Mumbai: City schools are all set to implement the framework of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the forthcoming academic year 2023–2024, which is scheduled to begin in June.
The NEP is being implemented after a gap of 34 years. By far the most fundamental of shifts that the NEP has proposed is the supplanting of the conventional 10+2 structure of the school education by 5+3+3+4 structure. Now, what does this mean and what would a school look like after adopting the said feature of the NEP.
Some of the schools in Mumbai that the Free Press Journal spoke to claim to be ready, while others believe they still have a lot of work to do.
Big changes will occur following the adoption of the NEP
According to Sarika Kute, Principal of Terna Orchids The International School, Koparkhairne, Navi Mumbai, “NEP brings in its wake a range of curricular goals, which aim at development of student's capacities, values and dispositions. It not only defines the end goal but also throws light on the path of how to achieve them.”
Parveen Shaikh, Principal of The Somaiya School, Vidyavihar, says, “The changes mandated by NEP are all the good practices, which are proven by research to be effective for age appropriate student learning. Once the schools adopt these changes, the quality standards will be maintained and good practices will become a norm.”
Suma Das, Principal of Pawar Public School in Bhandup, thinks that till now, the educational system has been trying to fit a square peg into a round hole that won't be there if NEP is implemented.
According to Das, first and foremost, rote memory will become obsolete, and more emphasis will be placed on activity-based learning. "I feel that in NEP, where the emphasis is placed on subject choosing early on rather than pushing all courses, kids will enjoy the learning process."
Simmi Juneja, principal of D.A.V. Public School in Thane, asserts that "As part of NEP 2020 impact, there will be fewer dropouts as the increased options available to students from Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups will be more."
As proposed by NEP, there will be Board exams twice a year, elimination of three streams, and no written exams until Class 3.
According to Kute, “This will prove a milestone in giving students choice to choose the subjects for which they have a passion. In the end, it will prove beneficial for the school system.”
While Shaikh believes that, “it will bring the focus back on age appropriate play based learning in upper primary which is needed and give students a wide spectrum to choose subjects from.”
In line with the earlier remarks, Juneja agrees that students would have more time to study if there were two board exams. "The Class 3 students ongoing evaluation strategy will allow them to focus on improving their life skills, which is a positive."
Implementation of NEP 2020
“Orchids school has already started implementing the NEP 2020 in the campus in a full-fledged way with small and successful steps in our school to help students adjust to the new educational system,” added Kute.
In a similar vein, Juneja asserts that D.A.V. Public School has started implementing NEP from April 2023.
Shaikh says, “Somaiya school has been following many of the practices that are described in both NEP and NCF (National Curriculum Forum). We have also begun implementing some of the areas that required looking into.”
Das claims that, “Pawar Public school is awaiting the official notification to completely implement NEP but we are all prepared for the new reforms.”
Students and teachers' wellbeing depends largely on the systematic implementation of the policy. “It should be done in a phased manner after preparing the school leaders and teachers with appropriate training. Implementation and accountability is the key to its success,” adds Shaikh.
Additionally, Das states that "classroom sessions will include more enjoyable, creative, cooperative, and exploratory activities for students to engage in deeper and more immersive learning. This is very good, but every change in strategy would necessitate extensive teacher training and retraining in order to carry out all of this enjoyable comprehensive collaborative business. Thus, our school's goal is to prepare our students as 'Glocal' to confront the world."
