Gh Hassan Bhat
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.” —Benjamin Franklin
National Education Policy (NEP-2020) aspires to transform the educational scenario in India. It aims to fulfill the countless aspirations and new hopes of our country. This policy introduces robust features to overcome some of the chronic challenges of our education system. It emphasizes quality education by engaging students in their holistic development through innovative methods like experiential and other student-oriented teaching methodologies.
Edgar Dale, in his famous concept titled “Cone of Experience,” illustrates how different types of learning activities impact retention. According to this concept, learners remember more when they engage in active, experiential learning. Students might retain only a small portion of what they read or hear but remember much more when they actively participate through discussions, practice, the heuristic method, kinesthetic learning, project methods, brainstorming, and art-based systems of learning. The NEP 2020 focuses on experiential and activity-based education, aligning well with Dale’s principles, and aiming to enhance long-term retention and understanding.
Activity-Based Learning (ABL) is a teaching methodology where subject matter is delivered through various activities, making learning interesting and engaging. It contrasts with the traditional monologue education system. This learning encourages students to participate in their own learning experience through practical activities. It also promotes team spirit and social skills. By promoting activity-based and hands-on learning, aims to develop creative thinking, critical skills, problem-solving attitudes, collaborative thought, cooperation, competition, and other life skills among learners. It encourages the four R’s among students: engage, experiment, explore, and express.
The need of the hour is for teachers, from primary to apex levels, to switch from conventional to modern teaching methods. Learners should not be mere passive participants but active ones. The best teaching principles should be adopted to make teaching student-centered and goal-oriented. Without the proper intervention of teachers, the dream of NEP 2020 is unachievable. Teachers can provide an alternative to the banking model of education. The time has come to unfold this robust policy and implement this form of teaching among learning communities.
All stakeholders should work in collaboration to operationalize this mission on the ground by making experimental, activity, and discovery-based learning goal-oriented methods of teaching. Different capacity-building programs should be conducted across the country to yield good results.
Box : Steering clear of stereotypical, crude, or unrealistically utopian portrayals of rural life, Phulera in Panchayat offers a cinematic journey that Ashis Nandy describes as a “time travel to a potential self” within an Indian village, where genuine Indian experiences confront contrived, pseudo depictions of the village
