By Ms Sheryl D'Souza for BISMumbai

A session on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its usefulness in the current scenario was conducted on 24 September 2022 in Don Bosco Senior Secondary School, Nerul.

The first session was conducted by Fr Frazer Mascarenhas SJ. He analysed and explained the NEP 2020 by talking about its advantages and disadvantages to the teachers and the management. Further, he not only gave them an idea as to how it was going to impact the current school structure, but also emphasised on the need for preparedness for this change in the system on the part of the teachers and the management. Fr Mascarenhas also spoke about the existing 10+2 structure of school curriculum being replaced by 5+3+3+4 corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 and 14-18 years respectively, and how this would impact education in the country.

The second session was on the topic ‘Active Teaching Methods’ by Mr Montwyn D’Costa, IGCSE Coordinator at St Stanislaus International School, Bandra. The session was conducted in an interactive manner through brainstorming where he introduced some student-centred teaching methods where students would be encouraged to research and create out of the knowledge gained. Teachers were asked to think of the topics of their subjects and share how each method can be used effectively in the classrooms. He also shared the success of the methods in the first attempt by teachers in various schools.

On the whole, both the sessions were interconnected to the latest NEP 2020 which focuses on introducing experiments, visualisation, art and creativity in the field of education.

Fr Barnabe D'Souza, the Rector, had provided this opportunity to the teachers so that they gain a better understanding of the dynamic changes which are taking place in the field of education and to keep the institution on par with the requirements of the learning goals for the future.