By: Mukhtar Ahmad Qureshi

Education is not merely the act of memorizing facts and numbers. Education is learning about ideas and applying them to life. When we confine learning to books only, we lose out on the very purpose of education. Experiential learning transports us away from book pages and into actuality. Experiential learning enables students to experience knowledge in a way that is personal and pragmatic. The National Education Policy 2020 focuses on the experiential learning approach. The National Curriculum Framework also endorses this method. It promotes learning that is active, engaging, and experience based.

We all recall instances when we actually comprehended something. It was not when we read it in a book. It was when we did it ourselves. A science experiment in lab class a field trip to a historical landmark a project done with our hands or even a role play activity can teach us so much more than any paragraph written in a book. Learning is best when we learn through experience. We relate to it. We tie it to our own lives. This is the power of experiential learning.

The NEP 2020 emphasizes the necessity of a transition from rote learning to competency based education. It emphasizes critical thinking creativity and problem-solving skills. These cannot be acquired by just reading a textbook. They need to be applied to real life situations. For instance a student studying ecosystems can learn more by going to a forest seeing plant and animal interactions and thinking about environmental........

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