New Education Policy - What the reforms mean for students of class one to five in India

BI India BureauJul 30, 2020, 13:57 IST

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The New Education Policy (NEP) brought some major changes to the traditional education system in India.
With the new policy, the Indian government wants to universalise early childhood care education (ECCE) from ages 3 to 6 by 2030 — to align with the United Nations’ sustainable development goal.
Two of these major changes — the new 5+3+3+4 model and teaching in home language — are likely to change the way primary students are educated in the country.

The Indian government, on July 29, replaced a 34-year-old National Policy on Education, framed in 1986, with a New Education Policy. NEP is aimed at paving the way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems to make India a global knowledge superpower. It is pertinent to note that this new policy is unlikely to be rolled out at any reasonable scale before 2022-2023.

With it, the Indian government wants to universalise early childhood care education (ECCE) from ages 3 to 6 by 2030 — to align with the United Nations’ sustainable development goal. The government is also aiming to achieve Foundational Learning & Numeracy Skills through the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy by 2025.

This is likely to change the way we lay the building blocks of education and how primary students learn in the country. Two of the major changes — the new 5+3+3+4 model and teaching in home language — will have a direct impact on primary education.

The new 5+3+3+4 model instead of 10+2 model

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As per the new policy, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced with a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to age groups 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 and 14-18 years respectively.

The new system will cover four stages — Foundational Stage (three years of anganwadi or pre-school followed by classes 1-2), Preparatory Stage (classes 3-5), Middle Stage (classes 6-8) and Secondary Stage (classes 9-12).

Earlier, the preschool format was not included in formal education.

"This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of anganwadi and pre-schooling,” School Education secretary Anita Karwal said while introducing the New Education Policy.

As per the new policy, the 10+2 structure of school curricula is to be replaced with a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to age groups 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 and 14-18 years respectively.

Earlier, the preschool format was not included in formal education.

This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognized globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of anganwadi and pre-schooling,” School Education secretary Anita Karwal said while introducing the New Education Policy.

Learning in mother tongue/regional language up to Class 5

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The NEP suggests using local language as a medium of instruction at least until Grade 5 where possible. This does not mean the schools will change their medium of instruction rather they will focus on multilingual education.

Moreover, the education ministry is also set to introduce e-courses in regional languages.

Number of exams have been reduced

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The pressure of examinations has been reduced in primary education. With new education policy, the number of exams have gone down. For primary education - the key assessment is only at grade 3 and 5. This is followed by only one more examination in grade 8.

“All students will take school examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by the appropriate authority. Board exams for Grades 10 and 12 will be continued, but redesigned with holistic development as the aim,” the NEP read.

Additional features

Every state/district will be encouraged to establish ''Bal Bhavans'' as a special daytime boarding school, to participate in art-related, career-related, and play-related activities. Free school infrastructure can be used as Samajik Chetna Kendras.

Schools should encourage bagless days by various activities involving arts, quizzes, sports, and vocational crafts.

Indian Sign Language (ISL) to be standardized along with the development of National and State curriculum materials. This can be used uniformly throughout the country by students with hearing impairment.

There will be a new 360-degree holistic report card formulated by taking inputs from the teachers, the student and classmates.

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New Education Policy - What the reforms mean for students of class one to five in India

​ The new 5+3+3+4 model instead of 10+2 model

Learning in mother tongue/regional language up to Class 5

Number of exams have been reduced

Additional features

The new 5+3+3+4 model instead of 10+2 model