NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY -2019

CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES

(TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION)
Dr.MAHESWARARAO SUREDDI
M.Sc(Psy)M.A(Eng)M.A(Tel),M.Com, M.Ed ,M.Phil( ,Ph.DUGC NET.AP.SET
School Assistant Social Studies
Z.P.High School, Ravikamatham
Visakhapatnam
E-Mail: sureddi.mrao@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The National Education Policy (NEP-2019) is a policy formulated by the Government of India to
promote education amongst India's people. The policy covers elementary education to colleges in both rural
and urban India. The Indian government sponsored a variety of programmes to promote healthy education as
well as National Integrity in both rural and urban India.

The policy called for fulfilling compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14, and the better
training and qualification of teachers. The policy also focus on 5+3+3+4 developmentally- appropriate•
curricular and pedagogical structure for school education. It guaranteed for Quality early childhood education
available for all children between 3-6years by 2025 and every student in Grade 5 and beyond should achieve
foundational literacy and numeracy by 2025.Also imparts to develop Integrated, flexible school curriculum,
with Integration of vocational and academic streams. It estimates100% Gross Enrolment Ratio from pre-school
to secondary levels by 2030. It directs to Rigorous teacher preparation, robust recruitment, and well-defined
career path for teachers and Professional education as an integral part of higher education. It assumes to
establish Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog - as custodian of education in India and also imparts National Research
Foundation to catalyse research and innovation.

This Policy aims at appropriately integrating technology into all levels of education. Main theme of
this paper is to express the role of Technology in education and also deserve to establish New National
Educational Technology Forum which is Autonomous body - platform for free exchange of ideas on the use of
technology to improve learning, assessment, planning, administration. This forum facilitate decision-making
on induction, deployment, use of technology. This policy also give directions to Collective assessment and
adoption of technology solutions, Integrating Educational Technology into the school curriculum, content
repositories in Indian Languages for educational content, Online assessments, Disruptive technologies, Teacher
preparation and continuous professional development, Improving teaching, learning and evaluation process,
Computational thinking integrated into school curriculum (from age 6 onwards),Access to connect to personal
computing devices by 2025, Advanced online courses for students, Access to technology in remote areas,
National repository of educational data, Establishment of centres of excellence in educational technology,
General guidelines for technology based guidelines propose that initiative to take to create app based versions
of FOSSE. Mobile application should be more focused along with desktop and laptop, and Teacher preparation
and CPD.

The researcher presented in this paper outlines simple and practical ways to overcome the
challenges presented by National Education Policy 2019.

Key Words: NEP, NETF, FOSSE, CPD, Technology, Assessment, Disruptive Technology,
INTRODUCTION:

Education is a national agenda and is the catalytic tool that can transform the future of our
children and youth. Approximately half of India's 1.2 billion people are under the age of 26. and by
2020, it is forecast to be the youngest country in the world, with a median age of 29. To reap the
benefits of this demographics, our Government under the stewardship of our able Prime Minister had
promised that it will implement a National Education Policy to meet the changing dynamics of the
population's requirement with regards to quality education, innovation and research, aiming to make
India a knowledge superpower by equipping its students with the necessary skills and knowledge and
to eliminate the shortage of manpower in science technology, academics and industry.

NPE-2019 is made up of 4 parts and 23 chapters that are very in-depth to study each subject in
detail. Adding the subtle elements in each part was designed to make their group study work.But there
are many difficulties in implementing the positive elements in each item. Many of the ways in which
they have overcome them have been placed in the draft by academics. The vision of NPE-2019 is to
envisions an India-centered education system that contributes directly to transforming our nation
sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing high quality education to all.

Overview of the Policy

 Quality early childhood education available for all children between 3-6years by 2025

 Every student in Grade 5 and beyond willachieve foundational literacy and numeracy by2025

 New 5+3+3+4 developmentally- appropriate• curricular and pedagogical structure for school
education

 Integrated, flexible school curriculum.

 No hierarchy of subjects; No hard separation of areas;

 Integration of vocational and academic streams.

 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio from pre-school v to secondary levels by 2030

 Effective governance through school complexes

 Rigorous teacher preparation, robust recruitment, well-defined career path

 New vision and architecture for higher education with large, well-resourced, multidisciplinary
institutions
  Broad-based liberal arts undergraduate education

 Flexible curricular structures; Creative combinations of study; Multiple exit points

 Professional education as an integral part of higher education

 Empowered governance and autonomy for higher education institutions

 ‘Light but tight’ regulation - separation of functions to eliminate conflicts of interest.

 National Research Foundation to catalyze research and innovation

 Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog - custodian of education in India.

SUB THEME: TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION: ( CHAPTER-19)

In the above mentioned topics, we will discuss in depth the difficulties in using
technology and discuss ways to overcome the difficulties in using technology in education and how to
use technology in education.

This Policy aims at appropriately integrating technology into all levels of education-to
support teacher preparation and development; improve teaching, learning and evaluation processes;
enhance educational access to disadvantaged groups; and streamline educational planning, administration
and management.

In this Chapter we observe that there are 7 sub chapters are given in detail of the study and express the
depth ideology of technology in education.

Technology in education to be used to

 Improve teaching, learning and evaluation

 Support teacher preparation and continuous teacher professional development

 Enhance educational access to disadvantaged groups

 Streamline education planning, administration and management

New National Educational Technology Forum

Autonomous body - platform for free exchange of ideas on the use of technology to improve learning,
assessment, planning, administration.

 Facilitate decision-making on induction, deployment, use of technology

  National Repository of Educational Data - will maintain all records related to institutions,
teachers and students in digital form.

The National Educational Technology Forum: An autonomous body, the National Educational Technology
Forum(NETF), will be created to provide a platform for the free exchange of idea son the use of technology to
improve learning, assessment, planning, administration, and soon. The aim of NETF will be to facilitate
decision making on the induction, deployment, and use of technology, by providing to the leadership of
educational institutions, State and Central governments and other stakeholders the latest knowledge and research
as well as the opportunity to consult and share best practices with each other.

Role and functioning of the National Educational Technology Forum

The NETF will have the following roles:

 Provide independent evidence-based advice to Central and State government agencies on

technology-based interventions;

 Build intellectual and institutional capacities in educational technology;

 Envision strategic thrust areas in this domain;and

 Articulate new directions for research and innovation.

Funding and support to the National Educational Technology Forum: To ensure deep connectivity with the
field of education, NETF may be housed within CIET/ NCERT/ NIEPA or any suitable body determined by the
RSA. While NETF will be supported initially with public funding, it should also be able to receive funding from
other sources such as memberships, and other neutral technology industry bodies such as NASSCOM among
others. The work of NETF will be supported by decentralized institutional structures at the State and District
levels, whose specifics may be decided by the RSA, in consultation with theStates.

Collective assessment and adoption of technology solutions: To support the development of a vibrant body
of knowledge and practice, NETF will organize multiple regional and national conferences, workshops, etc. to
solicit inputs from national and international educational technology researchers, entrepreneurs and
practitioners. NETF will enable educational technology experts from schools, universities, research institutions
and other organizations to evaluate these inputs against current best practices from multiple perspectives,
including pedagogical, psychological, social and economic, and distil them into:

Necessary interventions, which should complement existing best-practices and be implemented

immediately in specific contexts;

Promising interventions, which require additional large-scale studies that could, for example,
be funded by NRF; and Inappropriate interventions, which ought not be considered.
Approach to the induction of technology:

Qualified support for educational technology with teachers playing a central role: Education technology is
amongst the most powerful array of tools and methods that a teacher may potentially use in her/his
work. Teachers will be completely empowered through adequate training and support to lead the
activities and initiatives related to the use of appropriate technologies in classrooms, and for all other
uses of technology in educational institutions.

Technology use and integration in educational settings: Technology use and integration will be
pursued as an important strategy for improving the overall quality of education. Thus, the focus will
not just be on creating and delivering high quality content, but also on using technology to: support
translation of content into multiple languages; assist differently-abled learners; improve the quality of
pedagogy and learning processes through the use of intelligent tutoring systems and adaptive
assessment systems;

Centers of Excellence in Educational Technology: Centers of Excellence in Educational Technology will be

established at prominent Universities and other institutions to perform research as well as support functions for
the uptake of appropriate technology solutions.

Teacher preparation and continuous professional development

A very large effort towards the CPD of teachers will be needed if the implementation of this
Policy is to succeed. Many online learning experiments do not work very well for first-time student
learners who really need a classroom environment that provides opportunities for peer learning, as well
as mentoring and guidance from faculty.

Teacher preparation in the use of educational technology: To skill teachers at all levels in the use of
educational technology, all teacher preparation programmes will include hands-on training in leveraging
technology-based resources, including addressing common problems related to connectivity, maintenance of
equipment and its safe operation, pedagogical strategies for utilizing e-content (including conducting classes
effectively in a flipped mode.

Use of educational technology for continuous teacher professional development: An online training
platform - linked to appropriate mechanisms to certify trainees in specific areas - will be developed to empower
in-service teachers at all levels of education to stay at the cutting edge of pedagogical techniques.

Specific technology related policy actions: The necessary interventions must include customized courses for
faculty development programmes on a platform such as SWAYAM. Both for school teachers and for faculty in
higher education, SWAYAM can cover the theoretical aspects of learning. At the same time, DIETs and HRDCs
will continue to provideacademic support to school teachers and faculty in higher education, respectively.
Improving teaching, learning and evaluation processes:
Integrating educational technology into the school curriculum: To prepare school students for the digital age
and bolster efforts in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Design, and Mathematics) education.

Developing educational software: A rich variety of educational software will be developed and made available
for students and teachers at all levels. All such software will be available in all major Indian languages and will
be accessible to a wide range of users including CWSN and differently-abled students, and will include:

Video viewing equipment: For maximal use of content in the open educational repository, institutions will be
supported within expensive and portable video viewing equipment (e.g. solar powered video playback and
projection devices).

Advanced online courses: Educational institutions will be encouraged to offer course credits to students who
complete specified courses (especially advanced electives) online, e.g. via SWAYAM or other such platforms
developed in the future.

Support for appropriate information and communication technology usage: Most educational institutions
have difficulty maintaining andusing their hardware and software. This problem can be addressed through the
creation of a large number of prestigious ‘IT Ambassador’ Fellowships for students who have completed their
senior secondary courses.

Specific technology related policy actions: These are split into two groups, the necessary interventions and the
promising interventions.

Enhancing Educational access:

Access to technology in remote areas: School complexes must become the nodal agency for reaching out to
the unreached. For this, they must be equipped with electricity, computers/smartphones or other access devices,
and Internet access else the promise of reaching the unreached will not be realized.

High quality specialized content to be made available in open educational repositories: To ensure that all
learners have access to high quality educational content, copyright-free educational resources including textbooks,
reference books, videos (ideally with subtitles), teaching-learning materials, etc. will be created and curated from
national and global sources at all levels of education and in multiple Indian languages, and made available in a
single online digital repository.

Maintaining content quality: It is critical to ensure that the repository in P19.5.2 remains a high quality and
up-to-date resource so that it will be of value not only to teachers and students in the formal education system,
but will also be a powerful enabler of lifelong learning.
Development of tools for automated language translation of educational content: NRF will prioritize research
and development of tools for automated and/or crowd-sourced language translation of educational content in to
all major Indian languages,

Specific technology related policy actions: In terms of necessary interventions, software for adaptive learning
for children of all ages with special needs must be prepared.

Streamlining educational planning and management.

National Repository of Educational Data: ICTs will be fully leveraged for efficient and safe maintenance of
educational information. The National Repository of Educational Data will maintain all records related to
institutions, teachers and students in digital form.

Technology for improving governance and administration: Educational information management

systems for community monitoring will be created and integrated with NRED. These systems
will be used to streamline manual processes related to educational planning, admissions, attendance,
assessments, etc.

Specific technology related policy actions: Well over 30years after the advent of email, many of our
educational institutions do not offer institutional email to their faculty and students.

Disruptive Technology:

Technology is increasingly disrupting multiple aspects of human society, including education.

Some disruptive technologies will have clear applications to education, and methods to integrate such
technologies into the education system through the involvement of the NETF have already been
discussed.

Monitoring potentially disruptive technologies: One of the permanent tasks of the Advisory Council
of the RSA will be to categorize emergent technologies based on their potential and estimated time
frame for disruption, and to periodically present this analysis to the RSA.

Research in disruptive technologies: In response to the RSA’s formal recognition of a new disruptive
technology, the NRF will initiate or expand research efforts in appropriate areas including fundamental
research in the domain, advancing the technology’s development, and assessing the technology’s
socio-economic impact.

Skilling and re-skilling: The new institutional structure in higher education is well suited to skilling
students and re-skilling the current workforce rapidly. Type 1 and Type 2 institutions will play an
active role not only in conducting research on disruptive technologies, but also in creating initial
versions of instructional materials and courses (including online courses)in cutting-edge domains and
assessing their impact on specific areas such as professional education.

Raising awareness: As disruptive technologies emerge, schooling and continuing education will assist
in raising the general populace’s awareness of their potential disruptive effects, and will also address
related issues.

CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.4.1 (c) Integrating Educational Technology into the school curriculum.

Observations/ Recommendations: Recommendation is for appointing a teacher for transacting

computer programming subject at the late upper primary and secondary stages.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.4.6 (a) content repositories in Indian Languages for educational content.

Observations/ Recommendations: Observed that there should be a single repository for

educational content however we feels that there must be standard (Quality control mechanism) but
diversified repositories.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.1 Setting up of a new national educational technology forum

Observations/ Recommendations: Suggestion is to establish educational technology forum at

state level also. However, we observed that there is no clarity on the concept of establishing a NTEF
and it should not conflict with the role and function of institutions in the area of ET.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.4.6 Evaluation process

Observations/ Recommendations: Suggestion for preparing software to evaluate both MCQ

and descriptive questions. However we observed that there is no clarity that what purpose it will serve
for improving the evaluation system.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.4.6 d. Online assessments

Observations/ Recommendations: We observe that concern on use of Online assessments

through multiple choice examinations with projects that the proposed strategy fail to access every
sphere of knowledge/skill acquisition. The group feels that concern is genuine and child’s holistic
development should be in focus.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P. 19.7. Disruptive technologies.

Observations/ Recommendations: Observation about the ethical consideration for accessing

technology by students from sociological and psychological side effects, youtube and net browsing.
However, the group observed that the suggestion about the Disruptive technologies is not clear.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.3 Teacher preparation and continuous professional development.

Observations/ Recommendations: We should endorse the judicious use of technology in the

classroom.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.4 Improving teaching, learning and evaluation process.

Observations/ Recommendations: It is viewed that over dependence and misuse of technology

hence suggested judicious use of technology in classroom.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P. 19.4 a. Computational thinking integrated into school curriculum (from age 6 onwards).

Observations/ Recommendations: We suggests it should be done with utmost care and

scrutiny. If not done scientifically it may adversely affect the developmental stages of the learners. The
group endorses the suggestion.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P. 19.4 b. Access to connect to personal computing devices by 2025.

Observations/ Recommendations: We observe that proposition is found not practical, when

considering the quantity of data and population. It feels the concern is genuine and also the feels for
primary classes it not suggestive. All the three domains of teaching learning should be part of child
development.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.4.4. Advanced online courses for students.

Observations/ Recommendations: The state feels that only elite community will get the
advantage and the larger population of students will be deprived of this and it may create a digital
divide among students. However, the policy has addresses the access to connected to personal
computing devices by 2025.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.5.1 Access to technology in remote areas.

Observations/ Recommendations: We feels that the proposition is not found practical and
suggested networked school system alone can ensure the quality of transaction. However, the policy
has addresses the access to connected to personal computing devices by 2025.

NEP Proposed Theme:

P 19.6.1 National repository of educational data.

Observations/ Recommendations: The group has raised the point that there is no reference of
state repositories in the document. The group feels that name of specific institutions should not be
mentioned in the document.

NEP Proposed Theme:

Establishment of centers of excellence in educational technology.

Observations/ Recommendations: It should be established across the institution.

NEP Proposed Theme:

General guidelines for technology based guidelines.

 Observations/ Recommendations: We can propose that initiative to take to create app based
versions of FOSSE. Mobile application should be more focused along with desktop and laptop.

NEP Proposed Theme:

19.3 Teacher preparation and CPD.

Observations/ Recommendations: We can suggest that CPD of the teacher need to be linked
with their career advancement.

Overall suggestions:

 The opening statement of the chapter does not supported by the data/evidences and vision &
mission of using technology in education is missing.

 The document is also not talking about existing institution/system in the field of educational
technology/ICT.

 The research in education technology should be more elaborated from the point of view of
impact of technology in education and child development.

 Mechanism of IT Ambassador in educational institutions through fellowship is not clear.

CONCLUSION:

In the over view of above recommendations of NPE-2019 some states especially Department
of School Education Government on Andhra Pradesh has taken some initial steps to implement the
themes of above cited draft. They are

 School assistant (ICT) is proposed in the year 2018-19, ICT skills to primary teachers is needed.

 A.P state has APeKX-DIKSHA platforms, where we can use as repositories, A.P need to develop urdu
repository.

 The present APeKX-DIKSHA can be used and may be upgraded as technology forums.

 Need to develop AI (Artificial Intelligence) based assessment which reads students hand scripts and
assess.

 APeKX-DIKSHA can create online assessments, already it has facility. Where question can be asked
in different ways.

 All the Online services of school education need to be embedded with Artificial Intelligence.
 The online courses for teachers need to be created and implemented in Andhra Pradesh, we need to run
the teacher training in offline and Online.

 For Improving TLP we need to well define e-Lesson Plan.

 The present ICT Curriculum for students need to be embedded with Computational thinking, and also
integrated with subjects.

 Every teacher of schools need to be given with a tab or laptop, or the Biometric tabs may be used for
the school teachers purpose.

 SWAYAM platform courses for sec secondary section may be implemented.

 APeKX - DIKSHA features need to be improved up to the students.
 Offline apps and every school must be given with wifi free.
 AP state need to use SIMS and UDISE and need to connect to national repository of educational data.
 Need to develop state based FOSS tools of android. Like constructive mind map.
 The pointing system in APeKX-DIKSHA need to be improved.

****************** The most sustainable species on the earth are the

species that accept the change and adopt it. *****************

Dr.MAHESWARARAO SUREDDI
M.Sc(Psy)M.A(Eng)M.A(Tel),M.Com, M.Ed ,M.Phil( ,Ph.DUGC NET.AP.SET
School Assistant Social Studies
Z.P.High School, Ravikamatham
Visakhapatnam
E-Mail: sureddi.mrao@gmail.com