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INTRODUCTION

The Union Government of India approved the National Education Policy 2020 on July 29, 2020. The first National Education Policy came into force in 1968.  It was replaced by the National Education Policy 1986, which was modified in 1992.  The 1992 policy was in force till 2020, and we now have the current National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aims and objectives of this policy and the stages by which the policy projects to achieve the goal seems impressive at the outset. The stated aim of this New Education Policy is:

“India to have an education system by 2040 that is second to none, with equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners regardless of social or economic background and thus to universalise education and make India a Global knowledge Superpower.”

On the face of it, any Indian would be proud of this aim.

STRUCTURE OF SCHOOL EDUCATION

The process to achieve the high aim and objective set for this policy also looks impressive, for it replaces the existing school education structure of 10+2 with 5+3+3+4. In this structure the first 5-year stage, which is called Foundational Stage, is a welcome one because it aims at concentrating on children from the age of three—the right to have education begins from the age of three. The pedagogy that is proposed for this stage will definitely enable the children to learn to write, read and understand basic numbers by the time they reach grade 2, which would be the basic strength for children to go to the Second Level of Preparatory stage from 3 to 5, where the children learn languages and basic mathematics. If these two stages are really implemented in its letter and spirit, the children will certainly be equipped with the strength to continue their studies in stage three from the 6th grade to the 8th grade and will be in a position to face the fourth stage from grade 9 to 12, where students would be free to choose the subjects they like and be in a position to learn vocational skills as well.

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K. John Don Bosco

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The responses to the National Education Policy 2020 are diverse.  There are those who sympathize with it, or critique it whole sale, others who applaud the document as a much-needed change in the education system and still some others who problematize the far-fetched thinking that the document enshrines and some who hail it as a document crafted with a hidden majoritarian agenda.  As catholic educators, some of our significant questions will be the following:

How best can we ensure access for the economically impoverished, the culturally sidelined and the rural poor who cannot afford top class education?  Are our institutions characterized by a culture of dialogue as Pope Francis spells out and are there ways by which the guidelines of NEP 2020 can help in transforming the identity of the catholic school for a culture of dialogue?

I suggest the following practical steps we could take as a Way Forward:

1. Transform our understanding of what it means to be a leader in the field of education:

One of the positive aspects of NEP 2020 is the call to become a Pedagogical Leader.  Etymologically, the word Pedagogy comes from the Greek word agogos and literally means, one who accompanies or leads a person to knowing.   True learning happens when students experience an atmosphere of joy, warmth and homeliness in the place of learning. The best of philosophies emerged during friendly conversations around the coffee table.  One of the most important roles we are called to play as educators is to facilitate learning through empowering processes. As leaders we ourselves must be continuous learners.  Very often, those of us who are in leadership in our educational institutions, like headmistresses, principals, and so on function more often as administrators and not really as leaders who facilitate learning.

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Pushpa Joseph

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Introduction

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) promised a new education policy in its election campaign in 2014. The New Education Policy was drafted by a committee under the chairmanship of K Kasturirangan. It was released soon after the BJP government was sworn in a second time, on 30 May 2019.  It was modified in 2020 and the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) was announced. It set the goal of transforming the system of education to meet the needs of the 21st Century India.    The NEP is expected to provide an overarching vision and comprehensive framework for both school and higher education across the country.  It is the third policy in Independent India.  A cursory reading of NEP makes one feel that the policy is to push a particular agenda. Venkatesh Athreya, in “News Click” dated 29 July 2019, commenting on the policy, says that the ‘Draft National Education Policy is Seductive Sophistry in Service of the RSS’.

Focus of the Policy

Before analysing the policy, it would be useful to understand NEP’s view of modern education and how it proposes to reform the educational system.   From the 65-page document, it is clear that the purpose of NEP is to restore India’s ancient system of education that was supposed to have existed in the ancient Takshasila and Nalanda. It suggests that India would become a knowledge superpower, if the nation restores the ancient education model.  NEP does not analyse who benefitted from the Vedic Education and whether this was accessible to all or was it available only to a socially elite class. It does not say if this ancient system had any democratic values, crucial to contemporary education.  What methodology NEP would use to create this idealized ancient education system is overlooked.  The reforms suggest a complete restructuring of education by imposing a centrally controlled, regulated and governed system of structures and agencies.   It follows the neoliberal capitalist higher education model formulated by Europe and the United States. An overemphasis of the ancient system of education and a leap to the 21st century conceals a discontinuity of historical evolution of educational progress, from the time of the British.

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Fr. V. Joseph Xavier, sj

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Introduction

A new policy for education in India to purportedly harness whole-person development and produce competent individuals to eventually contribute to the building-up of a nation, has raised more perplexing questions than engage with much needed pathways towards progress.  After a period of nearly four years devoted to drafting the policy, a comprehensive, and far-reaching National Education Policy 2020 was released in the year 2020.

Old Spirit – New Apprehensions

A closer examination reveals that the NEP 2020 has spontaneously drawn from ideas promulgated in earlier policy documents – the Yash Pal Committee report on Higher Education and the Justice Verma Committee report on Teacher Education, the National Curriculum Framework and the National Early Childhood Care and Education Policy of 2013. Furthermore, elements drawn from the UNESCO report ‘Learning the Treasure Within’, (Jacques Delors, 1996) is hard to ignore.

The NEP 2020 has set off a plethora of apprehensions among educationalists, thinkers, planners and politicians, some of which are — the conservative political agenda, ominous signals of withdrawal of public funding, a highly technical approach rather than practical guidelines, and a lack of understanding to acknowledge the equity dimension, namely the Constitutional guarantees for the underprivileged and disadvantaged groups.

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Prof Sandra Joseph

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Based on the recent regulations from the Income Tax Department for all Non-Profit Organizations as well as on our situation in a religious set-up, I feel the need for us to have our own financial policy and procedure.  Hence, taking into account our religious as well as the civil requirements, I present here the basic financial policy and procedure. This is meant to serve us as guidelines for our finance-related procedure. It is not exhaustive, but it shows the important areas of lacunae we are facing at present. Failure to follow these will attract penalties or even endanger the tax exemption of our registered societies.  Though a burden it may be, keeping in mind the interests of our organizations and registered societies, it is better to adhere to this from now on than regretting later on for not having done anything about it. It is better that we follow these guidelines strictly, lest our registered societies get tax or legal problems of non-compliance.

Various Policies and Procedures

Accountability: Experience shows that for stewards who manage the resources on behalf of the owner, i.e., our Lord Himself, accountability is very central. As stewards, we are accountable to the existing structures like the religious Superiors, Governing Body, Donors and the Government. The Code of Canon Law refers to it time and again. Where there is no accountability, the organization will disintegrate.

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Fr Alex G., SJ

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Some years back one of the male congregations lost three of their General Councillors within a relatively short period of time.  Investigations showed that two of those lives could have been saved if they had been prompt about caring for themselves.  Now, all the General Councillors of that Congregation undergo a medical check-up once every six months.

            About a month ago one of my friends, a highly placed religious, who had started to work late into the night, lost consciousness and collapsed in the restroom, at night.  Fortunately, he was not seriously hurt.  He regained consciousness after some time.  Next morning when he consulted the doctor, he was advised to go to bed every night by 9.00 p.m. and then come back for a test after two weeks.  The tests revealed that he was not suffering from any major sickness – he had collapsed because of loss of sleep.

            At the end of a renewal course for a group of very active religious, one of the common remarks that was heard was this: “I really needed this time for myself.  Now I need to take time daily to nourish myself.  Otherwise, I will become stressed, depleted, inefficient and unhappy.”

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Jose Kuttianimattathil, sdb

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(This is the personal response of Sr Benny to the questions that were part of the Cover Story of the October issue which could not be published then due to lack of space)

We are in an age of great hope and a lot of despair, where we talk of love and practice indifference. We acknowledge that we are stewards of our planet and yet act as owners. Yes, we live in the best of times. It is time to make our dreams a reality. It is time to take a stand and make a difference in our own life and the lives of others.

People who made a difference in my life:

I would like to share with you a few people who have made a difference in my life. Of course, the first place goes to my parents and family. Secondly, I salute my Congregation and remain grateful to it for helping me become what I am today. Beside these, I like to mention four people who greatly influenced to colour and nurture my life.

Fr Rocha Rosario SJ, the former Provincial of Goa Province, who was my B.Th. guide. He is no more now. When I had gone to his residence and requested him to be my paper guide, he thought for a while and said these words, ‘Benny, I am happy to guide you, but I am going to squeeze you thoroughly—and he did. That moment I was scared, but now, when I look back, this ‘squeezing’ has had a lot of impact on me.

Sr Jyothi Pinto BS was vice-president of the Women’s Section of National CRI and president of  the Institute Mater Dei, Goa. She is a visionary, with a  daring risk-taking spirit which I liked most. She told me one day, ‘Benny, we women religious, should be convinced of our worth of being women and be able to stand on our own feet.’ She reawakened the worth of my womanhood and today I do the same for my formees.

Sr Matilda Monteiro SCCG was the Dean of Studies for three years in the Institute of Mater Dei, Goa. She is a good administrator, a firm, and courageous religious Sister. I learnt, from her, the art of simplicity and transparency in words and actions.

Fr Joe Mannath SDB was the director of Don Bosco Renewal Centre, Bangalore. I did my Formators’ and Spiritual Direction Courses under him. I learnt from him to create a family spirit in my community and grow in freedom with responsibility.

I cherish and admire these great people who had interest and love towards me. These and many more people have influenced me and made a difference in my life.

The difference I made:

Trusting in my abilities, my authorities have appointed me as formator at my young age. I have been a formator now for fifteen years. What I feel is deep satisfaction and joy to see my formees growing in their own way. A few of them have told me: ‘Your life of simplicity, commitment and thoughtfulness inspired us most.’ Others said, ‘You loved us equally according to our needs.’ Some said, ‘We were rather afraid of you because of your discipline and strictness at times, but now we understand why you were behind us most of the time.’ I don’t expect anything in life because I am convinced of my religious call and my mission entrusted to me.

How can we make a difference?

Having shared my own experiences, I question, what is the relevance of our life as religious and priests in today’s world as a whole?

All of us are aware of the dearth in vocations to priesthood and religious life. Why? Are we vibrant in our dealing with others, in our mission field? Are we focused? These questions disturb me every now and then. The following are my own reflections on what I think we need to do better.

Spiritual growth: Do we know who Jesus is? We know about Jesus through books, homilies, etc., but have we really experienced Jesus?  I think our life would be different only when we experience Jesus in our day-to-day life. Then we will treat everyone equally.

Examined life: Socrates, the great philosopher, says, ‘An unexamined life is not worth living.’  We live as if nothing has happened to us. At times we may not even realize that our conscience is dead. Just as a seed needs soil, sunlight and water for its germination, human life needs introspection and examination for its growth. Daily examination of consciousness is a must. An understanding of the experiences gained in life each day at any particular time enriches one’s engagement with the self and the universe.

Goal-oriented life: ‘Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives,’ says Victor E. Frankl, a psychologist who learnt from his terrible sufferings in a Nazi concentration camp, and wrote movingly about the meaning of life. Being goal-oriented means being motivated by a clear vision, mission, goal and aspiration. Once we are focused on our goals, we find meaning in life and our life becomes more attractive and vibrant.

Life witness: ‘Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated,’ says the Chinese wise man Confucius. We make our life too complicated by not always being aware of our religious call. We teach, preach, do social work so on and so forth. All these become only a duty and responsibility if there is no real love and religious spirit. Let us not make our life complicated and be a counter-witness to others, but live a truly simple life according to the Gospel.

Other-centredness: It is said, ‘Don’t be self-centred; instead, be a centre of love, kindness and support for others.’ We need to come out from a three-lettered word called EGO to an eight-lettered word called HUMILITY in order to become a person of love, compassion and honesty.

Freedom with responsibility: ‘Freedom is not only a gift, but a summons to personal responsibility,’ says Pope Benedict XVI. Freedom without responsibility can be chaotic. When we are responsible, we can enhance ourselves and others through our freedom.

We, religious and priests, need to teach much more by our witness than by our words, much more by our life than by our lessons, much more by our person than by our plans.

“God has not called me to be successful. He has called me to be faithful” (Mother Teresa). Therefore, we need to “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value” (Albert Einstein).

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Sr Benny da Cunha UFS

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The experienced customs officer based in New Delhi and elsewhere, had got to know many people very well. People of all sorts—honest, mediocre, corrupt, crooked. He had seen influential people go after bribes on a huge scale, smuggle gold and other valuables, expect gifts before they did their duty. Corruption seemed to be the order of the day. The normal assumption in the country seemed to be that, if you wanted to get something done, and done quickly, you had to bribe—or use other crooked ways.

So, he could not at first figure out this Defense officer who would not bribe or accept bribes, who would not make money by smuggling, who would not expect, nor accept, gifts from favour-seekers.

The customs officer was a Sikh. The defense officer was a Catholic from South India. The former observed the latter carefully. He noticed more and more admirable traits in the man. He did not look for compliments. He lived honestly, by his salary. He did not seek, nor get, freebies for anything he did.

They became closer. Admiration led to deep friendship. One day, the customs officer told the defense officer, “I have been observing you for years. When I paid you a compliment for something, you often gave the credit to someone else. What if I tell you this: You are the finest human being I have ever come across.”

I knew this defense officer very well. What the customs officer told him is something I myself would say about him. He died years ago, but his memory still inspires me—and many others who knew him well.

When he was the officer in charge of recruiting for the army and navy in the Northeastern States, he noticed that some who worked under him were dishonest. They wanted to get bribes, and used tricks for that. Young men from far away hill sides would come to be recruited. The lower-level office staff working under the honest officer would not tell them what documents were missing in their application, and make them go home and come back again and again—which at times meant walking for days. The crooks in the office did this—unless the applicant bribed them.

When the honest officer came to know this, he put this notice on the board: “If you are asked to come back more than once, report to me.” With that one notice, the disinformation and bribe-seeking of the lower staff stopped.

When he was headmaster of the Sainik School in Andhra, he found that most of the boys came from villages, and needed to be coached to get selected for NDA. He told them that they could come to his residence at five in the morning. He would spend the next few hours coaching them. He wife would make breakfast for the boys. They did this free—not for any payment. No wonder, years later, when two young officers saw their former headmaster and wife walking on a road, they prostrated before them out of respect. He told them, “Get up! Your uniforms will get dirty.” Their reply, “Sir, we can wash our uniforms, but when will we get a chance like this to see you?”

Many of them not only became smart and capable officers, but also picked up his values of integrity, respect for all and sincere hard work.

They belonged to different religions, the majority being Hindus. He was a Catholic. They treated one another like brothers. Religion never became a point of division or rivalry.

Who are the finest human beings you have known?

What will those who know you best say about you?

Will your children, or students or formees or parishioners say about you, “He/she is the finest human being I have ever met”?

Or at least that you were/are an excellent human being.

If not, what is the whole point of joining special groups, spending long years and much money on so-called formation and having special robes and titles?

May you and I at least try to be like the finest human beings we have known.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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The last three psychology columns presented the importance and relevance of friendships within celibate living. The last of these presented some heterosexual attachment dynamics that we need to keep in mind. In this column, I present eleven personality characteristics and behaviours that contribute to maintaining man-woman relationships within a celibate commitment at healthy levels, and contribute to psychosexual maturity.

1. Clear Sense of Our Celibate Identity

To enter into close heterosexual relationships, with all the challenges they involve, we need to be psychologically mature. We need to have a reasonably sound self-identity before we can face the challenge of intimacy. We need to have clear notions of what it means to be a celibate. We need have some clarity with regard to its demands. We need to have a clear sense of our celibate boundaries and the capacity to deny gratification of impulses that would violate them.

      2. Seeing Friendship as a Gift

Friendship is a gift. If we do not have one, it may not be wise to go in search of one. A free gift of providence should not be forced or sought as an answer to a persistent need. Rather, our attitude should be one of relaxed and gracious openness to the offers of friendships that come our way. We accept them gratefully when they come our way, cherish and nourish them. If we look back on our lives, we realise how many friendships were offered to us, and how often we rejected them through one kind of fear or another. We don’t need to run after friendships or demand friendships from others; they will come to us.

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FR. JOSE PARAPPULLY SDB

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Yeshwanth (name changed) had been living happily with his wife and 6 children in the house that he had built on inherited land. The property was a portion of the 7 acres that his father had cleared in the forest area, with due permission from the Tehsildar, and divided between Yeshwanth and his 2 brothers. His brothers too had constructed houses in their portion of the land. They cultivated the land and reared animals for a living. It was not a luxurious life, but they did manage to make ends meet, and were happy. Life was going on smoothly for the 3 brothers, until a few years down the line when tribals from the neighbouring village came with the claim that the land was rightfully theirs as it fell in the tribal belt. The tribals went to the extent of destroying their crops and forcefully taking the yield from the land.

One evening as it was getting dark, Yeshwanth saw 3 tribals ploughing his land. When he confronted them, a scuffle broke out and they started throwing stones. Unfortunately, a stone that Yeshwanth threw back at them accidentally killed one of the 3 tribals. The next day the police, accompanied by a huge crowd, arrested Yeshwanth. He was beaten up mercilessly, despite him narrating the truth. He was thrown into jail – the sub-jail first, then the district jail, and finally the circle jail. Fearing the tribals, nobody came to his rescue. He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. As he was poor, he could not hire a lawyer to fight his case. His family too was on the streets with no place to live, as they had been driven out of the village.

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Sr Lini Sheeja MSC

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