Role of Pandit Iswar Chandr Vidyasagar in the Development of Science Teacher Education in 19th Century Bengal: Relevance to Present Day

Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar contribution for the development of teacher education in general and science teacher education in particular were investigated. Analysis of primary and secondary data clearly evinced that Vidyasagar considered science education as the fourth” R” in the education curricula and attempted to develop rational thinking and superstition free conscience among the trainee-teachers of Sanskrit college. Vidyasagar was deeply influenced by scepticism, utilitarianism and positivism of the European radical philosophers. For development of scientific spirit among the student he proposed the study of Mills logic especially inductive logic and principles of scientific investigation as proposed by Bacom. Introduction: Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar is well known as a radical social and educational reformer of the 19th Century Bengal. His social reforms are of great historical importance and contributed significantly towards the shaping of modern Indian society. His educational reforms laid down the foundation stones for the vernacular and national educational policy of pre and post-independent India. There are several historiographical account of social and educational reforms envisioned by Vidyasagar (Sarkar, 1970; Poddar, 1970; Ghosh, 1973; Tripathi, 1974; Sen, 1977) but critical analysis of Vidyasagar’s contribution to teacher education in general, and science teacher education in particular is lacking.

Fostering equitable access to quality preschool education in India: challenges and opportunities

This paper focuses on the provision of center-based preschool education for children ranging in age from 3 to 6 years in India. It estimates access rates to various services and highlights issues related to equitable access to preschool services and the quality of preschool education. While India has made great strides in improving access to preschool education, numerous challenges have to be addressed to enhance its quality. The National Educational Policy 2020 and the country’s commitment to meet UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 4.2 by 2030 and ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality pre-primary education provide opportunities to ensure equitable access to quality preschool education. Central to meeting national targets is the enforcement of the National Quality Standards for Early Childhood Care and Education. Further, increased budget allocations to preschool education, prioritizing professional preparation of the early childhood work force and harnessing technology to monitor government programs have considerable potential to enhance the early childhood system.

La interculturalidad en la sociedad peruana y la formación del docente intercultural

Peru is recognized as a pluricultural and multilingual country, with more than 50 original ethnic groups (Andean-Amazonian), to which we would add Afro-Peruvians and international migrants. However, the country vision has been homogenous, around the European target and the Spanish cultural heritage, hiding cultural diversity. The relations between cultures have been asymmetric, expressed in discrimination, marginalization, exclusion, on the basis dominant-dominated opposition; majority-minority. Teachers have been trained in this vision of the country and have been oriented to transmit information from the Western world and European knowledge, without assessing ancestral knowledge of cultural groups existing in the country. Currently, we seek to change that paradigm and has incorporated the proposal of the intercultural approach for relations between cultures and also for education. The classrooms are now multicultural. The new national educational policy marks an unavoidable challenge: to create a new curricular model to train intercultural teachers, reinforcing in them didactics and competences, capable of valuing and recovering knowledge of cultural diversity, to fulfill the role of educating in interculturality and forming citizens intercultural in a double dimension: to respond to the country and to act in the context of globalization.

Development of Digital Competence in the Training of Future Teachers in Ukraine and China

The relevance of the issue of developing the digital competence of future teachers in higher education is obvious, as technological progress is developing at an extremely rapid pace, and digitalisation has already penetrated into all spheres of life, including the education system. The purpose of the study is to compare the approaches of state educational policy to the development of digital competence of future teachers in China and Ukraine. To obtain new results, the following theoretical methods were used in the study: analysis of pedagogical literature, regulations, online platforms, educational sites, systematisation, and generalisation of research, organisation of training courses for future teachers – to compare different approaches to digital competence of future teachers. It is noted that digital competence is key in lifelong learning, as well as one of the components of a teacher's professional competence, according to the Standard Standard for Primary School Teachers, General Secondary Education Teachersб and Primary Education Teachers. The concept of digital competence is defined and it is substantiated that its significance changes in accordance with the development of digital modern society. The national educational policy of Ukraine and the People's Republic of China is analysed, in particular the regulatory base, which regulates the development of digital competence in the countries. It has been found that the problem of digital competence is relevant in both countries, in particular in China, where its solution is more progressive, due to powerful resource opportunities. An example of the content of academic disciplines, namely “Digital Training Tools”, “Cybersecurity”, “Media Education” (Ukraine), “Fundamentals of Computer Use”, “Use of Multimedia Technology” (PRC), their place in the educational process, hours on study, form of control of educational and cognitive activities, etc. These disciplines are aimed at developing the digital competence of future teachers in higher education institutions of Ukraine and China. It is noted that further research will relate to the study and analysis of national educational policy of the European Union on the development of digital competence, in particular in the training of future teachers

Digitalization of the Educational Environment: Risk Assessment of Distance Education by Russian and Vietnamese Students

The digitalization of higher education is a long-term trend that gained a new impetus for further development because of the forced transition to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of digital transformation on the educational process in universities and to describe the risks through the students’ eyes. The analysis is based on the results of a survey conducted by the authors in 2020 among students of two universities - Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and the Institute of the Trade Union Movement of the General Confederation of Labor of Vietnam (IPLV).The article describes the methodology of the online survey. The attitude towards distance learning is interpreted as a three-level attitude with emotional, cognitive and behavioral aspects. It is suggested that students’ readiness to switch to distance learning is determined by a set of macro and micro factors. Among the macro factors are the national specifics of the educational system, traditions in the field of higher education, infrastructure, the national educational policy, and the mobilization potential of the population. Among the micro factors are the cognitive and other psychological characteristics of the students, the socio-psychological openness to innovation.According to the survey results, there is certain similarity in the way Russian and Vietnamese students assess their experience of distance learning. At the same time, significant differences in the perception of the outcome of the digital transformation of education have been revealed. For MGIMO students, major risks are associated with dehumanization, the severing of social ties, and the possible loss of student status. For Vietnamese students the most significant risks are mainly associated with the fears of the decreasing quality of education. It is therefore concluded that distance learning is both the field of opportunities and possible source of individual and institutional risks.

Revitalizing homoeopathic medical education for the COVID-19 era: Integrating Hahnemannian thought, Principles of Medical Education, and the core of the National Educational Policy, 2020

Homoeopathic medical education finds itself at a crossroad, especially in the present era of COVID-19. Homoeopathy has lived up to its reputation for effective intervention in the past epidemics; however, this time, we have been at a somewhat loose end, finding ourselves at the mercy of the dominant medical establishment. We can emerge from this scenario by appealing to the sound principles enunciated by our Master, Dr. Hahnemann, but not shying away from incorporating the considerable advances that have taken place in the world of Medical education. The country’s health needs have changed significantly; the post-COVID-19 changes are likely to be far reaching. The current climate in which the National Educational Policy 2020 has been instituted and the National Homoeopathy Commission Act passed by the Parliament is propitious to bring about far-reaching changes in our educational system and institutions. This concept paper explores each of these strands and then weaves them together to suggest some guidelines for academicians, clinicians, and researchers to work on to revitalize homoeopathic education in the years to come.

Teaching and Learning Principles of the Ancient Indian Education System and its Relevance with the National Educational Policy 2020

The teaching and learning principles followed in the Ancient Indian Education System were largely based on the student centric teaching and learning principles as advocated in the modern system of education. The overall development of the student including the inner and outer self was largely practiced in our ancient education system. Also, the principles and practices discussed in Andragogy bears striking similitude with the practices followed in the ancient system. The relevance of understanding these traditional Indian teaching and learning principles increases with the introduction of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 by Ministry of Human Resource and Development, Government of India as it highlights that all these principles are required to be adopted by the Higher Educational Institutions. This article aims to discuss some of the teaching and learning principles of the Ancient Indian Education system and their relevance in contemporary times along its coherence with NEP.

State educational policy through the prism of modern processes in the field of knowledge reproduction

The article analyzes the modern state educational policy. It is emphasized that the main tasks for the Ukrainian state are to determine social, economic, global and other factors that have both positive and negative impact on the formation of state educational policy, on the model of building educational policy capable of solving current global problems of humankind. It is emphasized that the conceptual analysis of the possibilities of solving global educational problems should be considered in the historical aspect of this issue, which will provide an opportunity to obtain methodologically comprehensive results.It is emphasized that the dialectical, phenomenological, structural-functional method, the method of collecting and analyzing the original empirical material, content analysis of documents, the method of building temporal models of systems development should be used as basic methods of research of state educational policy. A brief description of the seven stages of the evolution of educational policy concepts and their relationship with the process of reproduction and accumulation of knowledge is given. The evolution of personal and public interests in educational policy is summarized by building temporal spatial models, analyzes a number of global educational problems faced by each nation state in the XXI century, identifies the unique role of balanced state educational policy in preventing threats to the reproduction of scientific knowledge. The principles of realization of the national educational policy are defined: establishment of cooperation of consumers and creators of innovative technologies; breakthrough in the creation and application of information and communication technologies; unification of the global educational space; prevention of increasing the digital divide; elimination of personnel donations of individual countries; establishing flexibility in co-financing education; continuing education. It is established that the implementation of all formulated ethos in the national educational policy will provide an effective result of the functioning of the educational sector, in accordance with the demands of the XXI century, and will protect from current threats in the field of knowledge reproduction.

Is Social Responsibility Present in the Agenda of the National Educational Policy Documentations? View from a DIALLS Projection

The article familiarizes the reader with the main goals and implementation structures of the DIALLS (Dialogue and Argumentation for Cultural Literacy Learning in Schools) three-year project (2018–2021), supported by EU Research and Innovation program HORIZON 2020. The project is coordinated by Cambridge University in partnership with 9 EU universities. In Lithuania project activities are implemented by the Institute of Educational Sciences at Vilnius University. The theoretical concept of Social Responsibility in the context of Cultural Literacy and Educating for an Active Citizenship is analysed in the theoretical part of the article. Some empirical data on addressing the concept of Social responsibility in the National Educational Policy documentation is presented and discussed from the view of DIALLS projection. Finally, some concluding points on addressing the concepts of Social responsibility, participation, cooperation and citizenship in the national educational policy documentation are drawn up.

THE FIRST EDUCATION LAW IN ROMANIA AND THE EFFECTS OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION

In modern Romania, the legal protection of the right to education has played an important role in the activity of government, parliament and political parties in general. A turning point in defining the national educational policy was the elaboration of the Public Education Law in 1864. By expressing the ideal of the revolutionary generations of 1848, this law addressed the principle of free and compulsory primary education. The progress of the Romanian society depended on applying this principle. On November 25, 1864, Al. I. Cuza enacted the Public Education Law, the first law to provide a unitary learning system for both principalities. The provisions of this law extended to both public and private educational institutions and regulated education at all levels (Bârsănescu and Bârsănescu, 1978). The fundamental principles of this law are: unitary and mandatory character, gratuity, and as a premiere in our legislation, equal access to education regardless of gender (Legea instrucţiunii publice, 1864, Art. 31).