Holistic Education in Pandemic Times

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“विद्याधनं सिधव नात प्रधानम।् “This shloka in Sanskrit means that
education is the supreme wealth among all kinds of wealth. It is an
important process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of
knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits. Education is a
lifelong process. Education is life and life is education. Something more
important than just providing education is providing holistic education.

Holistic education is a relatively new movement in education that seeks
to engage all aspects of the learner, including mind, body, and spirit.
Holistic education instills curiosity and develops better communication
and social skills. A holistic approach encourages children to make a
connection in a subject, using their creative skills. For example, if a child
shows excitement for building things, a holistic educator might guide
that child to various learning activities that involve building—such as
using blocks, creating structures out of sand, or reading books about
builders. It is more of practical-based learning than being theoretical.

But implementing the idea of holistic education in these testing times
of the pandemic, on an online platform has become a difficult task for
schools and educators. The Covid-19 pandemic has radically changed
how young people are being educated around the world. According to
UNESCO, the global scale of education disruption is unprecedented,
with more than 1.5 billion learners affected by school closures. In turn
schools and parents are seeking digital solutions to support young
people remotely. The main question which arises is, “Are there any
initiatives taken to provide holistic and quality education during the
times of the pandemic?”

The answer is, yes! So important is the aspect of holistic education, that

it has been included in the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020,

approved by the Union Cabinet of India on 29 July 2020. It has become

more essential in pandemic times as teachers and students are not

meeting physically, so engaging them in holistic studies is even more

vital.

Holistic development of learners under the NEP 2020 states that
curriculum content will be reduced in each subject to its core essentials,
to make space for critical thinking and more holistic, discovery-based,
discussion-based, and analysis-based learning. Now, holistic
development and a wide choice of subjects and courses year to year
will be the new distinguishing feature of secondary school education.
There will be no hard separation among curricular, extra-curricular, or
co-curricular areas, among arts, humanities, and sciences, or between
vocational or academic streams.

Concerted curricular and pedagogical initiatives at relevant stages will
be undertaken to develop these various important skills in students at
all levels and the aim of assessment in the culture of our schooling
system will shift from one that primarily tests rote memorization skills
to one that is more formative, is more competency-based, promotes
learning and development for students, and tests higher-order skills,
such as analysis, critical thinking, and conceptual clarity. Board exams
will also be made easier, in the sense that they will test primarily core
capacities rather than months of coaching and memorization; any
student who has been regularly attending and making a basic effort in a
school class will be able to pass the corresponding subject Board Exam
without much additional effort.

Another interesting feature is that topic-centered and project-based

Clubs and Circles will be highly encouraged and supported at the levels

of schools, school complexes, districts, and beyond. Examples include

Science Circles, Math Circles, Music Performance Circles, Chess Circles,

Drama Circles, Debate Circles, Sports Circles, and so on. Funds will be

made available for the transportation of teachers to take their students

to these circles or clubs when they are not meeting at their schools;

Olympiads and competitions in various subjects will be strengthened

across the country, with clear coordination and progression from

school, to local, to state, to national levels, with the necessary funding

to ensure that all students may participate at all levels for which they

qualify. Efforts will be made to make available Olympiads in rural areas

and in regional languages to ensure widespread participation.

Once internet-connected smartphones or tablets are available in all
homes and/or schools, online apps with quizzes, competitions,
assessments, enrichment materials, and online communities for shared
interests will be developed and will work to enhance all the
aforementioned initiatives, as group activities for students, with
appropriate supervision of parents and teachers.

Even though teachers try their best in teaching students practically,
using real-life examples and experiments, it is very difficult to teach
children important morals on an online platform. One benefit of the
concept of ‘learn from home’ is that children now get more time to
attend co-curricular activities, which helps in their holistic
development. Although it has become very difficult for the students
who do not have the access to electronic gadgets like laptops, desktops,
smartphones, etc. However, with the invention of Covid-19 vaccines, I
believe situations should become better, henceforth, re-opening
physical schools. Hope you have a safe day ahead and I guess now you
would have got the answer to the question, “Is holistic education really being provided to children during the pandemic situation?”

-Aarushi Chottani

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