Imagination is a key factor to fuel education sector

Different sectors are getting restructured with the advent of new policies, and education is one such sector which is not akin to such changes. Children of today are the pillars of tomorrow for any country.

Whenever some new policy is brought in, there will be several doubts and apprehensions. The National Education Policy too had raised several questions and poses many challenges feels Dr Dheeraj P Sharma, Director of IIM Rohtak. He is a full-time professor on leave from IIM Ahmedabad and a member of economic advisory council of Haryana.

Talking to The Hans India in an exclusive interview, he said the word imagination is a key factor in providing fuel to education sector. With imagination, comes ideas and with ideas comes the dynamics of action. Without imagination nothing concrete can be achieved. The NEP, he said is a policy for integration of regional languages which will help students to overcome the impediment of learning in one language. Now the students have freedom of learning in their regional language rather than relying primarily on English.

Ever since NEP was announced several doubts had arisen in the minds of students as well as their parents. The new policy he said takes in consideration the changing needs and the scenarios of the country. It involves some big steps which if implemented with proper cooperation of the states with the centre it will change the education sector of the country for better.

The root level responsibility for deliverance of education is on states through educational institutions, so their coordination with the centre will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of this policy. The policy has good ingredients such as flexibility, integration of regional languages and involvement of skill components.

Some feel that the policy may result in the number of dropouts increasing. But that is not true. We have an educational bank of credits under this policy, where credits are stored. This will enable the students to come back after a gap and start from where you left, said Dr Sharma.

Now you have an exit option. For instance, if you join for three-year course, and if you leave after one year, you get the certificate for one year, if you leave after two years, you will get the diploma. Culmination of Education is not time bound. This flexibility just answers the notion of dropout.

Sometimes people require the gist of any policy in layman terms for easy grasping. In simple terms, he said that the implementation will show us the future path.

"One thing that I personally believe is that the self-esteem of an average individual has been augmented as we are now proud of our language, culture and the Indian Knowledge system. We have time tested traditions and concepts." How can one imagine science to progress without imagination? First comes imagination then comes the real picture. We imagined flying 6,000 years ago and then only humans developed the flying machine.

Somebody must put the mechanics to the imagination. The biggest advantage with this policy is that we Indians will feel comfortable to start learning and feel proud of who we are. Imaginative Skill development has been given too much relevance in the new policy. But at the same time some kids are more imaginative than others. "I mean everybody can't be a scientist, or an advocate or an engineer. The basic idea which needs further cultivation is that we should feel proud of whatever we are doing. We must realise that we are a part of it, we feel connected to it."

For example, in North America, even a bricklayer feels that he has a significant contribution in the building the bridge, a plumber also feels that he has done a part in the building, a school bus driver also feels that he is commuting the youth to their educational institution. It's a matter of taking pride in whatever we are doing. NEP will allow you to diversify your learning experience, he added.