In the sixth episode of the podcast series on NEP 2020 hosted by Ms Dhipthi Dona, Prof. Mythili Ramchand and Dr. Radhika Misquitta take a look at the Inclusive Education section of the NEP 2020. 

The podcast begins with a brief contextualisation of the field of inclusive education in the country, followed by a discussion on the pros and cons of the policy. The episode overarchingly engages with the need for a plan of action that incorporates context specific systemic change. It also dwells into the other complexities that implicates the policy's implementation.

Prof. Mythili Ramchand has led a number of collaborative projects and research studies in Karnataka. She has offered her consultancy to a number of organisations and been in the panel of committees on teacher education curriculum renewal & reforms. She is currently a member of the Institutional Advisory Board of Regional Institute of Education, NCERT, Mysore.

Dr Radhika Misquitta is a founding member of The Gateway School of Mumbai (GSoM) and joined the team in 2011. Prior to joining GSoM, she has worked in India and the USA as a Teacher Coach and Special Educator for over 15 years.

Dhipthi Dona J is a MA Education Student specializing in Edtech and Development policy at CEIAR, TISS, Mumbai.

Youtube link.

NEP is a seminal document and it requires a deep scrutiny and analysis from people belonging to all walks of life. Education cuts across our regional, cultural and any other differences and it's a common good which we all should be interested in. Apart from seeing India winning cricket matches, if there is  one thing that everyone in India is aspiring for, is ‘access to quality education’. Unfortunately, there is a contrary fact which we also agree upon- that a large section of our population does not have access to quality education. Both of these facts have been beautifully captured by the NEP document.

"The gap between the current state of learning outcomes and what is required must be bridged through undertaking major reforms that bring the highest quality, equity, and integrity into the system, from early childhood care and education through higher education”.

NEP sets direction for India's educational journey in coming decades. It aims to transform the educational experiences of the millennial. But, when one looks for its provisions carefully, one finds the inherent contradiction between what it states to achieve and what provision it envisages. In reality, the process doesn't sync with the stated objectives. 

Here, we will look upon this phenomenon in context of school education and would particularly examine how teachers have been imagined in NEP 2020.

Murari Jha  is a Social Science Teacher in one of the Delhi Government Schools. Murari is an alumni of Jamia and TISS ( Mumbai) who has a strong belief in the democratic values . He practices critical pedagogy to enable students for a challenging role in the society. He has authored two story books that were Published by US based NGO: Room to Read. Jha has written and presented Paper at international conference (CESI). He is the recipients of teacher fellowship from Rrcee and maintains a blog titled- reflectivediary.com. 

Murari, at present is working as a Mentor Teacher in the Education Department where he supports his fellow teachers in improving the classroom pedagogy. He participated in the prestigious Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program during Spring 2018, where he visited George Mason University,VA USA. He has received a Special State Award from the Delhi State in 2017 for his contribution in the Education Sector.

Currently , he is also pursuing his Ph.D .

To contact Murari, e-mail at [email protected]

Arushi Bansal is a education enthusiast. With much affinity towards mathematics, she aspires to work on mathematics phobia amongst students. She is currently doing my masters from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai with specialization in mathematics education, teacher education, ICT and new media and Education development and policy.

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In the fourth episode of the NEP Podcast series, Dr. Ruchi Kumar, Assistant Professor at Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research TISS Mumbai in discussion with Soham Bhattacharya and Manvi Suyal, students of 2nd Year, M.A. Education, TISS Mumbai discusses the pros and cons of the recommendations of NEP 2020 for the structural changes in the Teacher Education system in the country.   

Dr. Kumar shares her insights about the section keeping in light the recommendations of Kothari Commission and the Chattopadhyay Commission. She draws upon the lack of linkage between content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in teachers and the need for multidisciplinary teacher education institutions. She voices her thoughts on the effectiveness of the online teacher learning portals and extending the pre-service teacher education course durations from 2 years to 4 years as suggested by NEP 2020.  While discussing the need for rigorousness of the teacher preparation courses, she also remarks on the NGO based teacher fellowship models being existent in schools and the silence of the policy on this models.  

Dr. Ruchi Kumar is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research, TISS Mumbai. She teaches “Pedagogy of Mathematics” and “Teacher Education” courses in MA Education (Elementary) and MA Education courses at TISS. She is currently the Math TPD lead in the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx). At CLIx, she has designed and facilitated workshops for mathematics teachers and teacher educators in several states. She also leads the School Synergy workshop initiative for school teachers at the centre.   Her research interests are around  "Teacher education", "Math Education", "Science Education", "Use of ICT for teaching-learning process" and developing "Professional learning communities" or "Communities of Practice".  

Mr. Soham Bhattacharya is a 2nd Year, M.A. Education student at CEIAR, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He He has specialised in ICT & New Media, Teacher Education and currently specialising in Education, Development & Policy and Mathematics Education.   His research interest lies in Evaluation of Education Technology interventions, Teacher Education, Analysis of Education policies and Child centred learning etc.    

Ms. Manvi Suyal is a 2nd Year, M.A. Education student at CEIAR, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She has specialised in Teacher Education and currently specialising in Education, Development & Policy.   Her research interests are around Policy making, Organisational Behavior and Inclusive Education.

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In this episode of NEP podcast series, Dr Meera Chandran, Assistant Professor at Centre for Education Innovation and Action Research at TISS Mumbai  in conversation with Shweta, a 2nd year student of MA Education at TISS Mumbai explicates how NEP 2020 has dealt with the issues with regard to professionalisation of teachers and their declining status and what could be the possible implication of policy’s recommendation on these aspects.  Dr Meera draws upon  how the existing structures could be strengthened for Continuous Professional Development of teachers. She highlights how the policy has addressed the existing issues of recruitment and deployment of teachers. She also analyses the discourse of merit-based incentives for teachers from the lens of political economy and socio-cultural diversity.  

Shweta studies MA in Education at Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is specializing in Teacher Education, Education Development & Policy and Social Science Education.  Her interest areas lies in School Curriculum, Teacher Education, Education Policies and Practice, and Education Management and Leadership.   

Dr Meera Chandran is Assistant Professor at Centre for Education Innovation and Action Research (CEIAR) at TISS Mumbai. She is the research lead of Connected Learning Initiative, and co-PI for the government of India SPARC-CLIx project for conducting research, design workshops and develop case studies.  Her research interests lie in Sociology and Political economy of education; Teacher's work, knowledge & identities; Urban schooling & livelihoods; ICT in education; and Comparative education.

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/bu2b56ZB1XQ

In the second episode of the NEP Podcast series, Dr. Bose will help us understand and decode how the policy defines Foundational Numeracy and its intention to universalize foundational numeracy. The new policy highlights foundational literacy and numeracy as the urgent and necessary prerequisite to learning; we will explore how and why the policy has given utmost importance to literacy and numeracy over other sections of the policy and sets 2025 as the target year for universal attainment of it.  We will also discuss the nature of learning when introducing one-on-one peer tutoring for learning and monitoring of the child. And how teacher training should be revamped to attain the foundational numeracy, whether the dependence of student learning and teacher education on the digital platforms will be beneficial.   

Dr. Arindam Bose is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Education Innovation and Action Research (CEIAR), TISS, Mumbai. He is the Team Lead, Mathematics Team in the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) Project and Coordinator of the Science and Mathematics Education Group, CEIAR, TISS, Mumbai. He is also the Faculty-coordinator of the MA Education course, TISS Mumbai. His Research Interests lies in Out-of-school mathematics and implications for school math learning, Language diversity & mathematics learning, Sociology of Mathematics education, Ethnomathematics, and Number Theory.  

Email: [email protected]  

Ashish Shinde studies MA in Education at Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He is specializing in Mathematics Education and Education Development & Policy. His interest lies in the intersection of Gender and Education, Ethnomathematics, Social Marginality, Comparative Education, School Leadership and Policy. 

Email: [email protected]

Youtube: https://youtu.be/_3pf700VAuQ

In the first episode of the NEP Podcast series, Dr. Disha Nawani, Dean, Professor at School of Education, TISS Mumbai in discussion with Soham Bhattacharya, student of 2nd Year, M.A. Education, TISS Mumbai has discussed how the policy addresses the issue of curtailing dropouts and its approach to universalise the access to education - the pros and cons of its recommendations.   Dr. Nawani clearly distinguishes between the ideas of increase in Gross Enrollment Rate and dropout rates, she discusses how the issue of dropouts has so much to do with the provisioning of education experiences in schools, marginalisation of children and the intersectionality between the various marginalities. She also makes its connection with the RTE amendment of 2019 and the issues with it.   While discussing dropouts, she also makes her remark on the issue of inviting non-state actors in ensuring universalisation of access and the layered school systems that did exist over the few decades now.   

Dr. Disha Nawani is the Professor and Dean of School Education at Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. She is a faculty teaching the courses of Curriculum and School, and Materials Design and Development in M.A. Elementary Education, Social Marginality and Education in M.A. Education and Education and Development in M.A. Development Studies.   Her research interests lies  in Sociology of Education, Curricular, Pedagogic and Assessment-related issues, Teaching-learning resources, Teacher Education, Analysis of Educational policies and programmes etc  

Soham Bhattacharya is a 2nd Year, M.A. Education student at CEIAR, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. He has specialised in ICT & New Media, Teacher Education and currently specialising in Education, Development & Policy and Mathematics Education.   His research interest lies in Evaluation of Education Technology interventions, Teacher Education, Analysis of Education policies and Child centred learning etc. #NEP202 #Podcasts #dropouts #teacher education

Youtube: https://youtu.be/R6PQttUYbgU

In the last podcast of Edtech weekly host Babita Dutta Majumder, Senior Manager, Vikramshila Education Resource Society is speaking with Mr. Ganesh Chandra Das, an ITE master trainer and assistant teacher from Harit Ayub High Madrasah, Hooghly District, West Bengal about how he is conducting online classes in COVID-19 lockdown period, what type of activities is he undertaking and how the Integrated Approach to Technology project by Tata Trust and Tata Institute of Social Sciences helped him with that.   Translated by- Srabanti Basak, Consultant, Integrated Approach to Technology in Education team, Centre for Education Innovation and Action Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai  

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/2lJqPbsK7BI

In Edtech weekly, Lalremkima Tuallawt speaks to Ms. Esther, English teacher at Durtlang High School, Aizawl.#Mizoram They discuss the impact of COVID19 on the Mizo community and the challenges teachers are facing in this time. Ms. Esther shares how teachers have adapted to online teaching in a short time and how one of the most important problems is the problem of student access to device and technology.  Tune in to know more!

Subtitles: https://youtu.be/sXNcGshL_gc

This week we are in conversation with Mr. Chandan Jha, Mentor Teacher from #Delhi.  He talks about various initiatives taken by the Government of Delhi for ensuring teaching-learning during the Covid19 period.   Hear from him how teachers in Delhi are continuing their professional development.   He also shares insights about professional development and teacher agency. Tune in to know more!

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/Ahch3JOY0ow

Mr Venkatesh Koneghatta from Karnataka shares on what teachers are doing during this lockdown period. Collaboration with Cluster Resource Person and teachers has enabled in using ICTs to keep the discussion going and ideate on how to prepare for the next academic year.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/fATUx76a36Y