UPSC Monthly Magazine" June- 2019
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1 Easy to PICK – “UPSC Monthly Magazine" June- 2019 GS - I 2 Easy to PICK – “UPSC Monthly Magazine" June- 2019 DRAFT NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY Small window of India’s Demographic In The New Dividend- that is expected to last for only Recently, the committee under Dr. K. a little over 20 years. It demands that apart Kasturirangan submitted its report on the Draft from education, the children acquire National Education Policy, 2019 to the Ministry actionable skills also in their schools and of Human Resource Development, Government colleges itself. of India. Alignment with the global Sustainable Development Goals- The SDG 4 seeks to Background “ensure inclusive and equitable quality India has had two National Education education and promote lifelong learning Policies in 1968 and 1986 (modified in opportunities for all” by 2030. 1992) respectively. After more than thirty years of Pros of the Draft Policy operation of the last policy, India’s Developed after extensive education system, is plagued by a number consultations with more than 1 lakh of problems and shortcomings such as villages, 6000 blocks with specific huge dropout rates, shortage in the questions on 33 themes for all levels. number of teachers, incompetent Also all other stakeholders including curriculum etc. ministries, states have been deliberated o Apart from these problems, there for their views to develop a consensus are various new developments, over the provisions of the draft. such as Right to Education Act, Globalisation, which mandate the Look at education as a continuous need of a new comprehensive process and comprehensively addresses all stages of education National Education Policy. including different verticals of The vision of the National Education professional education, vocational Policy 2019 is it to create an India education, technical education etc. centered education system that contributes directly to transforming our Focus on foundational stages of education- the actions suggested on nation sustainably into an equitable and vibrant knowledge society, by providing ECCE can be the best investment that high quality education to all. India could make in education since evidence indicates that over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development Other reasons for a new Education Policy occurs prior to the age of 6. Changed demands of a knowledge Schools will be given autonomy is economy- that calls for emphasis on the setting syllabus under the broad need for acquisition of new skills by National Curriculum Framework. learners on a regular basis, for them to This will motivate principals and ‘learn how to learn’ and become lifelong teachers to innovate. More importantly, learners. it will create a set of best practices that Narrow time lag between the generation work in Indian conditions. of new knowledge and its application The draft has laid out a framework for specially in the fields of science and ensuring quality of teacher education, technology that necessitate the periodic which is paramount in terms of ensuring renewal of education curriculum to quality education. maintain their relevance to the changing societal and personal needs of learners Removes the burden and conflict of 3 Easy to PICK – “UPSC Monthly Magazine" June- 2019 interests, by separating regulatory school vouchers. It will also help function from other functions of the parents uphold the accountability of state authorities. schools. The idea of Special Education Zones Integrating pre-school with government (SEZ) to be set up in disadvantaged school system may pose infrastructure regions across the country can help and logistics challenge. government focusing more on such Misses to address the gap of access to areas and experiment with different quality education between India’s ideas to get the best results. rich and poor children- by proposing Focus on research, as it talks about to remove the expectations that all financing and involvement of private schools meet common minimum sector and intends to make all institutes infrastructure and facility standards, comprehensive teaching-research and that primary schools be within a institutions. A National Research stipulated distance from children’s Foundation on the lines of what exists homes. in the US is a promising step to No separate funding earmarked for the coordinate and give direction to strengthening of “school complexes". research. Way Forward Cons in the Draft Policy Clearly, the final test of any policy is in The policy’s implementation is its implementation, but it is important predicated on the assumption that the to suspend such judgment and disbelief education budget would be almost and focus on its successful doubled in the next 10 years. Also, the implementation. sheer scale of changes expected, the rapid timeline and the absence of a Debate over three-language formula strong mechanism for handholding In the initial draft, there was a states on this journey raises questions mention of making Hindi compulsory on the full implementation of this in non-Hindi speaking states, under policy. the three-language formula for school Does not address the lack of education. accountability of schools- as school This specific mention drew a lot of management committees (SMCs), backlash from Southern states, which are without significant powers, especially Tamil Nadu. may not be able to hold schools and Following this, the Government came teachers accountable. up with a revised draft, removing the Representatives of CBSE Schools particular reference to Hindi and Management Association expressed policy requires proficiency in any concern over expanding the ambit of three languages. the Right to Education Act to pre- kindergarten to Class 12 from the present Classes 1 to 8. Already, the schools were facing difficulties in determining the fee structure and getting reimbursement of the fee of the student. Does not consider Direct Benefit Transfer as a means to eliminate fake beneficiaries- such as the idea of 4 Easy to PICK – “UPSC Monthly Magazine" June- 2019 HEALTH STATES PROGESSIVE IN INDIA In The News Larger and Smaller States. Recently, the NITI Aayog has released the Larger States - Kerala, Andhra Pradesh second edition of the comprehensive Health & Maharashtra ranked on top in terms of Index report titled, “Healthy States, Progressive overall performance, while Haryana, India”. Rajasthan and Jharkhand are the top three ranking States in terms of annual Background incremental performance. It ranks states and Union territories Smaller States - Mizoram and Manipur innovatively on their year-on-year ranked on top in terms of overall incremental change in health outcomes, as performance, while Tripura and well as, their overall performance with Manipur were the top ranked States in respect to each other. terms of annual incremental The report has been developed by NITI performance. Aayog, with technical assistance from the UTs - Chandigarh and Dadra and World Bank, and in consultation with the Nagar Haveli were ranked on top in terms Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of overall performance (Chandigarh-1 (MoHFW). and Dadra and Nagar Haveli-2) as well as The Health Index is a weighted annual incremental performance (Dadra composite Index based on three domains: and Nagar Haveli-1 and Chandigarh-2). o Health Outcomes (70%); Performance of five Empowered Action o Governance and Information Group States- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, (12%); and Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Odisha o Key Inputs and Processes (18%), have witnessed a decline in the overall with each domain assigned a health index score. weight based on its importance. Large disparities in overall performance Data submitted by the States & UTs was - The best states scored more than 2.5 validated by an Independent Validation times more than the worst performing Agency. states. E.g. While Kerala got 74.01, Uttar States and UTs have been ranked in three Pradesh’s score was 28.61. categories namely, Larger States, There was a general positive correlation Smaller States, and Union Territories between the Health Index scores and the (UTs), to ensure comparison among economic development levels of States similar entities. and UTs as measured by per capita Net The NITI Aayog had first come out with State Domestic Product (NSDP). its report on state-wise health rankings in 2018. Empowered Action Group States The government had constituted an This second report examines the Empowered Action Group (EAG) performance for the period 2015-16 (base under the Ministry of Health and year) to 2017-18 (reference year), i.e., a Family Welfare following 2001 census two-year period. to stabilise population in eight states that were lagging in containing Key Insights from the Report population. Overall picture in the health index- Only These states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar about half the States and UTs had an Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, improvement in the overall score between Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and 2015-16 and 2017-18. The magnitude of Odisha. change was bigger in UTs compared to 5 Easy to PICK – “UPSC Monthly Magazine" June- 2019 FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY In The News months and 59 months who are Recently, Food and Nutrition Security Analysis, between the -2 and -3 standard India, 2019, prepared by the Ministry of Statistics deviation for weight for height and Programme Implementation and World (wasting) score. Food Programme (WFP) was released. Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM): Children aged between six months Finding of