'Competency based education with child-level planning and teacher development bring significantly high learning outcomes'

The work of Dr Lalit Kishore published in the Journal of Indian Education in 1993  (see inset visual) based on his experience of working on competency based curriculum, textbook development, recurrent teacher training and micro-planning or child level progress charting led to significant gains in the learning outcomes of students at primary level under Lok Jumbish Project of 1990s. “Competency based education with child-level planning and teacher development is capable of bringing significantly high learning outcomes,” he holds.

The National Education Policy-2020 has emphasised the competency based education as a means to link school and higher education in flexible way to ensure inclusive and equitable education to all.

The higher education in India has been geared to the credit system and competency based education.  The downward extension of the system at school level is going to be piloted selectively by (grades 6, 9 and 11) by the Central Board of Secondary Education from the session 2024-25.

Credit is being seen as a study unit or learning segment by which the course work of students is measured both in term of mastery-effort made (effectiveness) and time taken by the student (efficiency) to master it. In credit system, mastery over each unit is a must, while time is kept flexible to earn the credit.

At the institution level, often one credit is equivalent to one hour of learning (lecture cum tutorial with focus on mastery by most students) or two hours of quality practical work/field work/assignment work per week followed by supportive document.At many places the short readiness courses in self-study skills and notes-taking skills are help for aptness in information processing skills. However, the institutional credits are converted into national level equivalents for the uniformity in certification.

This blogger had tried the study units-based mastery course in physics at senior secondary level for three months at Sports Schools, Rai, (Haryana) in 1983 to get to know the credit system. Based on that experience, the self study skills course coupled with group assignments was tried at Kendriya Vidyalaya-2, Bathinda, during 1992-93 session to achieve mastery in Chemistry course of grade 12.