The routine is familiar to all of us. Weekly tests, monthly assessments, and term examinations and finally the progress report. My kids have completed their Term 1 examinations, while weekly tests continue without a break.
As a parent, I understand the importance of assessment, as it keeps both the parents as well as the teachers updated about the understanding of the topics. But watching this continuous cycle made me think, ‘Are we preparing our children for life, or mainly preparing them for exams?’
I believe that marks are important but I also believe they can’t be the only measure of education.
The real world will ask our kids questions that may not have answers in their textbooks. It will require them to communicate, think independently, solve problems, make decisions, use technology, manage money, work with others, handle failure, and adapt to change.
These, I think, are the skills that will help them throughout their lives.
Term 1 for my kids was followed by a Parent-Teacher Meeting, which in our case (in Kashmir) again focuses more on marks, grades, and academic performance. Instead of asking questions like, How many marks did my child get? Shouldn’t we ask ‘what can we do together to help our child grow holistically?’
Our questions must revolve around the strengths, communication, confidence, interest and decision-making of a child apart from academics. We must understand that our children need practical knowledge alongside academic knowledge.
The absence of financial literacy in mainstream education makes our children bad at saving, spending, budgeting and financial decision-making. Young people graduate without understanding how money works; how to manage it, invest it, or grow it.
At the same time, they get fewer opportunities to develop entrepreneurial thinking, not necessarily to become entrepreneurs but to learn initiative, creativity, innovation, resilience and problem-solving.
Our kids must learn to use technology wisely and responsibly. They should be encouraged to ask questions rather than simply memorise answers.
Moreover, our education system needs career counselling in schools. Students should be guided about different career options from an early age. This can help them choose the right career based on their interests and skills.
National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is indeed a good initiative because it talks about holistic development, experiential learning, skills, vocational education etc but a policy can bring change only when its ideas are actually implemented in our classrooms.
A key pillar of NEP 2020 is the transformation of the teacher’s role from an instructor to a facilitator and mentor. This shift is crucial. Students today need guidance, not just instruction; exploration, not just explanation. But this transformation depends heavily on the availability of the right educators.
We need to recruit and train the trainers who bring practical knowledge into the classroom, encourage curiosity and innovation, guide students through real-world problem-solving and move beyond textbook-driven teaching.
Without equipping teachers with the right skills and mindset, the goals of NEP 2020 cannot be fully realised.
NEP 2020 has laid a strong foundation for the future of education in India. But a policy, no matter how visionary, can only succeed when it is lived in classrooms, not just documented in guidelines.
NEP has given us a direction; now it is up to us (the parents, the teachers and the schools) to turn that direction into reality.
(The author is the Managing Director, Zum Zum Food Products. Email: tajamul12@yahoo.co.in)
