Sir, 

Can National Education Policy (NEP) revolutionise Education System in India? As among many of your readers, I am also curious about the outcome of NEP, which is expected to be fully implemented from the year 2022 – 2023.  The changes will be at the National-level, for all Schools and Colleges in the country and no independent State will have freedom to differ from the main theme, that is 5 + 3 + 3 + 4, replacing the old system of 10 + 2.

Let me explain:      

1. In the current system that is 10+2 system, it is not just 12 but in fact 15 years. But only in the cities children would attend Pre- KG, LKG and UKG  3 years, in private schools before joining 1st standard and go on to 2nd, making it 5 years in all. This is termed  FOUNDATION STAGE in NEP. 

Whereas in rural areas and  in Government Schools in cities, kids had no such facility but some kind of a nursery called Anganawadi. So it would be counted from first standard to tenth and 2 year PU (10+2 ).

 2. The second 3+3 are named PREPARATORY (3rd, 4th and 5th) and MIDDLE (6th, 7th & 8th) stages. 

3. The last segment consisting of 4 years, named SECONDARY STAGE (9th, 10th, 11th & 12th) is interesting as it has undergone  a structural change. 

4. NEP intends to introduce from class 6, Coding, Project work, and Vocational Course coupled with Internships. It is expected that by the time the child is eleven years old, it should be able to find its area of interest to pursue !

5. The Secondary Stage, the Multi-Disciplinary Stage, is designed to make it learner- friendly. Here the students who will be 14 years of age, are offered a basket of subjects  to choose from, comprising Science, Commerce and Arts together with extracurricular activities like music, dance or any other physical activity, which will be also treated as a subject. This is really a big relief to all (students, parents and teachers) because no one is forced to struggle with a subject that he does not enjoy learning. Now one can choose for example Physics, Economics and Music if that is his choice. 

6. Are our teachers ready for the change ? It is these people who will be the most important key to implement all the holistic principles of NEP. Therefore, NEP proposes to introduce NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHER EDUCATION (NCFTE), because insufficient number of teachers or low recruitment of trained teachers have been persisting problems of Indian School System.

7. The all important issue is assessment of students, that is the Exam  System. NEP proposes to lessen the burden (of  learning by heart or the rote system) by testing the Core Concepts and the Competencies of the students. 

It is said that for the students of 10th standard  for the years 2021 March and 2022 March, the Board Exams will be as in the current model without change. The expectations are that the painful Annual Exams are going to be replaced by semester modules for the year 2022-2023.   

When implemented, there will be two exams in a Semester. If the student does not feel happy about his first performance, he will be provided with another opportunity to improve his results. All these are being thought of to completely eradicate the exam pressure and its undesirable consequences.

8.  Regarding assessment, a novel scheme called “PARAKH“  (Performance Assessment Review And Analysis Of Knowledge For Holistic Development) is being thought of.  The report card will be multidimensional. The progress report will include a) Teacher Assessment, b) Self assessment,  and c) Peer Assessment.

 My only apprehension is how on earth the teachers are going to coordinate all these aspects and do justice. I have touched only some issues of NEP and certainly there is much more than what I have attempted to put forward.

NEP hopes to completely transform India’s Education System by 2040. I wish the students good luck and ask them to be ready to share the glories of NEP.

– Prof. K.V. Satyan, on e-mail, Texas, USA, 30.9.2020

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