Agricultural Science likely in school education soon
Experts working on introducing farming as a school subject; expect students to learn Agricultural Science under the National Education Policy
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar wants every Indian to be associated with farming; Pic - GoI
With the intention to keep India self-reliant in agriculture and ensure food security, the government is looking to introduce Agricultural Science beginning at the school level.
This week, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) organized a brainstorming session to mainstream agriculture curriculum in school education. Inaugurating it, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar, said, “The agriculture sector occupies a very important place in the country and the livelihood of large population is dependent on agriculture.”
He added that the objective is to focus on designing an agricultural education system towards developing vocational curriculum including agricultural science under the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. “Therefore, a new paradigm will be introduced at the primary, middle and secondary school levels, with vocational courses at the higher level,” he said. Having agriculture as a subject would provide students with an option to pursue a career in various fields of agriculture in future.
India has remained a top exporter of food grains over decades. It is also a top producer of milk and vegetables. Going forward, the reliance on food imports from India is likely to grow. However, traditional means and farmers are declining at a rapid pace in India. Hence, there is a need to make farming both modern and appealing.
Tomar said, “There is a need for continuous improvement, increased investment and technology support in this area…Towards this end, agricultural curriculum should also find a place in school education and it is necessary that there should be continuity in agriculture and every Indian should be connected with it.”
He added that if the interest towards agriculture sustains in the children from the school level, they could move towards agriculture after college. He also spoke about linking agriculture with technology and setting up of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund worth Rs 100,000 crore by the central government (read Huge central subsidy on farm machinery; negligible impact on ground – MDDTimes).
Principals of schools, teachers and other experts including officials from ICAR, NCERT and CBSE participated in the event.
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