Journal Press India^®

I am pleased to invite you for XXI Annual International Conference on the broad theme, “Achieving Excellence in Higher Education” and Seminar Session on “Quality of Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities” scheduled to be held from Jan. 4 to 5, 2020 at Deen Dayal Upadhayay College, University of Delhi, Dwarka, New Delhi, India

Indian education system is all set for dramatic change through the draft New Education Policy 2019 which is currently in the public domain and all stakeholders have been asked to send their comments so that it can  be improved further. “India is the  sixth largest economy now and we will reach five trillion in five-seven years taking us to fourth or fifth position. By 2030-2032 we will be the third largest economy at over ten trillion. Our ten trillion economy will not be driven by natural resources, but by knowledge resources”. NEP (2019)

India is committed for the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 where SDG4 seeks to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by 2030. Out of the seven targets of SDG4, five focus on quality education and learning outcomes. SDG4 is, therefore, an all-encompassing goal,  which is applicable to every nation attempting to bring quality of life to its citizens in a sustainable way, without degrading the environment.

The vision of India’s new education system has accordingly been crafted through NEP 2019 “to ensure that it touches the  life of each  and every citizen, consistent with their ability to contribute to many growing developmental imperatives of this country on the one hand, and towards creating a just and equitable society on the other”.

NEP 2019  has proposed the  “revision and revamping of all aspects of the  education structure, its regulation and governance, to create a new system that is aligned with the aspirational goals of 21st century education, while remaining consistent with India’s traditions and value systems”.

The historic Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted at the UN General Assembly in 1948, declared that “everyone has the right to education”. Article 26 in the Declaration stated that “education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages” and “elementary education shall be compulsory”, and that ‘education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms’. The idea that education must result in the ‘full development of the human personality’ continued to be reflected in influential reports such as that entitled ‘Learning: The Treasure Within’, which the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century chaired by Jacques Delors, submitted to UNESCO in 1996. The Report argued that “education throughout life was based on four pillars: i) Learning to know  – acquiring a body of knowledge and learning how to learn, so as to benefit from the opportunities education provides throughout life; ii) Learning to do – acquiring not  only an  occupational skill  but  also the competence to deal with many situations and work in teams, and a package of skills that enables one to deal  with the  various challenges of working life; iii) Learning to live together – developing an understanding of other people and an appreciation of interdependence in a spirit of respect for the values of pluralism, mutual understanding and peace; and iv) Learning to be – developing one’s personality and being able to act with autonomy, judgement and personal responsibility, while ensuring that education does not disregard any aspect of the potential of a person: memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities and communication skills”.

NEP 2019 emphasizes that “students must develop not only cognitive skills – both ‘foundational skills’ of literacy and numeracy and ‘higher-order’ cognitive skills such as critical thinking and problem solving skills – but also social and emotional skills, also referred to as ‘soft skills’, including culturalawareness and empathy, perseverance and grit, teamwork and leadership, among others. The process by which children and adults acquire these competencies is also referred to as Social and Emotional Learning (SEL).  Based on the developments that have taken place  in the world of cognitive science, there is now deep engagement with the  idea  that these social  and emotional competencies must be acquired by all learners and that all learners should become more academically, socially and emotionally competent”.

NEP 2019 recognizes that “it is important to conceive education in a more encompassing fashion, and this principle should inform and guide reforms in relation to the  reorientation of the  contents and processes of education. The available assessments on such an approach that integrate the humanities and arts with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) have showed positive learning outcomes”.

Although holistic education is not new to India which has been rightly captured in the NEP 2019 which states that, “the  aim  of education in  ancient India was  not  just the  acquisition of knowledge, as preparation for life in this world or for life beyond schooling, but for complete realization and liberation of the self. According to Swami Vivekananda, “Education is not the amount of information that we put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by heart a whole library. If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages of the world and encyclopedia are the greatest Rishis.” The Indian education system produced scholars like Charaka and Susruta, Aryabhata, Bhaskaracharya, Chanakya, Patanjali and Panini, and numerous others. They  made seminal contributions to world knowledge in diverse fields such as mathematics, astronomy, metallurgy, medical science and surgery, civil engineering and architecture, shipbuilding and navigation, yoga, fine arts, chess, and more.”

In order to strengthen research National Research Foundation (NRF) will be created that will focus on “funding research within the education system, primarily at colleges and universities. The Foundation will encompass the four broad areas of Sciences, Technology, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities. Besides strengthening the presently weak support that subjects such as the Social Sciences and the Humanities receive, NRF  will  also  bring in  cohesion among the  various research endeavours of multidisciplinary character”.

Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA)/National Education Commission (NEC) has been envisaged under the leadership of the Prime Minister to enable highest level of attention and synergy.

Integrated and holistic education is the need of the hour and we need to give our suggestions to the draft NEP 2019 so that it can be improved further like we need to develop measurement tools for measuring development of students, teachers, etc. This  may be called as Student Development Index, Faculty Development Index, etc. We need to recognize the Industry 4.0 revolution and need to make Education 4.0 accordingly. I invite each reader to read the NEP 2019 which is available on the following URL and share their opinion so that India can  leverage the  human capital. https://innovate.mygov.in/wp- content/uploads/2019/06/mygov15596510111.pdf

I present to you the current issue of DBR and request you to share your feedback to enable us to further improve the quality of DBR.

Rtn. Prof. Ajay Kr. Singh

Editor-in-Chief