Parliament has begun a thorough-going review of India’s educational framework this year, and legislators clearly indicated that they are keen to examine this further. This is taken at a time when concerns over student stress have been on the rise across the country.
Members pointed out that coaching centres were surging and changing the career trajectories of millions of students. They also observed increased pressure on students preparing for competitive exams across the country in urban areas such as Kota. Officials and members are prepared to investigate the emergence of this crisis and what public and educational policy choices enabled it to develop.
Members observed that it did not take long for the discussion to turn to the preparation of students for future studies in the context of growing interest in artificial intelligence’s (AI) impact on learning patterns. It followed that the committee was in the early stages of preparing a broad follow-up on educational technologies, risks, education reform, and digitalization.
The parliamentary standing committee chose twenty-eight subjects from the Ministry of Education on which to take a deeper dive. This number included fourteen topics from each of school education and higher education. Lawmakers agreed to review key school-sector schemes like Samagra Shiksha, PM POSHAN, and PM-SHRI, and assess the possibility of extending Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas further.
Officials were going to examine the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020 at the board and school levels. Additionally, they planned to assess any existing guidelines related to the recognition of private schools and initiatives in support of children with disabilities. The committee would also look at the reform needed under the Right to Education Act.
The urgency for scrutinizing the coaching boom
The rapidly proliferating coaching centres in India became a major focus of concern for the committee. Members associated this shift with increasing academic pressure, including the subsequent rise in suicides among students. Every time the committee heard from students, they received repeated well-documented accounts of students experiencing monumental stress in coaching centres.
For this reason, they wanted to review current laws and consider the main gaps in regulation for coaching centre operation. The ministry had previously established a separate committee to investigate and study the various dummy schools, as well as the legitimacy of entering new colleges and universities.
The committee wanted to see how those findings could be incorporated and combine that research with a better understanding of how coaching culture shaped the broader education system. The committee also wanted to investigate educational policies regarding school closures and the long-term effects on the surrounding community and culture.
How AI and new technologies reshape learning in ways unrecognised by INEER
The committee recognised that artificial intelligence was reshaping learning in ways they had not recognised. The members planned to investigate the impact of AIT on teaching, assessment, and student learning outcomes. The committee intended to explore the dangers of automated systems and new digitally-based technologies.
This examination would assist lawmakers to understand how technologies had disrupted expectations within the academic workforce, and the teaching profession as a whole. Officials would investigate inclusion polices, library access, and early-childhood education progress to ensure balanced growth in classrooms as well. It was their intent to also assess NCERT’s curriculum efforts, textbook reviews, and teacher education systems.
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What reforms could also impact higher education
Lawmakers showed an interest in enacting change in higher education as well. They planned on reviewing vocational integration, reservation implementation, and mental health support for all learners. The committee planned to review also the financials of the HEFI and the roles of the UGC.
Lastly, by reviewing the governments acted definition of a unified regulator characterized a major change in academic organizational structure that symbolized an institutional shift into a regulatory system managed by an educational agency.
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