Main features of the New Education Policy 2020

School Education

New pedagogical and curricular structure of school education (5+3+3+4):

3 years in Anganwadi/pre school and 12 years in school.

Foundational Learning Curriculum for Age group of 3-8 is divided into two parts:-

Foundational Stage 1:

From age 3-6 in ECCE. Prior to the age of 5 every child will move to a Preparatory Class or “Balvatika” ( i.e. Before class 1)

Foundational Stage 2:

Age 6-8. Grade 1-2

Preparation Stage:

Age 8-11, Grades 3-5. Preparatory Stage, play, discovery and activity based and interactive class room learning.

Middle Stage:

Age 11-14 , Grade 6-8 : Middle stage, experiential learning in the sciences, Mathematics, arts, social sciences and Humanities.

Secondary Stage:

Age 14-18 Grade 9-12 Secondary Stage , Multidisciplinary study, greater critical thinking, flexibility and student choice of Subjects.

  • Medium of instruction up to grade 5 and preferably till grade 8 and beyond will be home Language / mother tongue/ local language
  • Beginning with Mathematics all subjects to be offered at 2 levels
  • School students will have 10 bag- less days during which they are taught a vocation of their choice( informal internship)

Board Exam and school Exam

School exams will be only held for 3 levels – classes 3, 5 and 8. Assessment will shift to a formative style which encourages higher-order thinking skills, critical thinking and conceptual clarity.

Board exams to continue but these will be designed for holistic development. A new national assessment centre PARAKH (Performance assessment Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development) will be established. Board exams will have less skates.

All students will be allowed to take Board Exams on upto two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired.