The Prime Minister of India celebrated the NEP2020 with a lot of pomp and show. It is said that the NEP2020 aims at a holistic development of a child. It talks about many qualifications and qualities of a student starting from age 3 onwards till the completion of education leading up to Ph.D. Some characteristics of a student as envisaged by NEP2020. The various qualities for Early Childhood Care and Education are learning alphabets, languages, numbers, counting, colours, shapes, indoor and outdoor play, puzzles and logical thinking, problem-solving etc. Similarly, during standard 9,10,11,12, the qualities of a student are – constitutional values such as seva, ahimsa, swachchhata, satya, nishkam karma, shanti, sacrifice, tolerance, diversity, pluralism and many more.
In 22.3 the word ‘happiness’ is mentioned thus: “The arts – besides strengthening cultural identity, awareness, and uplifting societies – are well known to enhance cognitive and creative abilities in individuals and increase individual happiness.”
Otherwise, nowhere in the entire NEP2020 or in the so-called constitutional values, we talked about the happiness of a child. It seems this wonderful NEP2020 that eulogises fundamental duties, gender sensitivity, citizenship skills, knowledge of India, environmental awareness, water resource conservation, forestation etc., has forgotten completely about the happiness quotient. An unhappy student won’t learn anything. NEP2020 seems to be aiming at providing wonderful slaves to India.
People can ask ‘happy citizens?’ Why? Roti, kapda, makaan are not happiness? Is not the compulsory, primary, universal education happiness? Unfortunately, it’s not. Neither the Constitution nor NEP2020 nor for that matter any law, policy in India aims at happiness of its citizens. When we look up at the American constitution, we find a wonderful phrase in the very preamble of the American constitution – Pursuit of Happiness. Every citizen of America has inalienable right to pursue his own happiness.
It is not necessary what is good for me will make me happy. We are simply talking about happiness of a student either at anganwadi stage or at middle school level stage i.e., either from class 1 to 2 foundational stage or preparatory stage – class 3 to 5 or middle school stage – class 6 to 8 or secondary school stage – class 9 to 12. Happiness is absent in NEP2020. Without the student being happy or the parent being happy there can never be education.
Take Bhutan – our immediate neighbour. They do have poverty, they do have illiteracy, they do have limited resources, they do have fiscal deficit, they do have budgetary challenges… yet they aim not Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but at the Gross Domestic Happiness (GDH). The moot question is whether all the activities of the government and of the society result in enhancing the general happiness quotient of the society? If yes, then the policies are excellent. If no, then something is amiss.
Our education system in India either 1968 education policy or 1986 education policy as amended in 1992 or the present NEP2020 which is hailed as the most effective policy is stunningly silent about happiness. We are not planning to produce robots. From transcendental perspective when I read NEP2020, I remember Isaac Asimov’s robot. Needless to say, in any democracy, in any education, in any religion, in any employment – when they do not aim at enhancing the happiness of society and its members then they are not what they are ought to be. In conclusion all we can say NEP is only merely aiming at the peripherals, producing robots.
About the Author
Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.
What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.
Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com
