Gurushala

Research & Policy

New Academic Structure as per NEP, 2020

In the new National Education Policy 2020, the curricular and pedagogical structure of school education will change for the developmental needs and interests of school children for their development at different stages.

The NEP 2020 will be more focused on early childhood care and education. It will replace the 10+2 structure of school curricula by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.

The new NEP is based on four pillars which are Access, Equity, Quality, and Accountability. In this new policy, there will be a 5+3+3+4 structure which includes 12 years of school and 3 years of Anganwadi/ pre-school replacing the old 10+2 structure.

The new 5+3+3+4 School Structure will comprise 12 years of school & 3 years of pre-school (or Anganwadi or Balvatika).

What does it include?

1. The new structure will include a foundational stage from 3 to 8, three years of pre-primary education from 8 to 11, a preparatory stage from 11 to 14, with the secondary stage of 14 to 18 years. School students will take exams only for Classes 3, 5, and 8. Assessment in other years will shift to a "regular and formative" style that will be more "competency-based".

2. This policy is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims to transform India into a vibrant knowledge society and global knowledge for making both school and college education more holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary, suited to 21st century needs and aims.

3. The board exams will continue to be held for classes 10 and 12, but these will also be re-designed with "holistic development".

Highlights for Foundational Stage

1. Medium of Instruction: One of the most significant highlights is that children from class Nursery to class V will be taught in their mother tongue or regional language, in some cases, this will be till class VIII.

2. Age Group: Known as the Foundational Stage, this category earlier had children from classes Nursery, KG and Prep. This was known as ‘pre-primary school.’ It has now included classes I and II also in the Foundational Stage. Students between the age groups of 3 years to 8 years will be part of the Foundational Stage under Early Childhood Care and Education. This shall be applicable in all public and private schools.

3. Focus: The early years in a child’s life are very important since 90% of brain development has already taken place in a child at the age of 6 years. According to science development of the brain is influenced not only by health, nutrition and quality of care but also the quality of the psycho-social environment the child grows up in!

4. Progress Card Not Report Card: Report cards will be replaced by a detailed progress report, sharing all the capabilities and accomplishments of the student, instead of only marks and one-line statements.

5. Curriculum: NCERT will develop a National Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education for children up to the age of 8. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy are basic foundational requirements for learning in class III upwards. ECCE curriculum includes all aspects of care, health, nutrition, play and early learning which will help the student develop better literacy and numeracy.

6. Tracking Learning Outcomes: Students will be observed on the basis of Learning Outcomes they are able to achieve. This requires daily observations in class.

Highlights for Higher Education

Greater Autonomy and Multi-disciplinary Approach
Over the coming decade, every college would develop into either an autonomous degree-granting college or a constituent college of a university. Also, the policy aims at focusing on multi-disciplinary culture in institutions offering professional education.

Use of Technology in Higher Education
National Education Policy 2020 has emphasised the use of technology in multiple ways to enhance the teaching-learning experience and also to make quality education accessible for the masses. As per the NEP, the use of technology will be taken to the next level to “ensure preparedness with alternative modes of quality education whenever and wherever traditional and in-person modes of education are not possible.”

To promote ‘Online Education and Digital Education, a dedicated unit will be set up to facilitate the building of digital infrastructure, digital content and also to look after the e-education needs at the level of both school and higher education.

Flexible UG Courses with Multiple Entries and Exits
As per the NEP, the students will now have options of multiple exits during their UG programme. For example, a student can exit just after 1st year of graduation with a certificate in hand.

Here are mentions about all the UG exit options:

NEP 2020 – UG Exit Options
Option No. Options Academic Recognition

After 1st year of UG programme Certificate
After 2nd year of UG programme Advanced Diploma
After 3rd year of UG programme Bachelor’s Degree
After 4th year of UG programme Bachelor’s with Research

Further, the credits earned at different levels will get credited into a digitalised Academic Bank of Credit. Students can use their earned credits to take admission to another institution to further continue their studies for the remaining year/s of their graduation courses.

References: Moneycontrol and Storyweaver

About the author

Yasmeen Shah is working in Pratham Education Foundation and works on aspects of Technology of the teacher capacity development portal: Gurushala. Any views expressed are personal.

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