Impact of National Education Policy (NEP) on Social Work Discipline
Introduction
Some of us would know that the National Education Policy (NEP) is a policy document developed by the Government of India with an objective to promote education among the Indians that follows certain stipulated standards. The scope of the policy covers elementary education to college education for urban and rural India. The government of India had appointed a new committee under K. Kasturirangan to prepare a Draft for the new National Education Policy in 2017. The policy aims at equipping students with necessary skills and knowledge in order to eliminate shortage of manpower in science, technology, academics and industry. The draft of the policy is prepared on the foundational pillars of access, equity, quality, affordability and accountability. This article attempts to identify the impact of the said policy on Social Work discipline. The NEP makes a serious attempt to address mental health, school retention of children by introducing counselors and social workers into the schooling system.
The policy envisages some crucial roles and responsibilities for the professional social workers and counsellors in reaching its scope such as (i) Improve school enrolment and promote retention (ii) Address school dropouts and absenteeism (iii) Identifying and managing children with special needs (iv) Functional literacy and vocational training for school dropouts (v) address gender stereotypes (vi) Working with communities. Keeping these areas in mind, there are large avenues of operation for social work practitioners.
The Provisions for Social workers
The following areas highlight the major provisions for social workers in the draft NEP.
(i) Improve Enrollment and Promote Retention
The NEP aims at achieving universal participation in school by carefully tracking students, as well as their learning levels in school. It aims at making the children continually working towards ensuring two important things: a) They are enrolled in and attending school, and b) They have suitable opportunities for remediation and re- entry to catch up in case they have fallen behind or dropped out. The 'free and compulsory' aspect of the Right To Education Act will be enforced, and extended through grade 12 and to all children up to the age of 18. The students, parents, teachers, and communities to ensure that all school-age children are attending and learning in school. Social workers will help track student attendance and work towards bringing dropouts back into school. In this attempt, the programmes like the National Tutors Programme (NTP) and Remedial Instruction Aid Programme (RIAP) will provide adequate backing. In order to avoid instances of girls and other children dropping out due to facing harassment on the way to, or within the school, school principals, social workers and local law enforcement will work together to identify the miscreants and discipline them, and take
legal action if needed. A 24 x 7 helpline number will also be communicated among the public. The local police will work with the social workers to instruct parents and students on identifying and reporting incidences of harassment, both within and outside the school. Areas where harassment is one of the major reasons for high dropout rates will be given special attention. Since this kind of issues are very common in remote areas this provision can ensure far reaching impact in the short run itself. It is interesting to see the provision that an appropriate area-specific and locally relevant mechanism will be put in place, in collaboration with social workers, principals, community members, and SMCs, for tracking down and forming a database of all dropouts and out-of-school children. In most cases, social workers will take charge of managing the database, interfacing with the community, and ensuring that every child in the database is cared for and helped to return to school.
(ii) Address School Dropouts and Absenteeism
The roles identified in cases of school enrolment and school dropouts are very demanding. The social workers appointed to the school complex will proactively meet with children and their parents to understand the reason for not attending the school or not enrolled in the school. The social workers will work with the children in collaboration with counsellors in order to help ensure attendance/enrolment. They, in consultation with teachers, will connect the children to remedial programmes such as National Tutors Programme and Remedial Instructional Aid Programme or alternative learning programmes. The social workers and counsellors will work with students, their parents, teachers, tutors, and community members to help ensure theretention of children in school and the mental health of all children.
(iii) Identifying and Managing Children with Special Needs
This is one aspect where the current education system leaves a big vacuum. Social workers are supposed to support the system in identifying and managing children with special needs (CWSN) to ensure that they are fully engaged with the education system. Social workers will help teachers in managing the relationships with their families. They will also facilitate the engagement of teachers with the communities that the school complex serves.
(iv) Functional Literacy and Vocational Training for School Dropouts
Dropouts aged 15 and above, who have fallen too far behind or are nearly illiterate will be given the alternative option to attend adult literacy programmes to gain foundational and functional literacy, and then, if desired, enroll in vocational training programmes conducted for adult neo-literates. Such decisions, regarding the optimal solution for each student will be made in consultation with the students themselves, their parents, school teachers, and social workers.
v) Address Gender Stereotypes
This provision is related to addressing the social mores and gender stereotypes that encourage school non-attendance. As part of an ongoing effort to identify and eliminate gender stereotypes in society, especially those that entertain withdrawal from schools, social workers will hold regular discussions with parents. For instance, on social issues like child marriage, not sending girls to high school or for further studies, placing financial expectations on boys pre-maturely, forming negative perceptions around women employment, involving school-going children in the family profession or household work, and in general, external factors' precedence over formal education social workers are assumed to play a key role. The importance of formal education in securing better positions in medium- to- high-productivity jobs and attaining financial independence will also be stressed. In addition, the presence of strong role models, for
example female teachers, will help change societal perceptions about women's abilities and ambitions.
vi) Working with Communities
The social workers will engage deeply with the community being served by the school complex. They will work proactively with parents and students, to ensure enrolment and attendance, and to eliminate the phenomenon of children 'dropping out' of school. They will work to bring back students who have dropped out of school. Particular attention will be given in this regard to areas where there are many students from socially and economically disadvantaged groups, including the urban areas.
In this regard, social workers will help in making the SMCs (School Management Committee) more effective. They will also work with counsellors and families to help students identify vocations of their wards. Social workers traveling through their communities to identify and locate school dropouts and other children not attending school will also be commissioned (in collaboration with volunteers, NGOs, community organisations, and Zilla Saksharta Samitis wherever they exist) to locate and identify adults in the community who would benefit from adult education opportunities, particularly regarding literacy. This data will be recorded (with the permission of the beneficiaries) and shared with preraks/AECs in order to connect these adults to relevant adult education programmes. Parents of school children will be especially encouraged by social workers to join adult education programmes so that they naturally can be more involved in their children's education. Teenagers between 14 and 18 years of age, who are identified as non-literate, will be given the option to either join adult literacy programmes or reenter formal education by joining remedial education programmes such as the NTP and RIAP.
Impact on Social workers
In a brief analysis it is evident that the NEP has bestowed a key role to the social workers. The school complex will support social workers in every way to achieve these objectives. The state departments of education will coordinate with the departments of health and of law enforcement to evolve mechanisms to provide support to the social workers as and when required. For instance, in cases where students' attendance is affected by illness or where there are cases of abuse or there is a lack of safety etc. social workers need to pitch in. therefore, adequate number of social workers will be appointed to the school complexes depending on the student population and the population of adult learners in that geography. Meanwhile, the hiring of social workers and counsellors who work with and stay connected with students, parents, schools, and teachers in order to improve attendance and learning outcomes has been found to be effective especially for children in urban poor areas.
Research studies show that visits from associations with social workers form the most effective intervention in encouraging children from urban poor families to go to school. The new and existing schools that enhance access for children in urban poor areas and will also invest in hiring excellent social workers and counsellors.
Thus the role of social workers can be summarised in the following lines. They will:
● Work to find children and parents in urban poor areas
● Explain to them the value of school
● Connect parents and children with schools, teachers, remedial instructors, and tutors;
● Plan with them methods (such as walking groups) and routes for children to reach school
safely
● Inform parents of children's learning outcomes and help them to be involved in their
children's learning (including arranging parent-teacher conferences as per requirement)
● Help children maintain connections with their parents' languages and culture;
● Help keep children away from harmful activities
● Be a source of support and advice to children and their families (along with counsellors)
throughout the learning process as needed
Implications and Perspectives
All the above policies and measures are absolutely critical to attaining full inclusion and equity. All participants in the school education system, including teachers, principals, administrators, social workers, counsellors, and students, will need to be sensitised to the requirements of all students, the notions of inclusion and equity, and the respect and dignity of all persons. Such an educational culture will be the best tool to help students become empowered individuals who, in turn, will enable society to transform into one that is responsible towards its most vulnerable citizens. Inclusion and equity will become the key aspects of teacher education (and training for all leadership, administrative, and other positions in schools). Finally, students will be sensitised through this new school culture brought in by teachers and other school workers (such as social workers and counsellors), and also by corresponding changes in the school curriculum. The school curriculum will include material on human values such as respect for all persons, empathy, tolerance, inclusion, and equity at the beginning stage itself. Any bias in school curriculum will be removed so that the system will provide room for better inclusion. In this direction, more material will be included that are relevant and relatable to all communities which encompasses human values.
The policy indicates an optimism for identifying the importance of school social worker and the relevance of the position in the school. However, the focus is largely on school enrolment and retention although it is the most important aspect in the current Indian education system. Alongside, it lays more emphasis on mental health as well. Mental problems are real, common and treatable. Untreated mental health problems can disrupt children's functioning at home, school and in the community. Without treatment, children with mental health issues are at increased risk of school failure, contact with the criminal justice system, dependence on social services, and even suicide. Parents and family members are usually the first ones to notice if the child has problems with emotions or behavior. Observations, along with those of teachers and other caregivers can help a child effectively mitigate issues (Hiscock, n.d.). In short, the NEP can be regarded as a vision document with clear guidelines to fill the gap in the existing education system. The short as well as long term goals and implications will work in favour of elevating the education standards of people in the country.
Hiscock, H. (n.d.). Preventing mental health problems in children. Http://isrctn.org/>. https://doi.org/10.1186/isrctn61137690
National Education Policy (Draft), Government of India, 2019
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