The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 focuses on re-designing the agricultural education system with a greater push towards developing professionals with the ability to understand and use local knowledge, traditional knowledge, and emerging technologies while being cognizant of critical issues such as declining land productivity, climate change, food sufficiency for our growing population, etc. In line with the objectives of the National Education Policy, 2020, the new paradigm of agricultural education should take knowledge related to agriculture and its practical application to primary & secondary levels, and vocational courses at higher secondary level. There is a lot of literature on the positive effects of education on agricultural productivity wherein education increases productivity by improving the decision-making ability and capability of the farmer to make informed choices and decisions concerning the selection and the combination of input for better output. Many studies also found that as educational level increases, output increases with secondary school education having the highest returns on agricultural productivity 2 . There is a mounting of evidence suggesting that returns of education on agricultural productivity vary for different educational levels (primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education) with the returns on primary education being the highest

Agricultural Education Sector Challenge

Presently, although Agricultural Universities comprise approximately 9 per cent of all universities in the country, enrolment in agriculture and allied sciences is less than 1 per cent of all enrolment in higher education 4 . The combined enrolment in agriculture, veterinary and animal sciences, and fisheries sciences are much lesser than other popular disciplines such as medical sciences (4.18 per cent for UG, 4.01 per cent for PG) and social sciences (3.17 per cent for UG, 18 per cent for PG). 5 As per the National Education Policy 2020, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is expected to achieve the figure of 50 per cent by 2035. This necessitates the need to make the agricultural education more vibrant and attractive by addressing the existing challenges that the Indian agricultural education faces viz. of low access, lack of required quality standards, lack of adequate financial support, gender inequality, academic inbreeding, lack of faculty competence in niche areas, etc.

Objectives of the Brainstorming Session

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and entrepreneurship curriculums have seen a push in many schools worldwide, but should agricultural education be given more prominence? While agricultural programmes are widely available at the tertiary level, they are even less common at the primary and secondary level of education. In the US, the National Association of Agricultural Educators notes: “Agricultural education teaches students about agriculture, food and natural resources. Through these subjects, agricultural educators teach students a wide variety of skills, including science, math, communications, leadership, management and technology.” Agricultural schools are available in various countries, including in the US, Australia, South Korea, and the UK.

Hence, with an aim to attract young talent towards agricultural higher education and improve retention within the sector, there is a need to create greater sensitization among school goers at primary, secondary & higher secondary levels about the importance and scope of agriculture & allied sectors in promoting economic growth and human development. This requires mainstreaming of agriculture as a core subject in school curriculum by combining theoretical and practical approaches, to expose students to the basic principles of agriculture and explain the various components of agro-based industry. This would give students an insight into the various farming activities and techniques and give a better understanding on exploring a career in each area of agriculture.

In view of this, the Session primarily aims at deliberating on the need for scaling up of agriculture as a core subject with K-12 curriculum to develop students’ knowledge and understanding of agricultural enterprises and the practices and skills required in producing plant and animal products. The Session includes the following objectives:

Brainstorming Session Topics

The topics have been designed in a way to develop and align agriculture education programs with K-12 curriculum. The sessions would aim to capture the perspectives, key developments, challenges, and the opportunities for mainstreaming agricultural programmes at the primary, secondary, and tertiary level of education. The Session will deliberate on the following sessions.

Topic 1: ICAR Vision on Mainstreaming and Aligning Agriculture as a core subject with K-12 Curriculum

ICAR vision is in line with the New Education Policy 2020 for taking knowledge related to agriculture and its practical application to primary & secondary levels, and vocational courses at higher secondary level. There is immense literature, where agricultural educators have suggested that the integration of agriculture into the general curriculum would help students learn based upon the arguments of experiential learning (Dewey, 1938; Mabie & Baker, 1996), a community-based curriculum (Fasheh, 1990), and authentic or applied learning in real- life situations (Wehlage, Newmann, & Secada, 1996). This session would deliberate on ICAR’s vision of scaling up of agriculture as a core subject with K-12 curriculum and will also discuss on the joint role of ICAR and State school boards on revisiting the existing curriculum and upgrading it to present day needs.

Topic 2: Dialogue with school administrators, and teachers, on whether ‘Agriculture should be taught in schools?’, highlighting the challenges and way forward

Increasingly studies claim that building young people’s vocational interest in agriculture, serves as a potential and distinct sector of career opportunities for young people. This session would seek to explore and analyse students’ experiences and perceptions about agricultural programmes at primary & secondary levels, and vocational courses at higher secondary level. This session would also deliberate on the coherence of school curriculum with higher agricultural education entrance examination syllabus.

Topic 3: Desired policy shift required to promote agri education through State and Central boards

Policy should seek to promote institutional structural change in agricultural education practices wherein there is an alignment between the State and Central boards to bring about uniformity in the curriculum, infrastructure facilities, teacher-student ratio, etc. thereby reducing the structural gaps in implementation and upscaling agriculture as a core subject at school level. This session would deliberate on the policy level changes required at both State and Central level for popularizing agriculture as a subject and working towards its uptake as a core subject.

Topic 4: Revisiting the Agri Curriculum to develop Agri study modules and vocational courses at school level in the current perspective

Developing agri study modules and vocational courses for schools requires rebranding agriculture & allied subjects as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) and management subjects – thereby building a pipeline of students wanting to specialize in these disciplines at the higher education level. This session would deliberate on the curriculum level changes required in the current curriculum offered at State and Central level and the modes and mechanisms of how to mainstream agriculture as a core subject at school level.