Understanding contemporary policy backdrop and relevance of ‘Skills for Life and Livelihood’ at Elementary level of Education

Elementary Education (EE) in India is the only compulsory level of education extended as a right to all children in the age group 6-14years, and it is very likely that a huge proportion of the population gets opportunity of education upto this level only. When universalizing elementary education is still a challenge and learning outcomes in our schools are also concerning, it is necessary for education policies to emphasize ‘Skills for Life and Livelihood’ at elementary level of education. It is essential to necessitate the quality of learning in our schools for enabling a better material, human and spiritual life, and also for the sustainable development of the country withal.

This paper is based on a ‘secondary descriptive research’ that used purposive sampling and interview method, etc conducted by Public Policy Research Centre, to emphasize the same aspects of EE. It builds on these arguments through philosophical and contemporary rationale of education. Further it goes on exploring discrepancies in the existing policy framework wrt SSA and RTE, alongwith tracing out a possible road-map within the existing framework. The study has been submitted at the Ministry of Human Resource Development for consideration in the new National Policy for Education framework under School Education. In this paper, the same study is presented briefly to portray the relevance of the argument, findings of the study and approach of the way forward recommended through the study (Detailed recommendations of the study are not mentioned here).