Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

India is ignoring the necessity for strong capacity building of the many NGOs engaged in educational improvement. For about three decades now, a large number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are intensively engaged in the task of improving elementary education in the country. A paper in the Economic & Political Weekly of May 2005, titled How Large Is India’s Non-Profit Sector?, estimates about three million paid workers in the voluntary sector through 1.2 million organisations. The paper estimates that 20.4% of this workforce (about 6 lakh workers) is engaged in education. According to a newspaper report, “India has 31 lakh NGOs, more than double the number of schools” (August 1, 2015), the number of NGOs in the country was more than 31 lakh — more than double the number estimated in the above mentioned paper. With these data, it should be a safe guess to estimate that there are now more than 12 lakh NGO workers engaged in education (even if there could be only 50% of...

One of the key announcements of the new National Education Policy, NEP 2020 has been the break-down of the existing 10+2 structure and introduction of the 5+3+3+4 structure of School Education. The policy aims at transforming circular and pedagogical structure from the existing 10 years + 2 years to a more inclusive foundational to secondary stage transition.  While the actual system would not change, in terms of the years a child spends within the formal education system in the country at school level, the new structure brings into fold the already existing play schools within the ambit of ‘formal education’. The new structure and comparison of the two explained below. To begin with, the actual number of years remain the same and this does not mean additional years. It can be perhaps looked at at play school, nursery or kindergarten classes combined with classes 1 and 2. Here’s a look at the new pedagogical structure proposed in comparison to the existing one. Today, a student (in...