NEP 2020: A Policy That Focuses On Multidisciplinary Teaching & Skillful Learning

National Education Policy 2020 is the first education policy of the 21st century and aims to address the many growing developmental imperatives of our country.

Image credit: ANI

NEP 2020 or the New Education Policy is perhaps one of the most stated terms in the field of education in recent times. NEP is not a revamping of any policy but a vision that will help  India to have an education system by 2040 that is second to none.  The NEP will work right from the roots of the Indian education system i.e. the pre-school strata or as known in rural India, "Anganwadi." NEP focuses on seamless aims at providing a system that facilitates seamless transition and coordination across institutions and across all stages of education.

NEP Changes 10+2  to 5+3+3+4

The new structure recognises 3 additional years of pre-schooling or Anganwadi instead of 12 years of schooling. The breakdown is as follows:

· Foundational stage (3 to 8 years): 3 years of pre-school/Anganwadi/Balvatika and 2 years of primary school. In the formative years, now formally recognised as a part of schooling, learning is expected to be activity-based.

· Preparatory stage (8 to 11 years): Students of Classes III to V will be taught how to read, write and speak in various languages. Subjects like arts, science and mathematics will be introduced to students. Physical education will be introduced at this stage.

· Middle stage (11 to 14 years): Students will be introduced to the abstract concepts of different subjects. Correlating subjects of different disciplines will take place through experiential learning.

· Secondary stage (14 to 18 years): The final stage is broken into 2 phases of multidisciplinary learning — Classes IX and X and Classes XI and XII.

Over all NEP focuses on building an education system that must move towards less content, and more towards learning about how to think critically and solve problems, how to be creative and multidisciplinary, and how to innovate, adapt, and absorb new material in novel and changing fields.