers should not be involved in the projects and researches. They are appointed to teach and are given fat salaries to teach. So, they must teach. Teachers who do not teach and are involved in projects and research for years and decades are a big burden on the institutions. The eco-system is disturbed by such teachers. 

The NEP 2020 endeavours to make a pattern change. So teachers should not be disturbed. They must teach only. This is a big task. The NEP has recommended opening research institutes. So in each district of the country, specialized research institutes should be established. Multi-disciplinary research institutes should not be encouraged. Less developed states like Uttrakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, the North-East states, Laddakh, Jammu, Andaman and Nicobar and hill states should be given priority.

The success of Multi-disciplinary universities (MDU) institutions is very doubtful. Most of such universities have almost crumbled. Teaching calls for a high level of skills and knowledge. This needs small classes, monitoring the progress and difficulties, clarification of concepts, and motivating students with providing solutions. Teachers should use technologies, pedagogy, mentoring and career counselling.

Setting up of National Research Foundation (NRF) is a very good idea. Teachers and scholars who are interested in projects and research should be transferred permanently to these NRFs so that they may not disturb the teaching in the colleges and play havoc with the future of the students for their gains.

The collaborative teaching for creating effective eco-system for teaching that generates cooperation amongst teachers, students, industry and government should be used. Specialized NRF should also be established for quality research to address the need of society. Research skills are greatly different from teaching skills. This mixture of 'biryani' of research and teaching led to ineffective teachers and poor research in the nation. If HE, research and vision of the NEP have to be fruitful, we need to delink teaching and research.

This cocktail will spoil NEP. Such lovers of 'biryani' and cocktail of teaching and research should not be given any promotion like from 'Associate Professor to Professor.' The shallow publication of articles in journals has neither any value for teachers nor students. They are personal benefits to the teachers. Only dedicated, regular and senior-most genuine teachers should be given promotions. It will be a miscarriage of justice if such cocktail or 'biryani' teachers are promoted from 'Associate Professors to Professors.

Due to the poor standard of teachers, no Indian university ranks among the top 200  universities of the world although historically the country had excellent universities like Nalanda, Takshashila and Patliputra. The nation must think seriously about this aspect. For this, the role of teachers and researchers should not be blurred. It must be demarked.

Sadly, there is no sign that the pattern is possible to modify shortly. Not surprisingly, all want to maintain the status quo since it hand out their agenda well.

The nation had a good foundation as early as September 1944 when an 'Indian MIT' was set up. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, was envisaged on the pattern of MIT and started functioning in 1951. It truly had, with the best faculty and students available. Over the years, as the number of IITs proliferated, these have become outmoded institutions.

Until recently, appointments in IITs were strictly based on merit. IITs became a respected global brand because they selected teachers who were the best in India. With the proliferation of IITs and quota system for appointments, the overall quality of future IIT teachers declined. Now, India has 21 IITs but not a single MIT as in America. Overall, in IITs, nearly 30% of faculty positions are lying vacant due to a lack of quality teachers.

Compare this with China. In 1998, the government of China decided to upgrade only nine universities out of 2100 universities in China. Those nine are now globally among the best universities. After this phenomenal success, China increased a few numbers. Again they are the world-class universities. Germany has also followed the same policies very successfully. In India, in near future, there is no possibility to produce world-class universities. Indian politicians, for the sake of short-term gains, have killed the goose that laid golden eggs!

To achieve excellence within NEP 2020, the quality of teachers and teaching has to be improved significantly so that genuinely deserving teachers are rewarded and students receive the skills they need for employment.

Campuses-Now and then

 

Nearly 40-45 years back, sometimes students and teachers protested or went on strike. They were always afraid of police or authorities. Times have changed. A few months back, the nation saw a protest by a few hundred people at Shaheen Bagh near Jamia Milia University but police and the authorities were afraid to act.

Were they students or teachers? No, they were dons, most of them wearing designer and branded clothes and using expensive devices but enjoying highly subsidized education. They were demanding the withdrawal of CAA/NRC Acts, passed by the Parliament. Moreover, the highest court of the land also refused to stay the bill.

Placards, held high. Volatile slogans rose. Students forced to boycott the classes, and there were hardly any studies while their dharna (sit-in) was going on. This incident was enough to give a snapshot of the working of our universities over the past 40 fears. To a point unimaginable in the eighties, they become a safe citadel of Left-wingers, Islamists and other newly emerged caste extremist groups in the name of social justice.

This is a tremendous change. Nearly four decades back, less than 5 percent of school pass-out went to universities. Now, almost more than 50 percent of youth attend institutions of higher studies. So the cultural brainwashing is going on and there are noteworthy sequences for our society and nation.

The idea of growing higher education which was initiated by Late Mrs.Indira Gandhi and spread by Dr, Man Mohan Singh was a noble idea, offering opportunities to maximum citizens which had earlier been the monopoly of a few people.

Now, they are demanding every benefit without any merit. They are disgruntled with everything. This was not seen earlier that these fast-growing institutions are in the grip of Leftist dons, who lure the youth with unworkable ideas. Most of these ideologies are not teaching academics and of doubtful merit.

An insight into the nature of our activists turned academicians was provided by the letters and signature campaign by academics to the government and media. Most of the subjects and topics have neither to do anything with education nor with academics and universities. Even they defend the terrorists, rioters and hate elements.

These disgruntled signatories blame government, parliament, judiciary, media, police, authorities etc if they do not toe to their ideology. These zombies in India attack from cinema to the counterculture. Most of these set hands are always busy in pro and anti missive. Universities may not be specializing in Harry Potter courses, but the fact that there is a predominance of Left-wing idealogy at the campuses can’t be questioned.

The long list goes on. But hardly any of the signatories could be identified and described with their eminent academics or teaching works. And yet they draw fat salaries and grants only to work for their parties and play politics. Ironically, good numbers of them have their own NGOs and getting crores as grants only for disruptive and obstructive activities.  

Now such academics have thrived in lesser-known universities and colleges even in polytechnics. They are indoctrinating lakhs of students and large numbers of them pay sizable tuition fees. There is nearly 70 or 80 percent of humanities and language teachers are inclined to the Left ideology. The RTE and expansion of education have created a big Left-wing radical column that hates the values of those who develop the institutions and pay for their fat wages.

A number of central universities in Delhi and elsewhere are apt examples of this kind. On account of this unique ideology, it is regarded as a freak, indulges in a left politics and shunned by others. Most of the heads appointed there are certain to be a someone of the Left-wing. In fact, a non-left distinguished person, no longer become a head there easily. When a new perfect candidate of the non-Left family emerges is disregarded.

This is the way that more and more Left-wing dons choose ever more Left-wing college heads, and a self-sustaining ring is formed from which anybody with even a little non-Left-wing symptoms is debarred for the rest of time. This is not right. Our public-funded institutions should serve society and not the parties. Our universities are not financed by the Left-wingers, so why should they serve the Left-wing?

The nation needs McCarthyism type purification. Late Senator Joseph McCarthy started this purgation in America in the fifties. Presidents Harry S. Truman was also a strong supporter of this kind of movement. By misguiding Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Groups (SEDG), they extend their territories.

There must be a balance.  But now Marxist dons teach History, 20th-century novels and Shakespeare as well. Humanities need an exchange of ideas. But those are taught exclusively Left-wing prism, minds will be shrunken and intolerant. 

During anti-CAA/NRC disturbances, evidence for this can be found in the rising intolerance towards Right-wing or non-connected groups in our universities.  Others are subjected to unspeakable bullying. Even teachers are subjected to atrocious insults.

Academicians’ signature campaign or letter writing is just like funny Tik-Tok games. It is much more difficult to Right-wing teachers writing or restoring a signature campaign, though some teachers did recently circulate a pro-CAA/NRC letter. If you want peace, it's wise to keep silent and smile on everything lest it is blown off.

This silence has built up our universities a vast new army of Left-leaning academics — many of them not very brilliant or scholarly, intolerant of conflicting views of others. They claim to fight the ‘communal’ and ‘caste’ history and politics but they cash on this and sustain on the grants of the governments, annexed from the eye-watering public through taxes which citizens are now forced to pay.

What is the cure of this malaise? Students cannot speak because they are also prisoners of this ‘artificial intelligence.’ Political action may backfire. We must pray that our universities don't produce rioters and disruptionistss. This good-intentioned expansion of education has been ruined by the politicians and resulted in the formation of a big Left-wing column, found a new constituency in Muslims but indignantly oppose the values and idea of India who pay their fat salaries and lucrative grants.

A lot more need to be done in the New NEP

 

Although the New Education Policy 2020 (NEP) makes a lot of progressive changes it requires so many updates. The Union cabinet is acting very fast. Ram Temple Bhoomi pujan, the arrival of the first fleet of Rafale fighters and now NEP2020. The 1986 policy will be replaced by the NEP 2020 on that work was going on since 2016 after the T.S.R. Subramanian Committee submitted its report to the Union government.

In June 2017, the K.Kasturirangan committee was constituted by the government which submitted its Draft NEP in 2019. The main intention is to integrate the Indian education with the global system, reduced emphasis on 'rote-learning', emphasis on rationalisation and instil confidence with nationalism among learners. It has also recommended that the name of the ministry of human resource development will be the ministry of education.

The NEP 2020 stresses to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and will try to stop the drop-outs. It aims to bring two crore children to the schools. It recommends to develop infrastructure, create innovative teaching centres, appoint only trained teachers and counsellors, encourage open schools and adult literacy programmes.

10+2 system will be replaced by a 5+3+3+4 structure. The schooling will have 3 years pre-schooling for the children 3 to 8 years of age in Anganwadi centres. This will be followed by 12 years of schooling. Now, the government has extended its outreach to pre-schooling, including nursery education and kindergarten.

The NCERT will be the nodal body to frame a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education (NCPFECCE) for children up to the age of eight.  The ministries of Education, Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, and Tribal Affairs will be involved in this work.

The focus has been put on training children with "21st-century skills". There will be flexibility in choosing the subjects. Rigid separation between Arts and Sciences, curricular and extracurricular subjects or vocational and academic streams will be done away. There is another proposal to do away annual examinations and will be replaced by a modular form in Grades 3, 5, and 8, 10 and 12.

PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a new National Assessment Centre will be created to set standards of education. The NEP also includes setting up Special Education Zones to help socially and economically disadvantaged children and to set up the Gender Inclusion Fund. Now, in Mid-Day-Meal programme, breakfast will also be served in government schools to tackle child malnourishment.

A common National Professional Standards for Teachers (NPST) will be set up for the recruitment of teachers. A School Quality Assessment and Accreditation Framework (SQAAF) will also be created, according to the NEP 2020.

The biggest point is that that education up to Class 5, and if possible until Class 8, will be given in the mother tongues of students. Classical languages like Sanskrit, Pali, and Prakrit have also been proposed at all levels. The NEP says that "no language will be imposed on any student".

In the flexible curriculum, students have the choice to select through an interdisciplinary approach with multiple exit points in a four-year undergraduate programme. Proposed post-graduate will be of one-year duration. M.Phil programme has been scrapped. Multidisciplinary Education and Research Universities (MERUs) and a National Research Foundation will be set up, according to NEP. There will be the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) and merging all other regulatory bodies like the University Grants Commission and the All India Council for Technical Education.

Boards of Governors will be appointed to oversee the day-to-day functioning of different universities. Graded autonomy will be given to the colleges. Emphasis has been given to digitalisation of higher education. An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will also be set up to the use of technology in college education. The NEP 2020 says that the central and state governments will try to raise spending on the education sector to 6% of the GDP.

The NEP 2020 tries to de-bureaucratize education by giving governance powers to academicians. The policy recommends including more academicians in decision-making bodies. It recommends preparing a category of educational administrators among the teachers — the idea behind this move is to minimise the dependence on the administrative services.

In NEP almost education is forced upon children. Forced education is worst than child labour. So, there should not be a compulsory education. A week and non-serious students should be ousted from the system to give for space to meritorious students. If a student fails to secure a minimum of 36% marks in every paper should be ousted from the school. This will also reduce the overcrowding of campuses. Instead of quantity and numbers, attention should be on quality and merit. Un--academic and populist schemes like Mid-Day-Meal should be scrapped.

Post-graduate is a very important degree in India. One year post-graduate will lose its sheen. Post-graduate should have remained of two years duration. Similarly, M.Phil gives a comprehensive understanding of research. So, it should not have been scrapped.

Open schools in parts

 

After the lockdown phase, now Unlock India Phase is going on and being discussed widely. The government is very open to suggestion and adopting democratic ways. Human Resource Development Ministry, now renamed as Ministry of Education, has asked the state government and union territory authorities to take the suggestions and feedback from the parents about the opening of school and sending their children to schools.

After the feedback and suggestions, the MHRD will convey its opinion to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Feedback, suggestion and discussion are very important and very necessary in a democracy. But too much emphasis on feedback, suggestions and discussion spoil the system. This is just the overdose of democracy and human rights.

Authorities can gradually open the school around Vijayadashami or Dussehra. Authorities should keep the size of classes small and ensure social distancing. For example, if there are 60 students in the class and school has five days a week. Then the class can be divided into five parts and every day only 12 students should be called for the classes. The school will be opened and this will also ensure social distancing. With the improvement in the situation, a student can be called twice a week. But for the Nursery and Primary students, there should not be any opening till December.

Online classes are not good for students. Teachers can only finish the syllabus only on paper. There will be no response from the learner. Students can wait for a few more months. Most of the students generally drop for years preparing for IITs, Medical or Civil Services etc. Already in the Unlock-3 guidelines announced on 29 July, MHA has ordered the educational institutions and coaching institutes to remain closed till 31 August 2020. This is a very good decision. Further guidelines are still awaited.

Vibhor Bhardwaj, father of a Prep student laments, "For we parents it's is a very difficult situation where we are the loser in all the ways. I can't send my son to school fearing the deadly virus. But at home, I have to pay full fees plus arrange another nurse to sit with my son for homeschooling and online classes as we both are working parents." Moreover, most of the parents do not have the necessary gadgets nor are our teachers exposed to this type of education. Since, the nation never experienced such a situation in the past, to equip with all the effective and easy methods to address such a situation would be a very tough challenge.

Although teachers and supporting staffs are losing their jobs, it is not advisable to the government to open the schools at least up to 5th standard until the situation becomes normal. Educational institutions should be the last priority to open because all the educational institutions are highly overcrowded due to RTE and almost no detention system. Schemes like Mid Day Meal should be completely scrapped which can spread the virus. Freebies should also be stopped because large numbers of students take admissions only to grab such freebies. This is also very necessary to reduce the number of students. We must protect the health and safety of kids because their immunity is very weak.

There are many unanswered questions and worries for the parents and the authorities. But all are united that schools should not be opened in the midst of the pandemic. Another worry is that still there is no treatment for the virus. Even if distancing is strictly maintained what about travelling, touching books and notebooks, shared study tables and chairs, shared water taps, toilets etc. it is impossible to clean and sensitize everything in the schools. In government schools, there is a tremendous shortage of help-staff. Moreover, children don't understand the seriousness of the situation, and they may not be regular in washing their hands and maintaining distancing. Education can be delayed but can't risk life for education.  Few months delays or a year's delay is not a big deal.

 

 

Love thy mother-tongue

This year results of UP Board were a shocker. Hindi answer sheets were a shocking eye-opener about the poor grip of students over their mother-tongue. They wrote Hindi words in English words in the Devanagari script. Apart from this, they were pierced with poor comprehension, wrong grammar and incorrect punctuation. Riddled with these nearly 8 lakh students failed in X and XII in Hindi although teachers are very liberal in marking nowadays.

Out of 28.75 lakh students, appeared for the Hindi and primary Hindi in X exams, 8.30 % failed in the exam. Similarly, out of 23.75 lakh students, appeared for XII exams, 11.3 or nearly 2.7 lakh failed in the mother-tongue exam, as per the data released by the board.

This is a regular occurrence. During the years, this number of failed student in Hindi has been increasing in the state which is the birthplace of Brij Bhasha, Khadi Boli, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundelkhandi and birthplace of so many greatest poet and writers.

Frequent use of slangs, wrong Hindi, acronyms and jargon on social media is also responsible for this fall. Wrong English and wrong Hindi or 'Hinglish' has become very widespread among the new generation. So, Hindi grammar, spelling and other rules are not at all cared.

In the newly reformed system of education, too much emphasis is on English. States care for regional languages. Even Urdu has more supporters than Hindi. So in this deeper game, Hindi is the victim. Hindi is not an important language for competitions and job prospects. Even many students do not know the days of the week in Hindi. Hardly anybody knows the Hindi alphabets (varnamala). Students take tuitions of all the subjects and ignore Hindi. There are thousands of coaching institutes for English, Science, Computers and other competitive exams but none for the Hindi.

Teachers are also responsible for this decay in the mother tongue. They are incapable to teach the intricacies of the language. Merit is hardly considered while selecting teachers. Even teachers can be seen struggling with the grammar and spelling system of Hindi. They find it difficult to explain the poetry and drama to the students.

In the joint family system, grandparents and other extended family members used to teach, reading, writing, storytelling and educational games to the children and they were a part of the family environment. Children learnt several aspects of language reading and writing. Now, all the time modern parents are busy with the laptop and mobiles and they have no time for kids to teach.

There are thousands of English schools. There are thousands of schools of local languages. There are thousands of madrasas teaching Urdu. Unfortunately, there is hardly any school purely based on Hindi. On the contrary, there are many English schools those punish students if they speak Hindi.

For the good knowledge of Hindi, one must have adequate knowledge of Sanskrit. Unfortunately due to the apathy of the governments, Sanskrit is almost a dead language. Teachers, as well as students, should have good knowledge of Sanskrit too, for a good command over Hindi. Teachers should be appointed who have good command over Sanskrit for teaching Hindi. Use of Hindi dictionary and Hindi newspapers and magazines should be encouraged. With this dictations should be given in Hindi.

Authorities should also pay attention to quality education. In India, the emphasis is only on the number of students and not on the quality of the students. As a result of this almost one-fifth of the total population of the country is in the schools. Nearly 25 crores students are studying at schools. But quality education is nowhere to be seen.

Monitoring schools, appointments of meritorious teachers, compositions of classes, infrastructure, facilities to the teachers etc are ignored and neglected. Apart from this politicians and reformists impose their agenda on education. All these have harmed education and standard of schools.

Some un-academic work like Mid Day Meal, Census, survey, election duties, frequent transfer of the teachers etc is also responsible for the poor show by students. All such things should immediately be done away so that teachers can pay complete attention to students.

Since this is an age of internet and IT, the government should develop good and easy apps and fonts in Hindi and teachers should popularize those apps and fonts among the students. Hindi stories and games based on ancient Indian scriptures like the Gita, Ramayana, and Mahabharata etc should be made and they should be part of the syllabus. In admissions and competitive exams, additional marks should be given to those students and candidates who have Hindi and Sanskrit at the school level. Moreover, Hindi is not only a language but it is a strength of national integration and unity.

Open schools in parts

After the lockdown phase, now Unlock India Phase is going on and being discussed widely. The government is very open to suggestion and adopting democratic ways. Human Resource Development Ministry, now renamed as Ministry of Education has asked the state government and union territory authorities to take the suggestions and feedback from the parents about the opening of school and sending their children to schools.

After the feedback and suggestions, the MHRD will convey its opinion to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). Feedback, suggestion and discussion are very important and very necessary in a democracy. But too much emphasis on feedback, suggestions and discussion spoil the system. This is just the overdose of democracy and human rights.

Authorities can gradually open the school around Vijayadashami or Dussehra. Authorities should keep the size of classes small and ensure social distancing. For example, if there are 60 students in the class and school has five days a week. Then the class can be divided into five parts and every day only 12 students should be called for the classes. The school will be opened and this will also ensure social distancing. With the improvement in the situation, a student can be called twice a week. But for the Nursery and Primary students, there should not be any opening till December.

Online classes are not good for students. Teachers can only finish the syllabus only on paper. There will be no response from the learner. Students can wait for a few more months. Most of the students generally drop for years preparing for IITs, Medical or Civil Services etc. Already in the Unlock-3 guidelines announced on 29 July, MHA has ordered the educational institutions and coaching institutes to remain closed till 31 August 2020. This is a very good decision. Further guidelines are still awaited.

Vibhor Bhardwaj, father of a Prep student laments, "For we parents it's is a very difficult situation where we are the loser in all the ways. I can't send my son to school fearing the deadly virus. But at home, I have to pay full fees plus arrange another nurse to sit with my son for homeschooling and online classes as we both are working parents." Moreover, most of the parents do not have the necessary gadgets nor are our teachers exposed to this type of education. Since, the nation never experienced such a situation in the past, to equip with all the effective and easy methods to address such a situation would be a very tough challenge.

Although teachers and supporting staffs are losing their jobs, it is not advisable to the government to open the schools at least up to 5th standard until the situation becomes normal. Educational institutions should be the last priority to open because all the educational institutions are highly overcrowded due to RTE and almost no detention system. Schemes like Mid Day Meal should be completely scrapped which can spread the virus. Freebies should also be stopped because large numbers of students take admissions only to grab such freebies. This is also very necessary to reduce the number of students. We must protect the health and safety of kids because their immunity is very weak.

There are many unanswered questions and worries for the parents and the authorities. But all are united that schools should not be opened in the midst of the pandemic. Another worry is that still there is no treatment for the virus. Even if distancing is strictly maintained what about travelling, touching books and notebooks, shared study tables and chairs, shared water taps, toilets etc. it is impossible to clean and sensitize everything in the schools. In government schools, there is a tremendous shortage of help-staff. Moreover, children don't understand the seriousness of the situation, and they may not be regular in washing their hands and maintaining distancing. Education can be delayed but can't risk life for education.  Few months delays or a year's delay is not a big deal.