IMPACT OF DRAFT NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY 2019 ON MATHEMATICS

Abstract

Knowledge of Mathematics is developing into an integral part of day to day life. Each day we are applying mathematical concepts in different ways. Mathematics is considered as the "Queen of Science". Without the knowledge of basic mathematical concepts, we can not move forward. In olden days, shepherds used stones to estimate the number of sheep which was the beginning of counting. From the time one gets up from bed till one goes to bed in the night, mathematics is applied in different forms. Indian Mathematicians gave great contributions for the development of this discipline. The concept of zero and the decimal number system are some of the classical contributions of Indian Mathematicians. Famous Mathematicians such as Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara II, Varahamihira, Srinivasa Ramanujan etc., are some of the precious gifts given by our country to the world of Mathematics. National Educational Policy is formulated by the government of India to promote Indian education to world class level. The first policy was introduced in 1968 by the government of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Latest Draft National Educational Policy (NEP) was submitted in December 2018 under the chairmanship of the eminent scientist Dr. K. Kasturirangan. In this assignment the impact of draft national educational policy in the field of Mathematics is discussed.

Introduction

Nature is the greatest Mathematician. We can observe many mathematical patterns in nature. In a sunflower, the arrangement of petals in the central part follows the Fibonacci sequence. The growth of leaves also follow Fibonacci sequence. Further, the human body has various representations of the Fibonacci sequence. Similarly, we can observe many mathematical patterns in nature. For each person, knowledge of Mathematics is required for various purposes.

Study of Mathematics is mandatory in school education. When it comes to higher education it becomes optional. People are not much aware about the applications of Mathematics in another fields. Besides a vast and difficult syllabus, tough competition and parents' expectations put huge pressure on students which leads to the fear of the subject. [1].

After the higher secondary education parents force their children to choose an area where they feel it is easy to get employment. Out of the students who are choosing Mathematics for their under-graduation only a few are going for higher studies and research. The aim of National Education Policy is to develop good, well rounded and creative individuals. Universities and colleges play a key role in attaining this goal. Research and innovations will make a sustainable development of both society and economy.

The new Education Policy promotes interdisciplinary research which will help the researchers in the field of Mathematics in many ways. More collaborative efficient research will happen. Also, a program like SWAYAM (Study Web of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) provides a lifelong learning. It provides an opportunity to attend the classes of well-known professors from different parts of our country free of cost. We have the opportunities to study different Mathematics papers offered by reputed professors through SWAYAM.

Impact of the Draft NEP

In this section some of the impacts of the Draft National Educational Policy on Mathematics are discussed.

1.     Online Courses

 

SWAYAM (Study Web of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is an online portal to provide best teaching and learning experience [2]. It's an online platform of thousands of courses and is free of cost. Through SWAYAM students have the opportunity to attend different mathematical classes which are offered by reputed professors from different part of our country. Students will get basic mathematical classes also. Course duration is around 12 to 15 weeks. This type of programs will popularize the subject and will create more interest among students to learn the subject effectively. Like this program, there are many other online courses offered by different institutions. It will help the non-science as well as the professional students to learn mathematics from the very basic level.

 

2.    Faculty Recruitment

Success of educational institutions depends on quality and dedication of faculties.    According to the new education policy, faculty recruitment will be on the basis of academic expertise, teaching capacities and dispositions for public service [3]. Today we can see that majority of appointments take place with the influence of money or politics. There are many highly qualified candidates who don't get a chance. Finally, they are forced to take some jobs which are not related to their field of expertise.

More than 500 vacancies are reported for the post of Assistant Professor in Mathematics in different parts of the country. But majority of institutions are run by taking guest faculties. Even the government does not encourage appointment of permanent faculties these days. The government prefers the service of guest faculties which gives financial benefits to the government. This will indirectly affect the quality of teaching sometimes. Heavy work load and high teacher student ratio also affect the quality of teaching. Recently, there was a post in Facebook by a parent about his daughter. His daughter was a first rank holder in both UG and PG. But she didn't get any job. In order to get a job huge amount of money was demanded. Finally, she was forced to go abroad to search for a job. Why such talented students are going abroad for job? In a way it's a failure of the current education system. If the new educational policy is executed properly, then more highly qualified candidates will come to the teaching profession. It will increase the quality as well as the research culture.

 

3.      Research

 

Currently the number of researchers per population is 15:1,00,000 in India [3]. This ratio is very small when compared with other countries. NBHM (National Board for Higher Mathematics) was set up by the government of India under the Department of Atomic Energy in 1983. Its aim is to develop the education in mathematics and provide financial assistance to research scholars in Mathematics. Also, they provide financial assistance to post graduate students. But the number of students or scholars applying to this is comparatively low. The new Draft National Education Policy promotes research as an integral part of development of the country. Besides the National Research Fund, agencies like NBHM provides more funding to research field. Also, numbers of collaborative works will increase. More researches will come from applied Mathematical field which will help in both economical and social development.

 

4.    Infrastructure and other facilities

 

New Education Policy demands that all higher education institutions must have adequate physical infrastructures and facilities. Currently majority of the institutions are not offering any software programs in UG and PG. They don't have lab facilities and wifi facilities which may be due to lack of funds. Software's such as Matlab, Scilab, SPSS, Maple, Mathematica etc are very useful for Mathematical Research. Introducing such software in the UG level itself will help the students to familiar with it and they can apply it during the research time. If the draft education policy is executed in this form then the institutions will ensure much more lab facilities and internet facilities. Also, more software programs can be offered in colleges. Like the labs of other science subjects' mathematical labs also can be set up which will make mathematical learning more creative and interesting.

 

5.    Training Programs

 

National Education Policy demands that faculties must undergo training and orientation programs. This will help to update their knowledge as well as they get contact with faculties who are working in the same field. The Advanced Training in Mathematics Schools programme (ATM Schools) was launched by NBHM in 2004. It provides training in core subjects in Mathematics to researchers as well as faculties [4]. The instructional schools and workshops were organized under the supervision of National Centre for Mathematics (NCM) which is jointly established by IIT Mumbai and TIFR. Each year they will organize Annual Foundation Schools (AFS) I, II and III for researchers to improve their knowledge in core subjects. Its course duration is about 25 days.

Like these many institutions are organizing training programs. MTTS (Mathematics Training and Talent Search) programme is one of the most popular undergraduate and graduate training programme in Mathematics in India [5]. If NEP implemented properly then participation to such training programs will increase. It will help both students and faculties to update their knowledge and to get a new platform for fruitful discussion.

 

6.    National Institutes & Research Centers

 

Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) is a centre for research in Mathematical and Computer Science [5]. It is the one of the top research centers for Mathematics. Besides IIT, CMI, IMSc (Institute of Mathematical Sciences) or NIT, NEP will help to develop more research centers in India which will be specialized in both pure and applied Mathematics.

 

7.     Internationalization of higher education

 

NEP is trying to upgrade the Indian education system to the international level. If the policy is executed properly then more talented students from abroad will come to Indian Institutions. We will also get more opportunities to meet well known Professors from different part of the world. MIT, Harward University, Stanford University, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge are the top institutions which offer the best Mathematics programmes in the world. Proper implementation of NEP will provide more collaborative research opportunities and twinning programmes with these institutions.

 

8.    Research in Professional Streams

 

NEP promotes research in professional streams. Multidisciplinary research is more possible in professional courses. Mathematics has a vital role in such research. By using mathematical tools, we can convert the research problem into mathematical models which makes it easier to compute. Thus, the popularity of Mathematics is again increasing. Also researchers in Mathematics will get an opportunity to publish their articles in top journals with high citations.

 

9.    Teacher Education

 

NEP demands to run Teacher Education in multidisciplinary institutions. There is also a plan to implement four-year Bachelor's degree as minimum qualification for school teaching [3]. Degree program will be run with collaboration of different departments. It will help the student to understand the subject with more clarity and depth. History of Mathematics and  Philosophy of Mathematics are some additional input student can get from this course. Majority of higher institutions in their UG or PG programs will not discuss about these important topics.

 

Conclusion

 

National Educational Policy has a positive impact on Mathematics. It will popularize the subject as well as increase research. This is the third NEP after independence. When we consider the previous NEPs, we can observe that both did not achieve their targets completely. Standard of our education level has not yet reached up to the Western Countries. UGC  declared that 23 fake universities are functioning in India [7]. It clearly indicates that eventhough rules and policies exist, money and political influence will overrule it.

 

There are some clarifications required in some areas. NEP promotes research that is application oriented but research in core areas  should also be improved.  In Mathematics, majority of research especially in south India are focusing only in areas such as Graph Theory, Fuzzy etc. Research in Analysis and Algebra is comparatively low. These should be changed. Research should be promoted in both pure and applied levels. Common people may not be aware about the accreditation policies of agencies like UGC, IMA etc. Such agencies themselves declare that there are many fake institutions running in India. So, in order to help the common people, it will be better to conduct compulsory orientation programs in the higher secondary level.

 

Leadership and governance highly influence the development of an institution. Currently majority of appointments especially in state universities take place by political influence. Vice Chancellor and syndicate members will be the nominee of the ruling party. NEP demands the elimination of such political influence. But the NEP is been executed under the leadership of these political parties. They may manipulate the policy for their benefit. Monitoring of implementation of NEP is required at each level.

 

References

 

[1]Ncert.nic.in,2019.[Online].Available: http://www.ncert.nic.in/pdf_files/17.Mathematics%20Curriculum%20for%20School%20Education%20_16.12.pdf. [Accessed: 01 - Aug - 2019].

 

[2]."Swayam Central", Swayam.gov.in, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://swayam.gov.in/about. [Accessed: 01- Aug- 2019].

 

[3].Innovate.mygov.in.(2019).[online]Available,at:https://innovate.mygov.in/wp- content/uploads/2019/06/mygov15596510111.pdf [Accessed 01 Aug. 2019].

 

[4]"www.nbhm.dae.gov.in", Nbhm.dae.gov.in,2019.[Online].Available:        http://www.nbhm.dae.gov.in/. [Accessed: 02- Aug- 2019].

 

[5]"Mathematics Training and Talent Search Programme – Organized by MTTS Trust", Mtts.org.in, 2019. [Online]. Available:https://mtts.org.in/. [Accessed: 02- Aug- 2019].

                                                                                                                                       

[6]"Chennai Mathematical Institute", Cmi.ac.in, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.cmi.ac.in/. [Accessed: 02- Aug- 2019].

 

[7]"University Grants commission ::Fake Universities", Ugc.ac.in, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.ugc.ac.in/page/Fake-Universities.aspx. [Accessed: 03- Aug- 2019].

- John Joy 

Research Scholar

Department of Mathematics