The way forward is certainly not going to be easy. All stake-holders will have to chisel and align their methodologies with the New Education Policy in order to achieve all realistic targets in their respective domains. A lot of us will have to work out of our skins, particularly those for whom coming to school is just a matter of habit. The teaching and learning outcomes must be determined and systematically assessed, with prompt remediations thrown in, where required.Teacher and taught must make their attendance count. Education is incomplete if a child is unable to read, infer, write in his natural voice, speak fluently and calculate; if knowledge cannot be applied in real life to raise the lot of the poor and downtrodden; if the students leaving the portals of our school are unable to sing, play musical instruments, laugh, dance, draw, paint, debate on relevant issues and discuss ideas in an atmosphere of cordiality, it is his school that will be blamed.
We have to work not only on bodies and minds but also on the spirit. We have to weed out ideas that are incongruous with the new world and cling on to those that give us our identities. Knowledge that is confined to textbooks is only a starting point. We have to make sure that we develop the requisite skills that will help us hold our own in the rapidly changing world. We must transform ourselves from an overly superstitious, gullible lot to reasonably scientific people who live by reason and are, eventually, an asset to society. Let us not forget that in every time and every age, we have an obligation towards society.