Please share a detailed history about your professional background and contribution to the education sector of Assam.
If I have to recount my professional life, I must go to back to 1988 when I started my journey as a subject teacher in Geography. Then I served in various positions in the Education Department of Assam. I served as Assistant Inspector Schools, Jorhat; Associate District Mission co- coordinator of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Assam, District Commissioner, Bharat Scouts and Guides, Jorhat, Assam. I provided my services as Secretary of SEBA for two years and also as the Secretary of Assam Higher Secondary Council. From 2014 I have been serving as Inspector of Schools in various districts of Assam and at present I am working as Inspector of Schools, Sivasagar District Circle.
From the very first day of my professional career I have been trying to contribute to the society and to the education system of Assam. Besides my regular responsibilities as an education officer I specially concentrate on the physical and mental health of our students. I actually visited many foreign countries like Malaysia , China, Bhutan and Nepal to take part in scouting programmes. As a result I got the opportunity to learn their educational system and implement many useful facets in our system. Scouting helps the students to become mentally strong and focus on their goals.
What in your view is the biggest challenge of our school education system? How can these be overcome?
In my professional career, I have observed that the biggest problems and challenges revolve in three areas. Reforming the educational system, improving quality education and reducing the dropout rate in schools are these three cardinal problem areas. I must say that for the last three decades, we have been going through the same age-old-system focusing only on the students' results, rather than evaluating their practical learning, which is much beneficial for the society. This system leads to the lack of quality education in our educational institutions and eventually creates a problem for the students when they have to compete at the national and international level. In case of dropout rates I must say, even though the numbers of school going children are increasing, the dropout rates are alarmingly high especially in the rural areas. I think, low literacy rate of the parents and socio- economic condition of the people has an impact on this.
To overcome these challenges a collective approach is required. It includes participation from government, society, teachers, parents and students. The government has already taken initiatives in this direction as the New Education Policy is being implemented. I think NEP will be formulated according to the needs of the time and it will be quite futuristic. But until and unless we change our mentality, nothing will be fruitful. Society should be developed in a way so that it can accept and assimilate the changes. A mindset which can be changed according to the demand of the time should be encouraged. The next step should be on the teachers' recruitment policy which should aim to include only trained teachers. The existing un- trained teachers should be provided good professional training. Parents should be made conscious about sending their children to schools rather than using them in household works. Strict supervision and inspection is needed to run the system smoothly. A lot of work needs to be done in ushering community realization and building collective onus/responsibility.
What have been some of the biggest achievement of our school education system in the last few decade?
I think increase of enrollment especially in the focus group areas like tea garden area, sar area, minority area; increase of literacy rate; consciousness regarding education and establishment of new schools and increasing the number of higher education institutions have clearly been some of the biggest achievements of our education system in the last two decades. I am quite happy to say that the focus group areas are scaling new heights in the field of education. The government has also established new schools specially in those areas and most of the children are now going to school. In the last two decades, the literacy rate has increased quite satisfactorily. People are becoming more conscious to send their children to schools and taking the initiative to establish new schools in their localities. The main improvement I have noticed in the increasing number of higher education institutions like Medical and Engineering College and technical and business institutions. Although the existing numbers are not sufficient, our students are getting benefitted to a great extent.
Please share your thoughts on the new system of school education that is being prepared by policy makers.
Our existing education policy is based on the model of 1986. Since then a lot has changed and the new system is the need of the day. I would say that it is rather late. As I have already mentioned that it is based according to the 1986 education policy, the current system is almost obsolete. New things must be added and course contents should be upgraded with the change of time. NEP is a broad idea, difficult to write about in a single note. I would like to take two key elements of NEP which I personally feel will be very helpful for the young generation. They are (i) focus on vocational education and using of technology in education, especially knowledge about computers. Vocational education leads to self-employment. It will reduce the unemployment to a great extent. China and South Korea are two Asian countries, who introduced vocational education in their system in the 90's and we can well see their formidable position in the 21st century, which is the age of technology. Therefore inclusion of technology in the education system and vocational education is the pressing need of our country now. Recently SEBA has introduced a mobile application app for the students of class IX and X to improve the English speaking quality of the students. This I think is a step to introduce latest technology among the students
What are some of the things that need to be done to improve the quality of education in government schools? What are some initiatives that have already been taken in this regard?
Quality education can only be provided by a quality teacher. Teachers should be trained professionally. Recruitment process of teachers should be clear without any external influences. It is a collective approach of teachers, parents and society. Parents and society must help the school in the process of teaching-learning. Government should also provide the basic needs of the schools. All these things must come together to improve the quality of education in government schools. I must say that in recent years the government has undertaken lots of initiatives in this regards. There is special focus on teachers' training. B.Ed. Degree is made compulsory for the new teachers. Teachers are being trained online through NISHTHA and DIKSHA Platforms. Integrated colleges are being established at the higher education levels. Society has lot of potential to influence the education system and the government is hence trying to involve the society in education system.
Elaborate on the importance of extracurricular activities in the school education system? How can the school education system be made more inclusive to accommodate the learning needs of specially abled children?
Extracurricular activities are a part of the education system. It is a part of our syllabus. But I have seen less amount of focus in this area. Extracurricular activities include sports, cultural programmes, various mathematical and engineering contests etc. It works as a veritable platform for the students to show their hidden talents. It makes them mentally strong and improves their decision making ability. Physical and mental healths are complementary to each other. Extracurricular activities eventually and invariably result in better academic performances too. Most importantly students can choose them as carrier options according to their interests.
Inclusive education is a special feature of the new education policy. NEP does not advocate for a special school system for specially abled children. To make the present education system inclusive in nature we need to focus on some key areas. The first thing is social reform. As long as society treats these children as different, we will not get any success. People must consider these children like other normal children. The second thing that needs to be improved is school infrastructure. School needs trained teachers for imparting inclusive education. Adequate facilities must be provided in the school. Regular parent teacher meetings should be arranged to gauge the real scenario of progress.
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