
BHUBANESWAR: After higher education, the National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 will be implemented at school-level in Odisha.
In a notification, the School and Mass Education department on Wednesday informed that for strengthening of the educational system, NEP-2020 will be implemented in the state and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) with local contextualisation will be adopted as the State Curriculum Framework for Odisha.
One of the most important changes NEP aims to bring to the school education system is the transition from the exam-centric 10+2 schooling design to the new 5+3+3+4 pedagogical structure which comprises 12 years of school and 3 years of pre-schooling. The new structure focuses on age-specific learning and evaluation.
According to the Ministry of Education, schooling will be divided into four stages based on age-specific learning - foundational stage for ages 3 to 8, preparatory stage for ages 8 to 11, middle stage for ages 11 to 14, and secondary stage for ages 14 to 18.
Students will spend five years in the foundational, three years in the preparatory, three years in the middle, and the final four years in the secondary stages.
The five years of foundational learning will start from anganwadi (pre-school) and continue till Class 2 which will mostly be activity-based learning. The three years of preparatory stage will be from Class 3 to 5 which will focus on language and numeracy skills.
Similarly, the middle stage from Class 6 to 8 will incorporate learning in science, mathematics, humanities, social science, among other subjects. The final secondary stage will be covered in two phases - Class 9 and 10 and Class 11 and 12.
Commissioner-cum-secretary to the School and Mass Education department Shalini Pandit said the transition from 10+2 to the new education structure will not happen overnight. “It will be done in a phased manner and in the first phase, the shift will be implemented in the foundational stage in the upcoming new academic session of 2025-26,” she said.
As far as the NCF is concerned, the department will soon form a committee to frame the state curriculum framework.
Here too, the new curriculum will first be prepared for the primary level classes in alignment with the NIPUN Odisha mission which aims to strengthen foundational skills. The government is already working with the NCERT in this regard.
This apart, to work out the steps for smooth implementation of NEP in Odisha, the state government is going to host a national conference from January 21 to 23 which will be attended by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani and other educationists who had contributed to framing of NEP-2020.