Education policy in India has been the same for 34 years and has not changed until 2020 when the Ministry of Education (formerly the MHRD) formulated a completely reformed education policy. It was adopted by the Indian Government in 2023 and is to be implemented in phases with many different regions of the country already set to implement it.

 

It’s obvious to have this question in mind – what’s so reforming about the new education policy? This article aims to put the policy in simpler and summarised terms while discussing its effect on the future generations.

 

We all have grown up choosing between three streams namely, science, arts, and commerce. All the subjects that were included in the curriculum were mandatory and a student had to learn and appear for the exam unwillingly or willingly. But now the whole “3 stream policy” is abolished! Students now have the free will and authority to choose subjects of their interest and varied streams. For example, one can choose music to be on their curriculum as well while taking accounting subjects alongside. The flexibility provided for the students is to ensure that students get to choose what they want to learn and aspire for.

 

Another major change in the educational policy is that in 10+2. The 10+2 system is now transformed to 5+3+3+4. Well, what is this 5+3+3+4? Of course, it sums up to 12! (bad joke) Speaking seriously, It is the various stages in one’s schooling. The four stages in brief are:

 

  1. Foundational (ages 3 to 8): It is a 5-year-long stage segregated into 2+3. The first 3 years (ages 3 to 6) are concentrated on the child’s growth in cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities with anganwadis and pre-schools/ play schools playing out the major role. There’s another new concept included called “Balvatika”, a preparatory class before class 1 to let the child smoothly transition into classes 1 and 2. The next 2 years (ages 6 to 8) are grades 1 and 2. For the pre-schooling purpose, the anganwadi teachers would be undergoing training in ECCE – Early Childhood Care and Education.
  2. Preparatory (ages 8 to 11): It is a 3-year long stage concentrating on play, discovery, and activity-based learning while slowly incorporating the formal textbooks including grades 3 to  5.
  3. Middle (ages 11 to 14): It is again a 3-year long stage consisting of Grades 6 to 8 with experimental learning and inclusion of more abstract concepts that will allow students to explore various relations among different subjects.
  4. Secondary (ages 14 to 18): It is the last stage of the 5+3+3+4, and you might have already guessed it’s a 4-year long stage built in 2 phases with grades 9 and 10 in one and 11 and 12 in the next. It is a multidisciplinary study giving students greater flexibility and attention to life aspirations. Flexibility comes in terms of choice given to students to exit Grade 10 and then re-join in 11th Grade to pursue vocational courses or any specialized course that they wish to.

 

The above curriculum is very different than the previous 10+2, It has greater flexibility, is student-centered, and has a wide options of study and disciplines to choose from. The fact that students have control over what they want to study would allow the drop-out rates to fall quickly as students are likely to enjoy what they learn and hence the literacy rate would be high. I know all of you now wish you were born a little later to be a part of this education policy, and so do I. But how this is going to turn out seems interesting to me.

 

The curriculum is nicely structured but it would take a lot of effort to train the faculty and it also matters on the potential of the teachers involved. Speaking of which, the new policy also has made Bachelor’s of Education (B.Ed) a compulsion for all the teachers being appointed. It hopefully would ensure quality faculty for the effective working of the curriculum. Following the new policy, undergraduate programs are going to be 4-year long.

 

Another important change is in the area of the conduction of exams. Instead of board exams conducted once a year, now it will be twice a year where students can get another chance to perform better and opt for the best of the two. Also to note, the exams will be conducted for every stage in 5+3+3+4 instead of every academic year which is the 2nd, 5th, and 8th classes.

 

The pattern of questions for Boards also has changed and will now consist of two types of questions one of MCQ type and the other of descriptive with the popular NTA (National Testing Agency) offering aptitude tests and subject tests for the preparation. The exams are now going to be easier to eliminate the whole “coaching culture” that is torturous for most of the students. The standards for this board exam will be set by PARAKH-Performance Assessment, review, and analysis of knowledge for holistic development. The acronym looks note-worthy.

 

The teaching instruction can be in the mother tongue until class 5 as students can understand concepts properly when taught in a language, they are familiar with. Sanskrit is to be included as an option in their education and the policy also plans to include Indian literature and classical languages.

 

The educational policy is built on 5 pillars- Access, Equity, Quality, Affordability, and Accountability to make education inclusive, affordable, and accessible with special care for gifted students and marginalized communities. The new education policy would account for 6% of the total GDP, while it was just 1.5% earlier.

 

With technology touching every sector of life, education is no exception. The new national educational policy aims to include digital education which is raising concerns about screen time by many parents and educators.

 

In conclusion, the national education policy is no doubt a big change in the entire history of Indian education and it remains to see how well it shall shape the youth of the country and make history. It has some pros and cons with the pros being care given from an early stage (at the age of 3 rather than 6) but exams happening once for 2 years might account for a vast set of topics for the students to prepare for. Hopefully, it shall shape a way forward setting an example by producing and sculpting some great minds that contribute to the world.

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