The NEP 2020 will give a thrust on early childhood care and education.
It will replace the 10+2 structure of school curricula by a 5+3+3+4 curricular structure corresponding to ages 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years respectively.
The 5+3+3+4 structure will comprise 12 years of school and three of Anganwadi or pre-school
The 5+3+3+4 structure will include a foundational stage from 3 to 8, three years of pre-primary education from 8 to 11, a preparatory stage from 11 to 14, while the secondary stage would comprise 14 to 18 years.
According to the NEP 2020, school students will take exams only for Classes 3, 5, and 8. Assessment in other years will shift to a “regular and formative” style that will be more “competency-based” to promote learning and development testing “higher-order skills, such as analysis, critical thinking and conceptual clarity”.
The NEP also proposed that the board exams will continue to be held for classes 10 and 12, but these will also be re-designed with “holistic development”.
According to the HRD Ministry statement, “This will bring the hitherto uncovered age group of 3-6 years under the school curriculum, which has been recognised globally as the crucial stage for the development of mental faculties of a child. The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/pre-schooling
The new policy aims for Universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary level with 100% GER in school education by 2030, said the statement
E-courses will be developed in regional languages in education planning, teaching, administration and regulation. Virtual labs to digitally equip schools, teachers and students to be created. The e-content to be available in regional languages starting with Kannada, Odia, Bengali, Tamil etc to join Hindi and English