NITI Aayog: NITI Aayog organized a national workshop for equality in education. Finance Minister O. P. Chaudhary emphasized on local language and culture based education. Concern was also expressed on reducing the dropout rate.
NITI Aayog has organized a national consultation workshop on Fostering Mentorship in Education: A Pathway to Equity in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh. It aims to create a national framework for the whole country by discussing the role of mentalship to make the education system of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 more best and to include everyone. In this special event, Mr. Ankit Anand, Secretary, Planning Department, Mr. K.K. S. Regimon, Fellow of NITI Aayog, Dr. IV Subba Rao, IAS (retired), Chairman of National Council of Teacher Education, Prof. Pankaj Arora and NITI Aayog Deputy Secretary Shri Arvind Kumar, including many big officials were present.
Finance Minister O. P. Chaudhary shared his life experience saying, “I studied in the village government school till 10th and 12th, where there were no basic facilities. Even after 17 years of formal education, many youths are not clear what to do in life. Apart from this, he stressed on local language and culture based education and said that the life of children of regions like Bastar is associated with forests and waterfalls. They should give knowledge based on this. NEP 2020 focus on local dialects is the right direction.
Finance Minister Shri O. P. Chaudhary said that the role of Mentarship in the direction of equality and empowerment in education is decisive. This workshop is based on school education, higher education and skill development. Talking about the demographic strength of Chhattisgarh, he said that the average age of the country is 28 years, while the average age of Chhattisgarh is only 24 years. This is our greatest power, we have to connect the youth with the economy, so that they can make active contribution in the creation of developed India.
Drawing attention to the challenges of government schools, the Finance Minister said that the participation of the community is decreasing, we have to adopt models like Navodaya Vidyalayas. NITI Aayog should bring innovative practice across the country on a shared platform, so that equality in education can be ensured. Education is the basis of human capital formation and every child should get equal opportunity. Sharing the dropout rates at the national level, he said that primary schools have 93 percent enrollment, but three percent of children are missed in upper primary. Only 56 percent of the students reach the secondary level and only 23 percent students reach 12th standard. From 2019 to 2023, 15,000 OBCs, SC, ST students left studies from central universities, while more than 4,000 students were out of IIT and IIM. It is not only personal, but also national loss.
Dr. Paul further said in his point that mentorship gives students personal guidance, confidence and life skills. We have to change the mindset of teachers, empower students and ensure direct access through technology. Problems such as toxic environment and drug addiction increase dropouts. Every child should get an opportunity to face challenges by being equipped with knowledge and confidence, it is his human rights. He said that our country is rich in human centenary philosophy. We have to create a system in which every child gets mentorship, NEP 2020 shows us this path.