Education ministry invites suggestions from school teachers, principals on NEP implementation

NEW DELHI: The ministry of education has invited suggestions from school teachers and principals on the implementation of the new National Education Policy, Union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said on Sunday.

"We believe that the teachers are the key to the implementation of NEP 2020, and hence we have decided to call for suggestions from all school teachers and principals from across the country on how to take the implementation process of #NationalEducationPolicy forward," he tweeted.

The NEP approved by the government last month replaces the 34-year-old National Policy on Education framed in 1986 and is aimed at paving the way for transformational reforms in school and higher education systems to make India a global knowledge superpower.

Teaching up to Class 5 in mother tongue or regional language, lowering the stakes of board exams, a single regulator for higher education institutions, except for law and medical colleges, and common entrance tests for universities are part of the sweeping reforms in the new NEP.

Replacing the 10+2 structure of school curricula with a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to age groups 3-8, 8-11, 11-14 and 14-18 years respectively, scrapping M Phil programmes and implementing common norms for private and public higher education institutions are among other salient features of the new policy.

"To simplify the process for the teachers, the suggestions are being called on each theme of the NEP related to school education, through a question answer process. The questions are framed in such a manner that teachers can relate to them from their experience as teachers and classroom transactions. Each question also gives reference to the paragraph of NEP to which refers to, to enable the teacher to read the same for better understanding of the policy before uploading suggestions," said school education secretary Anita Karwal.

"All suggestions received shall be examined by a team of experts from NCERT. Though suggestions are being called in a limited word format, however, for gathering further information, if required, teachers whose suggestions are found useful for incorporating in National Curriculum framework or in the implementation plan, shall be individually contacted," she added.

The ministry has requested states and union territories to disseminate the call for suggestions widely amongst all teachers in the state whether belonging to government schools, private schools, or affiliated to different secondary school boards.

"States and UTs may hold video conference on priority, send to teachers WhatsApp groups being maintained at various levels, or use the route of SCERTS and DIETs, for ensuring wide dissemination of this process," Karwal said.

The suggestions can be uploaded through a dedicated link from August 24 to 31.