Maharashtra government has formed an inter-departmental committee for implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP), which will draw up the roadmap for converting the existing structure of school education from 10+2 to 5+3+3+4 under which for the first time, three years of pre-primary will be brought under the formal education system.
Representatives from different departments such as school education, women and child development, social welfare, tribal development and skill development, among others, will work together in the inter-departmental committee. The school education department issued a Government Resolution (GR) in this regard on Monday.
In the new structure, as per the GR, the first five years will include three years of pre-primary, Class I and II. While the focus will be to enable children of these classes to read and write, an innovative ‘Happiness Curriculum’ will be developed for these classes with the help of local games and languages. Thereafter, for Class III to V, activity-based interactive curriculum will be developed for students’ intellectual growth. The three years after that, Class VI to VIII, will focus on application-based practical knowledge, including skill-oriented courses.
In Class IX to XII, the final four years of school education, students will get a chance to learn subjects of their choice from a pool of 40 subjects. While the importance of board exams will be diluted, the practice of asking students to choose a stream for Class XI and XII will be removed by offering a multidisciplinary approach.
As the curriculum will be designed to focus more on holistic development than on marks, the evaluation practice too will evolve with a multidimensional approach, which will include self as well as peer assessment. An overall assessment will include cognitive, functional, emotional and social development of a student along with academic evaluation.
Talking about the need for an inter-department committee, an official from the school education department said, “The women and child development department is currently looking after ‘Anganwadi’ and ‘Balwadi’, which are pre-school classes for government schools, currently starting from Class I. The social justice and special assistance department and tribal development department run ‘Ashramshalas’ as well as government hostels for students. In order to implement the NEP effectively, integration is required in all these departments, which calls for the inter-departmental committee…”
The committee, which will be headed by the principal secretary of the school education department, will comprise commissioners from all other departments along with a few directors from the school education department.