Jai Narayan Chouksey, Chairman of the LNCT group, recently got into an exclusive conversation with NewsX for its special segment NewsX A-list and shared his valuable inputs on the new education policy (NEP 2020), its strengths, weaknesses and how LNCT is working towards integrating better technology in India.
Assessing the new education policy, Mr Chouksey said, “Any policy is a good policy. What we really need to focus on is whether the team assigned to implement the policy is trained or not. Only floating a policy will not suffice. The team who has made the policy surely would have put in a lot of hard work but it is also important to note that the implementation of the policy would need 10 years. We would be able to see the accurate results only after 10 years. It is not that we start a policy today and we start seeing the results from tomorrow. It is also important to focus on building the required infrastructure and training of the team, which is responsible for the implementation of the policy.”
When asked how LNCT is working towards the goal of integrating better technology in India to make NEP a success, he stressed, “Although the policy has been made keeping in mind better technology, our country still lacks on that front. We can see that school education is shifting online now. But, some parents are still unaware of how to make use of the technology. Neither the children, nor the parents are trained enough to make full use of the technology. We can hear people say that online classes should be conducted but India is not ready for it right now. It will take time. We need to train people and build a team who can train people and LNCT is working towards that.”
Along with training, universities would need to incorporate various changes with assistance from state and central government. Mr Chouksey stresses, “If Universities need to take this policy forward, the government would need to focus on each one. There are many universities that enroll 3000-4000 students but lack enough facilities, especially in private universities. Giving out academic degrees should not become a business. If we don’t focus on the practicalities of the policy, we would only be left with papers and theoretical implementation of the policy. This policy allowed a student to take breaks from learning and we encourage that. One’s training for their professional life should begin in high school. Training is a must. State and Centre should pay special attention on the functioning of these universities.”
NEP 2020 has set another goal for universities, i.e to set up incubation labs so that students become innovators and thinkers. Would it help reduce brain drain from India? Mr Chouksey opines, “A student should be trained for their professional prospects. His/her training should be focused on what he/she wants to become. There is no point of teaching something that would never come to use. Specialisation is a must and it should begin early. By the age of 14-15, a student should know what they want to become and do in life. This scheme would surely be beneficial in building future leaders of the country.”
Lastly, sharing his vision for higher education in India, he concluded, “Higher education should be given to students who really want to excel in that field. Those who want to become a scientist should become a scientist. If a student is put in a specific field, he/she would put all their effort into that.”