The School of Education of Galgotia University, took forward their third step in discussing and understanding NEP- 2020. The IGNITE 3.0 Virtual Round Table Meet looked deeply at school level opportunities and challenges from various educational practitioners. Five panelists with myriad experiences expressed their views on &ldquoNEP- 2020: Opportunities and Challenges for Schools&rdquo. Further panel discussion on the motion was carried forward on Hindi language, low budget schools, new school structure, semester system from class 9-12, ion of subjects, standard-setting and school accreditation.

Following five school principals and administrators participated as panelist in the virtual round table meet on September 12, 2020. This meet was conducted on the ZOOM Meetings platform and livestreaming was done on YouTube. Meet conducted from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm.

• Ms. Shikha Singh, Principal, Ram-Eesh International School, Greater Noida
• Ms. Veena Mishra, Principal, National Victor Public School, Padpadganj, Delhi
• Mr. Vinay Kumar Jha, Principal, Pt. Salagram Junior High School Habibpur, Greater Noida
• Ms. Geetika Bahuguna, COO, The Millennium Education Management, Gurugram
• Ms. Nandita Nag, Director, Agragati Education Foundation, New Delhi

Dr. Ishrat Naaz, Assistant Professor, School of Education hosted the event by welcoming all the panelists and participants to the virual meet. Dr. (Mrs.) Preeti Bajaj, Vice Chancellor, Galgotias University welcomed all panelists and participants and announced the preamble of the meet. She shared her views about National Education Policy (NEP)- 2020. She emphasied the strengthing of &lsquoSchool Education&rsquo is the need of the hour. After VC Madam address Dr. Satyendra Gupta, Professor and Dean, Shool of Education moderated the session. He introduced the panelist one by one, read their achievements and requested them to share their views on the topic.

The opening was made by Ram-Eesh International school, Principal Ms. Shikha Singh. The Emphasis on ECCE was much appreciated as human brain develops before 10 yrs. which shall be catered to in 5+3+3+4 system. In a vast country like India, Hindi and 24 languages is a delimit to two hundered languages used and is difficult to bring in a classroom. Digital divide, lack of teacher appointment, gaps in infrastructure where the challenges highlighted. Collaboration of school in a mentor-mentee relation was a valuable suggestion to bridge many gaps.

Ms. Veena Mishra, Principal, National Victor Public School, could proudly foresee India back on the globe as Nalanda and Takshila with proper execution of NEP-2020. Her experience in visiting Nordic schools encouraged her to offer streams as proposed in NEP 2020 as Principal of National Victor Public School. Mindset of teachers and parents is a challenge in conducting experiential learning. Colleges have pre-requisites that shall decide stream allotments and ion. Medium of instruction is only to enable the students enhance learning process with comfort. Much can be offered at any given budget was her stand.

Mr. Vinay Kumar Jha, Principal, Pt. Salagram Junior High School, discussed vision with action through teacher education and teacher training. Low PISA score of Indian students displays lack of hands on experience and relevance of learning to a new or unknown situation was apprised. Challenges faced by children in rural areas, making NEP&rsquos success look through a sceptical lens was discussed.

Ms. Nandita Nag, Managing Director, Agragati Education Foundation, talked of NEP- 2020 which has been taken to another level. Owing to the flexibility, eclectic choice of subjects and multifaceted in approach the policy&rsquos fluidity was acknowledged that would take it towards huge success. Challenge to be faced shall be with logistics which required to be looked upon, was also mentioned. Suggestions on collaboration of departments, ministries, sharing of resources and teachers to be prepared with aptitude and attitude that NEP- 2020 requires was stated.

Ms. Geetika Bahuguna, Chief Operating Officer (Services), Millennium Education Management highlighted practitioners point where schools would play the role giving opportunity to hone skills of a child aligning with NEP- 2020 which talks about child to be ready for the universe and not university. She further pointed out the challenges in mind set and skill set where specifically change across all stake holders would be required to implement the policy effectively.

The panellists in the discussion round put forth their valuable suggestions on schools to be strong and compete to have a good culture so that positive mind set could be built. Teaching children how to learn should be adopted rather than merely making them learn. Concerning assessing the child focus should shift from syllabus driven to concept driven. Regarding teacher education institutions, the internship was suggested to be tied up with progressive schools which would serve the dual purpose of schools in getting trained teachers and teachers to get such valuable exposure. All such things if implemented shall make a winning journey for NEP- 2020.

The overall discussion reached up to its expectations making the audience of education fraternity enlightened. Prof. Satyendra Gupta, Dean, School of Education, Galgotias University overall coordinated the event and performed as moderator in the meet. Dr. Shri Kant Dwivedi, Associate Professor, SOE, Galgotias University concluded the session by proposing vote of thanks in which gratitude towards the renowned panellists for making the session meaningful was expressed. The collaborative efforts of the entire team proved to be a huge success.