The New Education Policy 2020 has rightly tried to broaden the basket of courses taught in Indian schools. Its overall aim is to inculcate multidisciplinary learning across subjects that were previously neglected, including various arts. But to do this, India needs qualified teachers. Edtech can help.
Freedom Gazette
Countries that run on manufacturing can afford linguistic nationalism in education. Folks in factory jobs don’t need to transact with people from foreign cultures on a daily basis. But in recent years, even the Chinese have begun to drop their English phobia. For India, English is vital.
During the COVID-19 lockdown, India saw 680,000 unsafe abortions, sparking demands to promote telemedicine abortions, which would allow doctors to provide consultations and prescribe pills over the telephone or the internet. However, in India, this practice could have its own side-effects.
While 42 percent families in urban India have access to the internet, only 15 percent in rural India do. Yet, in the face of the pandemic, India has no choice but to adapt to online education, unless it wants to risk years-long gaps in the education of millions of children. Here's how to do it.
The anti-vaccine movement across Europe and America has led to sharp increases in vaccine-preventable diseases in recent years. This is particularly alarming, given that the only viable solution to COVID-19 is a potential vaccine. How did American politics turn so radically anti-science?
Whenever there is a one percentage point increase in poverty, there is always a 0.7 percent increase in child labour. With falling family incomes, many children might choose to stay out-of-school even after the pandemic subsides, in order to add to the household income.
There is an urgent need to understand human behaviour to aid policymaking. Why do people refuse to wear masks? Why do they insist on leaving their homes despite no urgent requirement? Behavioural insights can help governments nudge people towards socially desirable behaviour.
Mental health is gravely affected in numerous ways by regressive social norms, which curtail individual freedom. Improving the state of mental health in India requires a multidimensional approach - more inclusive policies, better law enforcement, and sustained social reform.
The Right To Education (RTE) Act falls short in providing for children with disabilities. Policy protection has been limited to the construction of ramps. It does not take into account the various complications that come along with disabilities or the role of different stakeholders in the process.
Millions of people live inside or around remote forests and wildlife reserves. Their close proximity to animal species creates the potential for existing and undiscovered diseases to spread out to the world through them. It is integral that we make efforts to address the needs of these communities.