School Education

Part I School Education 1. Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning 45 Chapter 1 Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning Objective: Every child in the age range of 3-6 years has access to free, safe, high quality, developmentally appropriate care and education by 2025. The learning process for a child commences immediately at birth. Evidence from neuroscience shows that over 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6, indicating the critical importance of developmentally appropriate care and stimulation of the brain in a child’s early years to promote sustained and healthy brain development and growth. Indeed, analysis of brain scans of children who encountered various levels of neglect or deprivation in their early years revealed unfortunate deficiencies in the development of critical areas of the brain, and corresponding adverse effects on cognitive and emotional processing. Excellent care, nurture, nutrition, physical activity, psycho-social environment, and cognitive and emotional stimulation during a child’s first six years are thus considered extremely critical for ensuring proper brain development and, consequently, desired learning curves over a person’s lifetime. This evidence from cognitive science is fully borne out by numerous national and international studies on the learning outcomes of children having various levels of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). A study conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) titled “The impact of pre-school education on retention in primary grades” (1992) on 30,000 children illustrated strong and direct correlations between exposure to pre-school education and retention rates, attendance National Education Policy 2019 46 rates, and most significantly learning outcomes in primary school and beyond. Various global studies have also revealed longer-term impacts: quality preschool education is strongly correlated with higher incomes and rates of home ownership, and lower rates of unemployment, crime, and arrest. In terms of the growth of the national economy, it has been estimated that the development of a strong ECCE programme is among the very best investments that India could make, with an expected return of `10 or more for every `1 invested. In summary, it is recognised that investment in ECCE gives the best chance for children to grow up into good, moral, thoughtful, creative, empathetic, and productive human beings. Studies tracking student learning outcomes clearly demonstrate that children who start out behind tend to stay behind throughout their school years. At the current time, there is a severe learning crisis in India, where children are enrolled in primary school but are failing to attain even basic skills such as foundational literacy and numeracy. A major part of this crisis appears to be occurring well before children even enter Grade 1. Far too many 6+ year olds are entering Grade 1 with very limited ECCE. Furthermore, far too many children are enrolling in Grade 1 before the age of 6, due to a lack of any suitable preprimary options; these are often the children that remain the most behind in primary school and beyond. In fact, during the academic year 2016-17, over 70 lakh children were enrolled in Grade 1 prior to the age of 6 (Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) 2016-17). This tragic deficiency in grade school-preparedness is particularly marked between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. This is because students from more advantaged families have greater access to role models, print awareness, language fluency in the school language, and strong learning environments at home, in addition to better nutrition, healthcare, and of course access to pre-school education. Investment in ECCE has the potential to give all young children such access in an engaging and holistic way, thereby allowing all children to participate and flourish in the educational system throughout their lives. ECCE is perhaps the greatest and most powerful equaliser. For all these reasons - from brain development to school-preparedness, improved learning outcomes, equality and justice, employability, and the prosperity and economic growth of the country - India absolutely must invest in accessible and quality ECCE for all children. What does quality ECCE entail? During the ages prior to 3 years, quality ECCE includes the health and nutrition of both the mother and the child, but also crucially includes cognitive and emotional stimulation of the infant through talking, playing, moving, listening to music and sounds, and stimulating all the other senses particularly sight and touch. Exposure to languages, numbers, and simple problem-solving is also considered important during this period. From 3 to 6 years of age, ECCE includes continued healthcare and nutrition, but also crucially self-help skills (such as “getting ready on one’s own”), motor skills, cleanliness, the handling of separation anxiety, being comfortable around one’s peers, moral development (such as knowing the difference between “right” and “wrong”), physical development through movement and exercise, expressing and communicating thoughts and feelings to parents and others, 1. Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning 47 sitting for longer periods of time in order to work on and complete a task, and generally forming all-round good habits. Supervised play-based education, in groups and individually, is considered particularly important during this age range to naturally build up the child’s innate abilities and all-important lifelong skills of cooperation, teamwork, social interaction, compassion, equity, inclusiveness, communication, cultural appreciation, playfulness, curiosity, creativity, as well as the ability to successfully and respectfully interact with teachers, fellow students, staff, and others. ECCE during these years also entails learning about alphabets, languages, numbers, counting, colours, shapes, drawing/painting, indoor and outdoor play, puzzles and logical thinking, visual art, craft, drama, puppetry, music, and movement. Over 85% of cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of six. How should India best deliver quality ECCE? The most current research in ECCE shows that children under the age of 8 do not tend to follow the linear, age-based educational trajectories that are prescribed to them by policy or by any preset timelines for curriculum; as a result, a large proportion of children in pre-school and Grades 1 and 2 are not receiving developmentally appropriate education suited to their needs. It is only at about the age of 8 that children adapt to more prescripted learning. Therefore, it is important that children of ages 3-8 have access to a flexible, multifaceted, multilevel, play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based education. It also becomes natural then to view this period, from up to three years of pre-school (ages 3-6) to the end of Grade 2 (age 8), as a single pedagogical unit called the “Foundational Stage”. It is necessary, therefore, to develop and establish such an integrated foundational curricular and pedagogical framework, and corresponding teacher preparation, for this critical Foundational Stage of a child’s development. At the current time, most early childhood education is delivered in the form of Anganwadis and private pre-schools, with a very small proportion coming from pre-schools run by NGOs and other organisations. Where well supported, the Anganwadi system of pre-primary education, under the aegis of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), has worked with great success in many parts of India, especially with respect to healthcare for mothers and infants. These centres have truly helped support parents and build communities; they have served to provide critical nutrition and health awareness, immunisation, basic health check-ups, and referrals and connections to local public health systems, thus preparing crores of children for healthy development and therefore far more productive lives. However, National Education Policy 2019 48 while providing some essential cognitive stimulation, play, and day care, most Anganwadis have remained relatively light on the educational aspects of ECCE. Anganwadis are currently quite deficient in supplies and infrastructure for education; as a result, they tend to contain more children in the 2-4 year age range and fewer in the educationally critical 4-6 year age range; they also have few teachers trained in or specially dedicated to early childhood education. Meanwhile, private and other pre-schools have largely functioned as downward extensions of primary school. Though providing better infrastructure and learning supplies for children, they consist primarily of formal teaching and rote memorisation, with high Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs) and limited developmentally appropriate play-based and activity-based learning; they too generally contain teachers untrained in early childhood education. They generally are very limited on the health aspects, and do not usually cater to younger children in the age range of 0-4 years. A recent “Early Childhood Education Impact” study (2017) undertaken by Ambedkar University, Delhi, showed that a significant proportion of children in India who completed pre-primary education, public or private, did not have the needed school readiness competencies when they joined primary school. Thus, in addition to problems of access, quality related deficiencies such as developementally inappropriate curriculum, the lack of qualified and trained educators, and less-than-optimal pedagogy have remained major challenges for many if not most existing early childhood learning programmes. The Policy therefore focuses on developing an excellent curricular and pedagogical framework for early childhood education by NCERT in accordance with the above guidelines, which would be delivered through a significantly expanded and strengthened system of early childhood educational institutions, consisting of Anganwadis, pre-primary schools/sections co-located with existing primary schools, and stand-alone pre-schools, all of which will employ workers/teachers specially trained in the curriculum and pedagogy of ECCE. The numerous rich traditions of India over millennia in ECCE, involving art, stories, poetry, songs, gatherings of relatives, and more, that exist throughout India must also be incorporated in the curricular and pedagogical framework of ECCE to impart a sense of local relevance, enjoyment, excitement, culture, and sense of identity and community. The traditional roles of families in raising, nurturing, and educating children also must be strongly supported and integrated. In particular, family leave policies that afford women and men the ability to tend to their children in their earliest years of life are critical in enabling families to fulfil these traditional roles. To reinforce the public system’s commitment to provide quality early childhood care and education to all children before the age of 6, the Policy suggests that ECCE be included as an integral part of the RTE Act. The 86th Amendment of the Constitution in 2002 in fact provided an unambiguous commitment for universalisation of ECCE by directing the “State to provi de ECCE to all children until they complete the age of six years”. Section 11 of the RTE Act also already discussed the possible public provision of early childhood education: “With a view to prepare children above the age of three years for elementary education and to provide ECCE for all children until they complete the age of 1. Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning 49 six years, the appropriate Government may make necessary arrangement for providing free pre-school education for such children”. For the sake of the country and her children, it is time to ensure that these critical commitments for attaining quality ECCE for all are fulfilled as early as possible. Specific policy initiatives to attain quality early childhood education for all by 2025 will be as follows: Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Education: The mandate of the NCERT will be expanded to include the development of a Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Education, in accordance with the above principles and guidelines. The Framework will consist of two parts: a. The first part will be a framework of guidelines for 0-3 year olds - intended for parents as well as Anganwadi teachers/workers - for appropriate cognitive stimulation of infants and young children in this age range. The guidelines would include how to make simple low-cost learning aids (such as baby rattles using a plastic bottle and colorful hard candy; simple melodic and percussion instruments that can be hit with sticks; hats and boats made from folding newspaper; etc.); these could form craft exercises for children in Anganwadis, and also be distributed to parents in the community. b. The second part will be an educational framework for 3-8 year olds (Foundational Stage) - intended for parents as well as for Anganwadis, preprimary schools, and Grades 1 and 2 - consisting of a flexible, multilevel, play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based system of learning that aims to teach young children alphabets, numbers, basic communication in the local language/mother tongue and other languages, colours, shapes, sounds, movement, games, elements of drawing, painting, music, and the local arts, as well as various socio-emotional skills such as curiosity, patience, teamwork, cooperation, interaction, and empathy required for school-preparedness. The framework would also include suggestions regarding exercises, puzzles, colouring books, connect-the-dots drawings, stories, rhymes, songs, games, etc. that would help in developing children in the Foundational Stage in a holistic way. Because children learn languages most quickly during the period of 0-3 years and during the Foundational Stage of 3-8 years - and because learning languages is an extremely important aspect of children’s cognitive development-a key part of the Framework will be aimed at instilling excellent multilingual skills in children as early as is possible and developmentally appropriate. The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), and State and local variations of the Framework, will also extensively incorporate the numerous rich traditions of India with respect to ECCE - including national as well as more localised arts, songs, stories, rhymes, puzzles, riddles, games, knowledge, customs, and innovations. P1.1. National Education Policy 2019 50 Significant expansion and strengthening of facilities for early childhood education: The new Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Education will be delivered to children up to the age of 6 via a fourpronged approach: a. Strengthening and expansion of the Anganwadi system to include a robust education component: Anganwadi Centres will be heavily built up to deal with the educational needs of children up to the age of 6. In particular, Anganwadi workers trained in techniques of cognitive stimulation for infants and of play-based and multilevel education for 3-6 year olds will be stationed across the country, so that there is at least one such worker at every Anganwadi. Each Anganwadi will be provided with excellent educational material as per the curricular and pedagogical framework for early childhood education. Additional quality centres will also be built around the country as needed to ensure that every mother and child has free and easy access to Anganwadi Centres. Anganwadis will aim to become outstanding educational centres that also contain a strong health and nutrition component. b. Co-locating Angawadis with primary schools: When possible, co-locating Anganwadis with existing primary schools will provide further benefits to parents and children, both from the comprehensive services provided by the Anganwadi and the improved opportunity for children to learn in a cohesive educational environment with their siblings and peers at primary schools. Co-location of Anganwadis and primary schools will be considered a high priority during location planning for new Anganwadis and primary schools, as this will help to build better and stronger school communities. c. Co-locating pre-schools with primary schools where possible: Alternatively, up to three years of quality pre-school for ages 3-6 will be added to existing or new primary schools. Such composite schools will also be supported by a package of health, nutrition, and growth-monitoring services, especially for the pre-school students. The care and educational requirements of 0-3 year olds in the region would continue to be handled by neighborhood Anganwadis in such cases. d. Building stand-alone pre-schools: High quality stand-alone pre-schools will be built in areas where existing Anganwadis and primary schools are not able to take on the educational requirements of children in the age range of 3-6 years. Such pre-schools would again be supported by the health, nutrition, and growth-monitoring services as required for children in this age range. All four of the above approaches will be implemented in accordance with local needs and feasibility of geography and infrastructure. Overall, the goal will be to ensure that every child of 0-6 years has free and easy access to quality ECCE. This will require suitable monitoring of quality and outcomes for each of the four methods and in each State. Due to the equalising nature of ECCE, special attention and high priority will be given to those districts or locations that are particularly socio-economically disadvantaged. P1.2. 1. Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning 51 Because of the multi-level, play-based nature of the curriculum and pedagogy framework for early childhood education in the age range 3-8 years, no hard separation of ages in this range would be required for Anganwadis and preschools (including when they are co-located with primary schools), except as needed for social reasons or due to limitations of institutional infrastructure. All Anganwadi Centres and pre-primary schools will be linked, if not physically then formally/pedagogically, to a primary school in the area, as the lowest rung in the School Complex (see P7.3.1). Universal access to quality early childhood education is perhaps the best investment that India can make for our children’s and our nation’s future. Oversight of Early Childhood Education by the Ministry of Human Resource Development: All aspects of early childhood education will come under the purview of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), in order to ensure continuity of curriculum and pedagogy from preprimary school to primary school, and to ensure due attention nationwide to the foundational aspects of education. A detailed plan outlining the operational and financial implications of the integration of early childhood education with the school education system will be developed in consultation with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MHFW). This plan will be finalised by the end of 2019 by a special task force jointly constituted by the MWCD, MHFW, and MHRD. At the current time, Anganwadis are under the purview of the MWCD. Regardless of which ministry is officially in charge of running the Anganwadis (which will be decided jointly by the ministries and the joint task force), the Policy stresses that the responsibility for planning and implementation of all ECCE curriculum and pedagogy in Anganwadis and all pre-schools lie with the MHRD - just as health services in ICDS lie with the MHFW. This transition would greatly help in optimising and smoothly integrating the delivery of quality early childhood and foundational education by the MHRD across Anganwadis, pre-schools, and primary schools. P1.3. National Education Policy 2019 52 P1.6. Design of learning-friendly environments: Anganwadis, pre-schools, and primary schools will all have high quality physical infrastructure that is conducive to learning. A committee of cognitive scientists, early childhood education experts, artists, and architects will be formed in each State (or locality) to design spaces, within the funding allocations, that are truly inviting and inspiring places to spend time and learn. The physical environments for early childhood education will be welcoming and stimulating, with accessible infrastructure, drinking water, and toilets; they will be safe, clean, and brightly lit. Classrooms will allow flexible seating arrangements; learning materials will be safe, stimulating, developmentally appropriate, low cost, and preferably created using environmentally-friendly and locally-sourced materials. While the teacher/educator will be involved in the selection and development of learning materials, children could also participate. Some examples of learning materials are picture cards, puzzles, dominoes, picture story books, blocks, simple musical instruments, number towers and rods, puppets, materials for arts and crafts, and colouring books. Posters, graphics, and art containing alphabets, words, numbers, shapes, colours, etc. will be placed on walls at the eye levels of children for high quality stimulation and engagement. Professionalisation of high quality educators for early childhood education: State Governments will prepare cadres of professionally qualified educators for early childhood education, through stage-specific professional training, mentoring mechanisms, and career mapping. Necessary facilities will also be created for the initial professional preparation of these educators and their Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Current Anganwadi workers and educators handling the pre-school education component of the ICDS will be given the opportunity to participate in a 6-month special training programme to enable them to carry out effective early childhood teaching-learning practices. Access for children aged 3 - 8 years to a flexible, multifaceted, multilevel, playbased and activity-based education is of utmost importance. Instituting an effective and quality regulatory system for ECCE: An effective quality regulation or accreditation system for ECCE will be instituted as recommended in the National ECCE Policy (2013). This regulatory system will cover all pre-school education - private, public, and philanthropic - in order to ensure compliance with essential quality standards. P1.4. P1.5. 1. Early Childhood Care and Education: The Foundation of Learning 53 Generating demand from stakeholders for early childhood education: In order to generate demand for ECCE, all stakeholders, including policy makers, parents, teachers, and community members must be well-informed on how a young child’s needs are so different from what formal education provides, and why fulfilling these needs is so important for a child’s lifelong learning and development. Large-scale advocacy through public service messages and media campaigns, direct communication between pre-primary education programmes and parents, and wide-scale dissemination of simple methods and materials to enable parents to actively support their children’s early learning needs will be prioritised and proactively supported. The mandate of the NCERT will be expanded to include the development of a Curricular and Pedagogical Framework for Early Childhood Education. Extension of the RTE Act to include early childhood education: Given the necessity and importance of developmentally-appropriate learning during a child’s most critical phase of brain development, the availability of free and compulsory quality pre-primary education for all 3-6 year olds will be included as an integral part of the RTE Act (see P8.4.1). Here, by ‘compulsory’, it is meant that it will be obligatory for the public system to provide appropriate and quality educational infrastructure, facilities, and educators to all children in the age group 3-6 years, with a special emphasis on reaching the most socio-economically disadvantaged children through ECCE services. P1.8. P1.7. National Education Policy 2019 54 2. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy 55 Chapter 2 Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Objective: By 2025, every student in Grade 5 and beyond has achieved foundational literacy and numeracy. The ability to read and write, and to perform basic operations with numbers, is a necessary foundation and indispensable prerequisite for all future school and lifelong learning. However, various governmental as well as non-governmental surveys clearly indicate that, at the current time, we are in a severe learning crisis with respect to these most basic skills: a large proportion of students currently in elementary school - perhaps over 5 crore in number - have not attained foundational literacy and numeracy, i.e., the ability to read and comprehend basic text and the ability to carry out basic addition and subtraction with Indian numerals. Numerous studies show that, in the current educational system, once students fall behind on foundational literacy and numeracy, they tend to maintain flat learning curves for years, perpetually unable to catch up. So many capable students have found themselves in this unfortunate black hole, unable to emerge. For many students, this has become a major reason for not attending school, or for dropping out altogether. At the same time, teachers have explained the extreme difficulty they currently face - due to the sheer size of the problem today - in covering the mandated curriculum while also simultaneously paying attention to the large numbers of students who have fallen vastly (often several years) behind. It is imperative to address this crisis head on and immediately so that basic learning can be accomplished in schools, and so that all students may thereby gain the opportunity to obtain an education of quality. If action is not taken soon, over the next few years the country could lose 10 crore or National Education Policy 2019 56 more students - the size of a large country - from the learning system and to illiteracy. The country simply cannot allow that to happen - the cost is far too great - to crores of individuals, and to the nation. Attaining foundational literacy and numeracy for all children must become an immediate national mission. Students, along with their schools, teachers, parents, and communities, must be urgently supported and encouraged in every way possible to help carry out this all-important target and mission, which indeed forms the basis of all future learning. What are the primary causes of the learning crisis? A large proportion of students that fall behind during their elementary school years in fact fall behind already during the first few weeks of Grade 1. Thus a major cause of the current learning crisis is a lack of school-preparedness, i.e., the background early childhood care and learning (including pre-literacy and pre-numeracy) that is required for a child to engage in more formal grade school education. The problem most acutely afflicts first-generation learners, and children who have not had access to pre-primary education; it hence affects large numbers of children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds. Schooling in the early years also lays too little curricular emphasis on foundational literacy and numeracy and, in general, on the reading, writing, and speaking of languages and on mathematical ideas and thinking. Indeed, the curriculum in early grades moves very quickly towards rote learning and more mechanical academic skills, while not giving foundational material its proper due. The principle must be that: if students are given a solid foundation in reading, writing, speaking, counting, arithmetic, mathematical and logical thinking, problem-solving, and in being creative, then all other future lifelong learning will become that much easier, faster, more enjoyable, and more individualised; all curriculum and pedagogy in early grade school must be designed with this principle in mind. Teacher capacity also plays a central role in the attainment of foundational skills. Currently, few teachers have had the opportunity to be trained in a multilevel, play-based, student-centred style of learning that, according to extensive ECCE research (see P1.5), is so important for students in early grade school, particularly in Grades 1 and 2. Children naturally learn at different levels and paces during their early school years; however, because the current formal system assumes from the very beginning a common level and pace for all, many students start to fall behind almost immediately. A further factor in the crisis in many areas relates to teacher deployment. One aspect of teacher deployment (or lack thereof) - which sometimes forms a barrier to play-based, multilevel, and individualised learning - is the PTR, which in some disadvantaged areas, often exceeds 30:1, making learning for all much more difficult in these areas. Another aspect of deployment contributing to students falling behind involves the language barriers that often exist between teachers and students when teachers are not from the local area. When children struggle to understand the language in which they are being taught, it becomes very difficult for them to grasp concepts in that language, and their attention wanes. It is well-established that students learn best, especially in 2. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy 57 their early years, when they are taught in the language in which they are most comfortable. One significant further factor in the learning crisis that cannot be overlooked relates to the health and nutrition of children. It is well documented that nutrition plays a very significant role in learning, especially in the early years; however, too many of our children simply do not receive the nutrition (both quality and quantity) necessary to enable learning. Hunger and malnutrition indeed prevent too many children from being able to pay proper attention in school - for many students, the midday meal provided in school is the only meal that they eat. What can be done to reverse this crisis, and urgently? ECCE - while being an extremely important stage in a child’s development on its own - is also a key method to ensure grade-school-preparedness. Once access to ECCE is instituted across the country (as described in Chapter 1), the problem of school-preparedness - and of students falling behind so quickly in grade school - will be greatly mitigated for future generations of students. However, for all those students who are already in grade school, and who remain currently at the centre of this crisis, a mission-mode dedication to remediation and enabling all students who have fallen vastly behind to catch up will be required most urgently and on a national scale. Because of the depth and severity of the problem, teachers cannot be asked to go at this alone - a large scale nationwide effort and dedication will truly be required, which will involve the community as well. Students themselves can be a first major resource in this regard. Studies around the world show one-on-one peer tutoring to be extremely effective for learning - not just for the learner, but also for the tutor. An old Indian saying incisively states that “Knowledge is the only quantity that increases for oneself when one gives it away to others”; indeed, one-on-one peer tutoring by senior students was one of the key successful hallmarks of the ancient gurukula system. Prestigious peer-tutoring positions will be instituted, not just for foundational literacy and numeracy, but across all school subjects, in order to improve learning outcomes for all. A further help must come from the local community. Educated members of the local community who are also passionate about teaching - and aiding in this crisis - will help by holding remedial classes, with students grouped according to level, during or after school, under the guidance and advice of teachers. Such local community members would also, in particular, be able to help bridge the language divide between students and teachers when it exists. These local remedial instructors would be true local heroes; the aim would be for many if not most to be women and mothers in order to help ensure and encourage maximal girls’ participation. It will also be important to make it easier for volunteers - both from the local community and beyond - to participate in this large-scale mission of the schooling system. Qualified community members who wish to volunteer as remedial instructors or as one-on-one tutors - as a service to their communities and to the nation - will be welcomed to teach particular National Education Policy 2019 58 aspects of foundational literacy and numeracy, as needed, under the guidance and coordination of teachers. If every literate member of the community could commit to teaching one student/person how to read, it would change the country’s landscape very quickly; this mission will be highly encouraged and supported. Teacher vacancies will be filled as soon as possible, especially in disadvantaged areas and areas with large Pupil Teacher Ratios or high rates of illiteracy, with special attention given to employing local teachers and female teachers. Current and future teachers will be trained in the relevant aspects of ECCE as is urgently required in Grades 1 and 2 - such as play-based and multilevel learning - so that students of varying levels will be able to keep learning. On the curricular side, it will be extremely vital to introduce an increased focus on foundational literacy and numeracy - and generally on reading, writing, speaking, counting, arithmetic, and mathematical thinking - throughout the primary school curriculum. The dedication of specific hours daily, and regular events over the year, to activities involving these subjects has been found to be a successful method in exciting students to pursue these areas. Finally, the nutrition and health (including mental health) of children will be seriously addressed, through healthy meals and the introduction of counsellors and social workers into the schooling system, as well as through various continuing measures for addressing poverty that may lie beyond the education system. Research shows that the hours of the morning after a nutritious breakfast can be particularly productive for the study of subjects that are cognitively more demanding; these hours may be leveraged by providing a simple but energising breakfast in addition to midday meals. Specific and urgent measures for this national mission, designed to help students at all levels achieve foundational literacy and numeracy as quickly as possible, will include the following: Expansion of midday meal programme: Both a nutritious breakfast (e.g. even just some milk and a banana) and a midday meal will be served to preprimary and primary school students. This will help make the hours between breakfast and lunch significantly more productive, especially for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Expenditure on the morning and midday meal programmes will be linked to food costs and inflation in order to ensure the quality of food served. We are in a severe learning crisis: a large proportion of students in elementary school has not attained foundational literacy and numeracy. P2.1. 2. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy 59 Increased focus in school on foundational literacy and numeracy: The school and classroom curriculum and schedules for Grades 1-5 will be redesigned to focus on foundational literacy and numeracy, and to build a love for reading and mathematics among students. Illustratively, initiatives in this direction would include: a. Dedicated mathematics and reading hours every day for Grades 1, 2 and 3, and an additional writing hour for Grades 4 and 5. The hours between breakfast and lunch may be the most effective time periods for these subjects. b. Designated “language weeks” and “mathematics weeks” during the school year, where children will participate in a variety of activities and projects around languages and mathematics. c. Regular “language melas” and “mathematics melas”, where children can participate and demonstrate their abilities in both of these subjects; this could become a community event involving parents, teachers, community members, and neighbouring schools. d. Weekly language and mathematics-focused school assemblies; celebrations of writers’ and mathematicians’ anniversaries through language- and mathematics-related activities. e. Weekly activities around the library, such as story-telling, theatre, group reading, writing, and display of original writings and other art by children. f. Weekly fun puzzle-solving sessions that naturally inculcate logical and mathematical thinking. g. Regular activities that explore connections between “classroom mathematics” and “real-life mathematics.” If action is not taken soon, over the next few years the country could lose 10 crore or more students from the learning system and to illiteracy. Workbooks on language and mathematics: Every child in Grades 1-5 will have a workbook for languages and mathematics in addition to the school textbook. This will ensure that grade-appropriate, creative, and engaging practice opportunities are available for each child to work at his/her own pace. This would supplement the textbook, build on lessons with a variety of P2.2. P2.3. National Education Policy 2019 60 exercises/examples, save teachers’ time, help teachers identify what each child can do and, therefore, help individualise instruction. Attaining foundational literacy and numeracy for all children must become an immediate national mission and an indispensable, non-negotiable part of the curriculum. National repository of language and mathematics resources: The National Teacher’s Portal (DIKSHA) will have a special section of high quality resources on foundational literacy and numeracy. These resources will be collated from across the country and will be used, in particular, for the two initiatives outlined below. National Tutors Programme: A National Tutors Programme (NTP) will be instituted, where the best performers in each school will be drawn in the programme for up to five hours a week as tutors during the school for fellow (generally younger) students who need help. Selecting tutors from URGs whenever possible will be particularly encouraged. Being selected as a peer tutor will be considered a prestigious position, earning a certificate from the State each year that indicates the hours of service. Remedial Instructional Aides Programme: A Remedial Instructional Aides Programme (RIAP) will be instituted initially as a temporary 10-year project to draw instructors - especially women - from local communities to formally help students who have fallen behind and bring them back into the fold. These instructional aides would hold special remediation classes during school hours, after school hours, and during the summer for those children who have fallen so behind that they cannot catch up without an intervention; when possible, these children would be grouped by level and pace. The instructional aides would be true local heroes - bringing back students who might otherwise drop out, not attend, or never catch up. The IAs would be drawn from among those in the local communities who have graduated from Grade 12 (or the highest grade in school that was available in their region at their time) and who have been among the good performers in their schools. Drawing P2.4. P2.5. P2.6. 2. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy 61 IAs from socially and economically disadvantaged groups will be particularly encouraged, to ensure a truly diverse collection of these local role models. Ensuring that most IAs are women would help empower women and allow more women to be employed and be a part of the educational systems of their local communities; it would also greatly help in the enrollment and retention of girls in the schooling system. Training for these positions would concentrate specifically on the teaching of foundational literacy and numeracy. Should the instructional aides choose to complete a B.Ed. and become teachers, they will be given suitable credit for their years of IA service upon employment. Instructional aides will also make for excellent candidates to be trained to become early childhood education teachers in Anganwadis and pre-schools. Two key factors that will determine the effectiveness of this initiative will be ensuring that IAs are selected on merit and without nepotism, and that they are provided the necessary workbooks and learning materials for their work with children. Encouragement of large-scale community and volunteer involvement: Qualified volunteers (such as retired teachers and army officers, excellent students from neighboring schools, and passionate socially-conscious college graduates from across the country) will also be drawn on a large scale to join the NTP and the RIAP on an unpaid basis, during the academic year as well as in the summer, as a service to their communities and to the country. Thus the NTP and RIAP programmes will each have two modes: Conventional (consisting of peer tutors, and paid IAs from the local community) and Volunteer; both modes will be highly encouraged for the benefit of these programmes. Volunteers will also be awarded certificates from the State government or Government of India (GOI), honoring their invaluable contribution to the State and to the nation, and indicating the hours served as a tutor or IA. Management of the NTP and RIAP programmes: It will be the responsibility of the teachers to assess the learning levels of each student in class, and to identify those students who would make excellent tutors, as well as those students who could benefit from NTP tutors and RIAP remedial sessions. Teachers will also work together with principals to recruit IAs, and consider interested volunteers for both the NTP and RIAP programmes. Teachers will manage and continually work with tutors and IAs to monitor each child’s progress and ensure that each child catches up with the average class level at the earliest. Regular adaptive assessment: A robust system of adaptive assessment will be developed and implemented at all levels in schools, in order to help teachers regularly evaluate each student’s progress, and identify where each student is on the learning-ladder continuum, and thus provide accurate feedback P2.7. P2.8. P2.9. National Education Policy 2019 62 and individualised learning plans for students. Adaptive assessments will also help minimise the importance of rote memory in examinations. Computer-based adaptive assessment may first be implemented in secondary schools and, eventually, by 2023, with computers or tablets available in all schools, extended to cover every student in every school at the basic level and beyond as needed (see P4.9.3). Piloting other technological interventions as aids to teachers: Various technological interventions will be made available to teachers, especially as computers, tablets, smartphones, and the relevant software will become widely available. Such interventions will include apps and games on smartphones and tablets in various regional languages that teach literacy, numeracy, and other foundational and curriculum material, and carry out adaptive assessments and other personalised learning. Such technological interventions will never be viewed as substitutes for teachers, but will be piloted and/or used by teachers and students as learning aids. School preparation module for all Grade 1 students: As evidence shows that a large number of students start to fall behind within the first couple of months of Grade 1, starting in 2019, all Grade 1 students will begin with a three-monthslong “school preparation module”, which will help ensure that students have the required learning readiness and prerequisite learning levels prior to starting the usual Grade 1 syllabus. NCERT will develop a curriculum framework, syllabus and pedagogical strategy for this school preparation module, which will be distributed to all Grade 1 teachers and will eventually be incorporated into the Grade 1 curriculum framework and in related workbooks and other learning materials. Students will help each other during this module to develop skills of empathy and helpfulness towards fellow students. This will ensure a solid foundation, and develop enthusiasm and comradery for early school learning, for all learners. The module would concentrate on play with alphabets, words, colours, shapes, and numbers, and would actively involve parents, including take-home worksheets and interactive activities to be done at home together with parents to help develop parental involvement in their child’s schoolwork. A prestigious National Tutors Programme will be instituted across the country to enable high-quality peer tutoring among students. P2.10. P2.11. 2. Foundational Literacy and Numeracy 63 The importance of parental participation: Research evidence points to the significant impact that home environment has on children’s academic learning. Collaboration with parents is an essential ingredient in optimising learning, regardless of parents’ literacy, numeracy, or educational status. Parents will be asked to meet with their children’s teachers at least twice every year, and even more often if they wish to do so, or as needed, in order to help track, encourage, and optimise their children’s learning. Teachers will also regularly give take-home worksheets, activities, or assignments to be completed in collaboration with parents to further develop parental involvement in children’s schoolwork, learning, and progress. Redesign of teacher education for foundational literacy and numeracy: Teacher education and development, both pre-service and in-service, will have a renewed emphasis on the teaching of foundational literacy and numeracy, including the school preparation module, ECCE, and multilevel activity-based learning; this emphasis will be particularly relevant for teachers of Grades 1 and 2. Teacher education and development at all levels will also include strategies for: more interactive classrooms with less rote learning; adaptive and formative assessment; and how best to use tutors, remedial instructors, and technology (such as apps for smartphones or tablets) in developing optimal individualised learning plans for students. All Grade 1 teachers will have the opportunity to go through a 5-day capacity development workshop for integrating the three-month long “school preparation module”. Ensuring proper teacher deployment and teacher conditions, and a Pupil Teacher Ratio under 30 : 1 at every school: All the measures for strong foundational literacy and numeracy will require that the PTR be less than 30 : 1. Teacher vacancies will be filled urgently so that this PTR is ensured not merely at a cluster or block level but in every school; strong preference will be given to teachers from local areas to help bridge the language divide. Teacher attendance is key to ensuring proper PTR in the classroom; conditions for teachers will be such that near-100% teacher attendance is attained; in particular, teachers must be able to spend the vast majority of their working time with their students rather than on administrative or other tasks (see P5.2.3). A Remedial Instructional Aides Programme will be instituted to recruit qualified community members to help students learn. P2.13. P2.12. P2.14. National Education Policy 2019 64 Expansion of public and school libraries and building a culture of reading and communication: To create a culture of reading, public and school libraries will be expanded across the country, and will contain books - particularly children’s books - in local and regional languages. Schools and school complexes will also have a large selection of books in local languages, and teachers will actively encourage children to take books home to read.Students will be asked to read excerpts from their favourite books/stories and present oral summaries and their own thoughts each week or month in front of their class, to encourage reading as well as develop communication skills. As students learn more languages, these readings and presentations could then be carried out in additional languages. Role of social workers and counsellors: Social workers and counsellors will be hired to school complexes (see P3.8) to work with students - and their parents, teachers, tutors, IAs, and community members - to help ensure the retention in school and the mental health of all children. Mobilisation of the local community and of volunteers: Teachers, parents, students, community members, and the public must and will be made aware of this urgent national mission to end the learning crisis, and of the resulting opportunities available for community and volunteer involvement. Large-scale public service announcements, media campaigns, and direct communications between schools and their communities in this direction will be prioritised to maximise involvement of passionate citizens across the country; this will also help recruit community members and volunteers for the NTP and RIAP programmes. Last but not least, the principle that every literate citizen commit to teaching at least one child (or adult) how to read will be highly publicised, encouraged, facilitated, and supported (see also Chapter 21). To repeat, our highest priority must be to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary school and beyond by 2025. The rest of the Policy will be largely irrelevant for such a large portion of our students if this most basic learning (reading, writing, and arithmetic at the foundational level) is not first achieved. P2.15. P2.16. P2.17. 3. Reintegrating Dropouts and Ensuring Universal Access to Education 65 Chapter 3 Reintegrating Dropouts and Ensuring Universal Access to Education Objective: Achieve access and participation in free and compulsory quality school education for all children in the age group of 3-18 years by 2030. One of the primary goals of the schooling system must be to ensure that children are actually enrolled in and attending school. Through initiatives such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the RTE Act, India has made remarkable strides in recent years in attaining near-universal enrollment in primary school: according to U-DISE data, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in 2016-17 for Grades 1-5 was at 95.1%. However, the data for later grades indicates some serious issues in retaining children in the schooling system. The GER for Grades 6-8 was 90.7%, while for Grades 9-10 and 11-12 it was only 79.3% and 51.3%, respectively - indicating that a significant proportion of enrolled students begin to drop out after Grade 5 and especially after Grade 8. In absolute numbers, an estimated 6.2 crore children of school age (between 6 and 18 years) were out of school in 2015. It must be a top priority of the country to bring these children back into the educational fold as early as possible, and to prevent further students from dropping out. What causes such large numbers of students to drop out? One key reason has already been mentioned in Chapters 1 and 2: so many students find themselves falling increasingly behind in school as time passes by - many not even attaining foundational literacy and numeracy by Grade 5 or even by Grade 8 - that it becomes a waste of their time to attend school. National Education Policy 2019 66 The problem of access to schools also remains a major concern. While the problem of access has been largely solved for primary and even upper primary schools - the vast majority of children in 2016-17 had a primary and upper primary school within close proximity - access to secondary schools and upper secondary schools remains a very serious issue. In 2016-17, for every 100 primary schools/sections in India, there were about 50 upper primary schools/ sections, 20 secondary schools/sections, and only about 9 higher secondary schools/sections. For many children, this means that the closest secondary and higher secondary schools are at prohibitively large distances - too far to walk, with no safe and practical conveyances available to reach school. Bringing children who have dropped out back into the educational fold as early as possible, and preventing others from dropping out is top priority. Socio-cultural and economic issues also play a significant role in dropout rates. For example, some children and adolescents are not sent to secondary school because of harmful practices relating to early or child marriage, perceived roles of gender or caste, or child labour and pressure on children/adolescents to work and earn. Often the need to care for siblings prevents older children from attending school. In regions with poor hygienic conditions, lack of good sanitation and unhealthy food habits unfortunately make children prone to chronic illnesses, thereby preventing them from attending classes consistently or at all. There also remain serious issues of inadequate infrastructure and lack of safety. Many children, especially girls, drop out due to lack of working toilet facilities; others - particularly girls and children from various other Underrepresented Groups (URGs) - drop out due to problems with harassment and safety. Sometimes students’ bicycles are stolen while at school, and they are forced to drop out. Finally, some children and adolescents report dropping out, not because of any of the above reasons, but simply because they do not find school interesting or useful. What can be done to bring children who have dropped out back to school and to prevent further children from dropping out? There are two basic initiatives that must be undertaken. The first is to provide effective and sufficient infrastructure so that all students have access to safe and engaging school education at all levels from 3. Reintegrating Dropouts and Ensuring Universal Access to Education 67 pre-primary school through Grade 12. This will be attained by upgrading and enlarging the schools that already exist, building additional quality schools in areas where they do not exist, and providing safe and practical conveyances and/or hostels to children as needed so that all children have the opportunity to attend a quality school of the appropriate level. The second is to achieve universal participation in school by carefully tracking students, as well as their learning levels in school, in order to continually work towards ensuring that they a) are enrolled in and attending school, and b) have suitable opportunities for remediation and reentry to catch up in case they have fallen behind or dropped out. The “free and compulsory” aspect of the RTE Act must be enforced, and extended through Grade 12 and to all children up to the age of 18. Social workers and counsellors recruited to school complexes will continuously work with students, parents, teachers, and communities to ensure that all school-age children are attending and learning in school. Access will be increased, especially for Grades 9-12, to achieve 100% GER across school stages. Once infrastructure and participation are in place, ensuring quality across the board is indeed key in retaining students, so that students and parents do not lose interest in attending school. This will require a strong channel for the best teachers to be deployed to areas where dropout rates are particularly high, as well as an overhaul of the curriculum to make it more engaging, dynamic, and useful; these last two points will be addressed in more detail in the next two chapters, respectively. The current chapter will therefore focus on these two basic issues of creating effective school infrastructure and then ensuring participation. Creating effective school infrastructure Addressing access gaps in infrastructure: The number and coverage of schools/sections will be increased at all levels, especially Grades 9-12, in order to work towards achieving 100% GER from the Foundational Stage through Grade 12 for all children by 2030. P3.1. National Education Policy 2019 68 The strategy will consist of: a. Increasing the intake capacity of existing schools in areas where many students are out of school; b. Building new educational facilities in under-served or un-served locations; and c. Consolidating existing stand-alone primary, upper primary, secondary, and higher secondary schools - especially those that may have too low an attendance to be sustainable on their own - into composite schools/school complex whenever possible. Note that composite schools/school complexes containing a wider range of grade levels have a number of advantages, including the sharing of material and human resources, a wider range of classes and opportunities for students, and the ability of siblings and neighbors of differing ages to travel together to and attend the same school. Appropriate norms for the expansion, establishment, and consolidation of schools will be developed for each region/State/district based on the local reality, with the understanding that proximate access in the early years is critical. The current rigid norms for school access (based solely on distance from habitations of residence) will be made flexible to meet local geographic and demographic needs, without compromising on access, quality, equity, and safety. Social workers will help track student attendance and work towards bringing dropouts back into school; programmes like the NTP and RIAP will enable this. Supporting transport facilities: School rationalisation as in P3.1 will take place alongside efforts to enhance roads and transport facilities to schools. Bicycles will be provided to older children, especially girls, as necessary in order to enable educational access (with appropriate measures for security of the bicycles at the school), with arrangements made for travel in groups to the maximal extent possible. Other transport facilities, such as school buses, organised walking groups, paid walking escorts, or a transport allowance, will also be provided as appropriate, especially for younger children, girls, and Children With Special Needs (CWSN) to ensure safe transport; in rural areas or where the routes to school are not safely or feasibly walkable, cycle rickshaws could also be provided to local community members (such as a parent of a child in the school), who would P3.2. 3. Reintegrating Dropouts and Ensuring Universal Access to Education 69 be hired and paid a stipend for ensuring the safe transport to school of 2-4 young children each. Supporting hostel facilities: Free room and board facilities in the form of hostels will be built - matching the standard of Navodaya Vidyalayas - in school locations where students may have to come from particularly far, and/or for students who come from disadvantaged economic backgrounds, with suitable arrangements for the safety of all children, especially girls (e.g. girls’ hostels would be separate and have female wardens and security guards). In particular, the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBV) will be strengthened and expanded to increase the participation in quality schools (up to Grade 12) of girls from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Ensuring security: Appropriate measures will be taken at all schools at all levels to ensure the safety of students (particularly girls and other URGs) by building safe infrastructure (including roads and conveyances for transport), hiring security guards (especially female security guards) according to needs, maintaining connections with local police, and arranging credible mechanisms for students to report harassment or other transgressions, and for appropriate reviews and actions to be taken in an expedited manner. A zero-tolerance policy towards breaches of child rights will be adopted to ensure physical and emotional safety of children. To avoid instances of girls and other children dropping out due to facing harassment on the way to, or within the school, school principals, social workers and local law enforcement will work together to identify the miscreants and discipline them, and take legal action if needed. A 24 x 7 helpline number will also be communicated among the public. The local police will work with the social workers to instruct parents and students on identifying and reporting incidences of harassment, both within and outside the school. Areas where harassment is one of the major reasons for high dropout rates will be given special attention. Ensuring participation and learning Monitoring students’ attendance in school: Transparent and reliable systems for tracking attendance of all students will be set up at the local level in collaboration with teachers and SMCs. Parents will be contacted to inquire as to the reasons for the absence of any student. Effective strategies will be put in place for boosting attendance, such as the provision of both morning and midday meals, and recognition of and awards to students having 100% or near-100% attendance. Monitoring students who may be falling behind: Teachers will consistently monitor learning outcomes of students through adaptive assessments in order to identify students who may be falling behind, and work to set up personalised learning strategies for these students in consultation with P3.3. P3.4. P3.5. P3.6. National Education Policy 2019 70 parents to help them catch up, including connecting them to remediation programmes such as the NTP and RIAP; see P2.5 and P2.6. Tracking out-of-school children: An appropriate area-specific and locally relevant mechanism will be put in place, in collaboration with social workers, principals, community members, and SMCs, for tracking down and forming a database of all dropouts and out-of-school children. In most cases, social workers appointed to the school complex will take charge of managing the database, interfacing with the community, and ensuring that every child in the database is cared for and helped to return to school. Role of social workers and counsellors: In cases of a) enrolled students having lengthy absences beyond a few days, b) enrolled students falling vastly behind, or c) children who have never enrolled or who have dropped out, social workers appointed to the school complex will pro-actively meet with such children and their parents to understand why they are not attending or enrolled, or why they are falling behind, and will work with them (in collaboration with counsellors) to help ensure attendance/enrolment, and (in consultation with teachers) connect them to remedial programmes such as NTP and RIAP or alternative learning programmes. Social workers will also help in identifying and managing CWSN to ensure that they are fully engaged with the education system. Role of schools in children’s health: In areas where poor sanitary conditions, unhygienic food practices, and lack of appropriate precautions cause diseases among school age children, subsequently causing them to drop out, schools, social workers, counsellors, and/or health workers will help instruct parents, students, and the community-at-large on good health, hygiene, cleanliness, and timely vaccination practices, and will connect them to the appropriate health services so that children may return to school as soon as possible. Hiring of health workers to school complexes will be prioritised in areas with widespread malnutrition, disease, and lack of sanitation in order to ensure the well-being of children and as a consequence their attendance and progress in school. Second-chance education programmes for long-term out-of-school adolescents: In cases of children or adolescents who have been out of school for multiple years, sustained programmatic initiatives will be undertaken to provide them meaningful education and training opportunities. Access to second-chance education programmes will be enhanced by establishing equivalency and bridging programmes, recognised and accredited by the school education system, wherever remedial programmes such NTP and RIAP are insufficient. Strengthening of institutional capacity for expanding second-chance educational opportunities will be accorded priority, including vocational P3.7. P3.8. P3.9. P3.10. 3. Reintegrating Dropouts and Ensuring Universal Access to Education 71 education and skills development opportunities (e.g. market-driven courses to make them rapidly employable). Dropouts aged 15 and above, who have fallen too far behind or are nearly illiterate, will be given the alternative option to attend adult literacy programmes (see Chapter 21) to gain foundational and functional literacy, and then, if desired, enrol in vocational training programmes conducted for adult neo-literates. Such decisions, regarding the optimal solution for each student, will be made in consultation with the students themselves, their parents, school teachers, and social workers. Enabling multiple pathways to learning: To facilitate learning for all students, including CWSN or children of migrant workers, the scope of school education will be broadened to facilitate multiple pathways to learning involving formal and non-formal education modes. One of the thrusts would be to develop and utilise innovative educational platforms involving the use of technology, including the development and sharing of e-resources and promotion of e-learning, and introduction of assessment on demand. Open and Distance Learning (ODL) Programmes offered by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will be expanded and strengthened for meeting the learning needs of young people in India who are not able to attend a physical school. Keeping in view the diversified needs of the target groups, NIOS will continue to offer Open Basic Education for learners aged above 14 years, including adolescents and adults. In addition, the following programmes will be offered: education at A, B and C levels that are equivalent to Grades 3, 5, and 8 of the formal school system; secondary education programmes that are equivalent to Grades 10 and 12; vocational education courses/programmes; and adult literacy and life-enrichment programmes. States will be encouraged to develop State analogues of these offerings in regional languages by establishing State Institutes of Open Schooling (SIOS). Allowing multiple models for schools, and loosening the input restrictions of the RTE Act: To make it easier for both governments as well as nongovernmental philanthropic organisations to build schools, to encourage local variations on account of culture, geography, and demographics, and to allow alternative models of education such as gurukulas, paathshaalas, madrasas, and home schooling, the RTE Act requirements for schools will be made substantially less restrictive. The focus will be to have less emphasis on input and greater emphasis on output potential with respect to desired learning outcomes. Regulations on inputs will be limited to ensuring safety of children (both physical and psychological), access and inclusion, the nonprofit nature of schools, and minimum standards for learning outcomes. Enabling the construction of quality schools by all parties with greater flexibility will create greater educational choices for students and healthy competition among schools, leading to enhanced access to more and higherquality schools (including higher-quality government schools). Other models for schools will also be piloted, such as philanthropic-public partnerships. P3.11. P3.12. National Education Policy 2019 72 Extension of the RTE Act to include secondary education: The availability of free and compulsory quality secondary education (Grades 9-12; typically ages 14-18) will be included as an integral part of the RTE Act to ensure that, by 2030, all students enrol and participate in quality school education through Grade 12 (see P8.4.1). P3.13. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 73 Chapter 4 Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools Objective: Curriculum and pedagogy are transformed by 2022 in order to minimise rote learning and instead encourage holistic development and 21st century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, scientific temper, communication, collaboration, multilingualism, problem solving, ethics, social responsibility, and digital literacy. 4.1. A new curricular and pedagogical structure for school education One of the most well-known legacies of the National Policy on Education 1968 is the “10+2” structure of the school education system - an extremely important and influential recommendation for the time which helped to standardise and uniformise the structure of school education across the country. In many parts of the country, the 12 years of the 10+2 system have been referred to as Grades / Classes 1-12, with Grades 1-5 the primary stage, Grades 6-8 the upper primary stage, Grades 9-10 the secondary stage, and Grades 11-12 the higher secondary, pre-university, intermediate, or junior college stage. While the 10+2 system of school education has served the country well over the past 50 years - and has been an important step forward in uniformising the school education structure in India - modern times and needs with respect to employment and beyond, together with advances and discoveries in cognitive science, have also made clear that a new structure for the National Education Policy 2019 74 educational system is required in order to deliver the vision of education enunciated in this Policy and to prepare our students optimally in the 21st century. The restructuring of school education mentioned in this Policy is based, in particular, on the cognitive importance of play-based ECCE starting at age 3, together with the modern necessity of providing free and compulsory education for all students through Grade 12 - as was already discussed in the first three chapters. Furthermore, within this school-age range of 3 to 18 years, there must be periodic changes in curricular and pedagogical delivery and styles, designed to be in sync with a child’s natural cognitive, emotional, and physical development. For example, as already mentioned in Chapter 1, studies in cognitive science demonstrate that children prior to the age of 8 learn best through play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based multilevel flexible styles of learning and interaction, whereas around the age of 8 children naturally begin to adapt to a more prescripted style of learning, indicating that teaching-learning processes in Grade 3 may also begin to transition to a more formal style of learning, e.g. by incorporating some basic textbooks, while still maintaining a strong play- and discovery-based approach. Meanwhile, by the age of 11, children begin to develop the capacity for abstraction. At this stage, i.e., around Grade 6, it therefore becomes beneficial for students to begin to have specialised subject teachers in the classroom, where students’ discussion of higher-level concepts within each subject area becomes possible and indeed desirable. By the age of 14, i.e., Grade 9, adolescents begin to think about their life plans; schooling at this stage must therefore build on the styles of previous stages, while also incorporating preparation for university, for the world of work, and for life. Students at this stage must have flexibility of subject options for their differing talents, interests, goals, and ambitions, including access to vocational and arts courses. A semester-based system, which allows exposure to a multitude of subjects at differing levels, can be of great benefit to students at this stage. Based on these natural cognitive and practical considerations regarding the optimal holistic development of students, the following new curricular and pedagogical structure for school education will therefore be of immense value in truly revolutionising, and thereby making more effective, our school education system (it must be noted that the physical infrastructure of schools need not necessarily be aligned with this pedagogical and curricular organisation): A new developmentally appropriate curriculum and pedagogical structure for school education: 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 design. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 75 Restructuring school curriculum and pedagogy in a new 5+3+3+4 design: The curricular and pedagogical structure of school education will be reconfigured to make them responsive and relevant to the developmental needs and interests of learners at different stages of their development, corresponding to the age ranges of 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years, respectively. The curricular and pedagogical structure and the curricular framework for school education will therefore be guided by a 5+3+3+4 design: • 5 years of the Foundational Stage: 3 years of pre-primary school and Grades 1, 2. • 3 years of the Preparatory (or Latter Primary) Stage: Grades 3, 4, 5. • 3 years of the Middle (or Upper Primary) Stage: Grades 6, 7, 8. • 4 years of the High (or Secondary) Stage: Grades 9, 10, 11, 12. a. The Foundational Stage will comprise five years of flexible, multilevel, play-based, activity-based, and discovery-based learning, continuously incorporating the latest research in ECCE as well as the various timetested Indian traditions for cognitive and emotional stimulation of children. b. The Preparatory Stage will comprise three years of education, building on the play-, discovery-, and activity-based pedagogical and curricular style of the Foundational Stage, but also gradually beginning to incorporate textbooks as well as aspects of more formal classroom learning. There would mostly be generalist teachers during this stage, with the possible exception of some specialist language and art teachers (who may be shared across the school or school complex). The aim of this stage will be to lay the general groundwork across subjects, including reading, writing, speaking, physical education, art, languages, science, and mathematics, so that students are prepared to delve deeper into learning areas through specialised subjects and subject teachers in the stages that follow. c. The Middle Stage will comprise three years of education, building on the more formal pedagogical and curricular style of the Elementary Stage, but will see the introduction of subject teachers for learning/discussion of the more abstract concepts in each subject that students will be ready for at this stage across the sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences, and humanities. Experiential learning within each subject, and explorations of relations among different subjects, will be encouraged and emphasised despite the introduction of more specialised subjects and subject teachers. d. The Secondary Stage will comprise four years of multidisciplinary study, and will build on the subject-oriented pedagogical and curricular style of the Middle stage, but with greater depth, greater critical thinking, greater attention to life aspirations, and greater flexibility and student choice. Each year of the Secondary Stage will be divided into 2 semesters, for a total of 8 semesters. Each student would take 5 to 6 subjects each semester. There will be some essential common subjects for all, while simultaneously there will be a great flexibility in selecting elective courses (including in the arts, vocational subjects, and physical education) so P4.1.1. National Education Policy 2019 76 that all students can expand their horizons as they see fit and explore their individual interests and talents. A system of modular Board Examinations - restructured to test only core concepts, principles, critical thinking, and other higher-order skills in each subject - will help to pin down the common courses, while great flexibility will be offered for remaining courses (see P4.9.5). The notions of “higher secondary” or “junior college” will be eliminated; Grades 11 and 12 will be considered an integral part of the secondary stage. All stages will heavily incorporate Indian and local traditions, as well as ethical reasoning, socio-emotional learning, quantitative and logical reasoning, computational thinking and digital literacy, scientific temper, languages, and communication skills, in a manner that is developmentally appropriate and in the curricular/pedagogical style that is optimal for each stage. The above-described stages are purely curricular and pedagogical, designed to optimise learning for students based on cognitive development of children; they will inform the development of National and State curricula and teachinglearning strategies at each stage, but it will not be necessary to make parallel changes to physical infrastructure. Interactive and fun classrooms, where questions are encouraged, with creative, collaborative, and exploratory activities for deeper and more experiential learning. 4.2. Holistic development of learners The key overall thrust of curriculum and pedagogy reform across all stages will be to move the education system towards real understanding and learning how to learn - and away from the culture of rote learning present today. The goal will be to create holistic and complete individuals equipped with key 21st century skills. All aspects of curriculum and pedagogy will be reoriented and revamped in order to attain these critical goals. Reorientation of the content and process of school education: The entire school education curriculum will be reoriented to develop holistic learners and develop in learners higher order skills of critical thinking, creativity, logical deduction, collaboration/teamwork, social responsibility, multilingualism, quantitative reasoning, and digital literacy. Learning will thus move away from rote memorisation; if and when rote learning is used, it will always be preP4.2.1. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 77 accompanied by context and motivation, and post-accompanied by analysis, discussion, and application. The curriculum will aim at enabling learners to attain learning outcomes relating to all curricular areas, including sports, science, art, language, literature, and ethics education, thereby ensuring that all children and youth receive an education that helps realise their potential, in all realms, to the fullest. 4.3. Reduce curriculum content to enhance essential learning and critical thinking The Policy recognises, from inputs of teachers, students, scientists, and educators, that the curriculum content is currently severely overloaded. Both the 1993 MHRD Yashpal Committee report 1993 “Learning Without Burden” and the NCF 2005 highlighted the great need for reducing our overcrowded curriculum content load in favour of a more engaging, holistic, experiential, and analysis-based form of learning. Those well-researched recommendations have never been more relevant than today. Indeed, today, the rush in classrooms to finish and rush through all the mandated curricular material via rote memorisation continues to prevent opportunities for critical thinking and discovery-based, discussion-based, and analysis-based learning - and thus true understanding - from taking place. Reduce curriculum load in each subject to its essential core content, in order to make space for more holistic, experiential, discussion-based, and analysis-based learning: The mandated contents in the curriculum will be reduced, in each subject area, to its core, focussing on key concepts and essential ideas. This will thereby yield more space for discussion and nuanced understanding, analysis, and application of key concepts. Teaching and learning will strive to be conducted in a more interactive manner; questions will be encouraged, and classroom sessions will regularly contain more fun, creative, collaborative, and exploratory activities for students for deeper and more experiential learning. Students will be given increased flexibility and choice of subjects to study across the arts, humanities, sciences, sports, and vocational subjects. P4.3.1. National Education Policy 2019 78 4.4. Empower students through flexibility in course choices Reducing the curriculum content load - in addition to allowing greater room for nuanced understanding, analysis, and discussion in mandated curriculum - will also enable students to explore subjects beyond the current usual curriculum. Learners must be empowered to have more flexibility in the courses that they take, especially in secondary school, so that they may make the best use of their time in school; in particular, they must be given the time and the options to experiment with different subjects in a more hands-on and experiential way in order to decide what they enjoy, and so that they can gradually assess what they may want to do with their lives. Specialisation should be delayed, so that students’ choices are not dictated simply by parents or society, but rather via their own experiences, interests, and self-reflections. All fields of human endeavor, including arts, crafts, and sports, are valuable to both human and societal advancement, and so should be actively pursued by students in their curricula to achieve holistic development. In particular, there should be no extra-curricular and co-curricular activities; all such activities must also be considered curricular. A holistic approach to education must come hand-in-hand with student empowerment and choice, and all subjects should carry importance within the curriculum for each student according to his/her choices and inclinations. Increased flexibility in choice of subjects: Students will be given an increased flexibility and choice of subjects to study, particularly in secondary school - including subjects in physical education, the arts, and vocational crafts - so that they may be free to design their own paths of study and life plans. Continuing holistic development and a wide choice of subjects and courses year to year will be the new distinguishing feature of secondary school education. No hard separation of content in terms of curricular, extra-curricular, or co-curricular areas: All school subjects will be considered curricular rather than extra-curricular or co-curricular, including sports, yoga, dance, music, drawing, painting, sculpting, pottery making, woodworking, gardening, and electric work. NCERT will prepare syllabi and textbooks as per the National Curriculum Framework, to incorporate these subjects into the national curriculum, which the State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) in States may edit, supplement, and rewrite as per States’ needs. Subjects such as physical education, the arts, and vocational crafts will be seriously incorporated throughout the school curriculum, with a consideration for what is interesting and safe at each age. No hard separation of arts and sciences: All students will have the opportunity to engage deeply in the arts and humanities as well as in the study of the sciences and social sciences. Such a separation will be discouraged in higher education as well; see Section 11.2. P4.4.2. P4.4.3. P4.4.1. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 79 No hard separation of “vocational” and “academic” streams: The curricula for elementary and secondary education will ensure that there will be no hard separation of “vocational” and “academic” streams as all students will have the opportunity of developing both kinds of capacities. With the rapidly changing economic scenarios, fundamental capacities have become even more important than specific skills. Pre-vocational orientation - exposure to different vocations - will begin during the elementary stage, and will be available to every child. Learning will primarily be experiential and will aim at fostering respect for a variety of professions. All students will take vocational courses which will be an integral part of the formal curriculum, and will give learners in-depth exposure to areas such as agriculture, electronics, local trades and crafts, etc. The areas of emphasis will be identified by careful planning at the district level, and schools will be provided adequate infrastructure and resources to deliver rigorous vocational education in these areas. During the school years, students will be exposed to different careers, and will be kept abreast of the ever-changing world of employment and the corresponding curricular choices available to them. There will be no hard separation between ‘arts’ and ‘science’ streams, or between ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ streams. 4.5.Education in the local language/ mother tongue; multilingualism and the power of language The issues regarding language are most fundamental to education. Language is a medium of expression of the individual, society and its collective continuity in culture, in addition to being a tool for communication. Language has a direct bearing as the mediator in all cognitive and social capacities, including in knowledge acquisition and production. The science of child development and language acquisition suggests that young children become literate in (as a language) and learn best through (as a medium of instruction) their “local language” i.e. the language spoken at home. Children between the ages of 2 and 8 also have an extremely flexible capacity to learn multiple languages, which is a crucial social capacity that must be harnessed, in addition to the well-established cognitive benefits of multilingualism. P4.4.4. National Education Policy 2019 80 Since children learn languages most quickly between 2-8 years, and multilingualism has great cognitive benefits for students, children will be immersed in three languages early on, from the Foundational Stage. Education in the home language/mother tongue It is well-understood that young children learn and grasp nontrivial concepts most quickly in their home language/mother tongue. The Policy further recognises the large numbers of students going to school to classes that are being conducted in a language that they do not understand, causing them to fall behind before they even start learning. Thus there is a strong need for classes in early years to be conducted in students’ local languages. On the other hand, textbooks (especially science textbooks) written in India’s vernaculars at the current time are generally not nearly of the same quality as those written in English. It is important that local languages, including tribal languages, are respected and that excellent textbooks are developed in local languages, when possible, and outstanding teachers are deployed to teach in these languages. Home language/mother tongue as medium of instruction: When possible, the medium of instruction - at least until Grade 5 but preferably till at least Grade 8 - will be the home language/mother tongue/local language. Thereafter, the home/local language shall continue to be taught as a language wherever possible. High quality textbooks, including in science, will be made available in home languages as is needed and feasible, e.g. via the Indian Translation and Interpretation Mission (see P4.8.4) or its State counterparts. In cases where such textbook material is not available, the language of transaction between teachers and students will still remain the home language when possible, even if textbooks are, e.g. in the State/regional language. The school education system will make its best effort to use the regionally preponderant home language as the medium of instruction. However, the system should also make full efforts to establish an adequate number of schools having medium of instruction catering to significant linguistic minorities in that region. Bilingual approach for those whose language is different from the primary medium of instruction: The curriculum will encourage a flexible language approach in the classroom. Teachers will be encouraged to use a bilingual approach, including bilingual teaching-learning materials, with those students whose home language may be different from the medium of instruction to ensure smoother transition from the home language to the medium of instruction. P4.5.1. P4.5.2. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 81 Exposure to three or more languages in schools: To leverage the enhanced language-learning abilities of young children, all students from pre-school and Grade 1 onwards will be exposed to three or more languages with the aim of developing speaking proficiency and interaction, and the ability to recognise scripts and read basic text, in all three languages by Grade 3. In terms of writing, students will begin writing primarily in the medium of instruction until Grade 3, after which writing with additional scripts will also be introduced gradually. Standardising sign language: Indian Sign Language (ISL) will be standardised across the country, and National and State curriculum materials developed, for use by students with hearing impairment. Local sign languages will be respected and taught as well where possible and relevant. Multilingualism and the power of language Multilinguism is a necessity of India (as of much of the developed world), and must be considered a boon and an opportunity for learning and expanding one’s horizons rather than a burden. Children learn languages extremely quickly when immersed early, and multilingual children in studies around the world have also been found to learn faster and be placed better later in life than those who are unilingual. It enriches them intellectually and culturally, and allows them, throughout their lives, to think in more than one way, by being equipped with the structures of expression, vocabulary, idioms, and literature of more than one language. A multilingual India is better educated and also better nationally integrated. Moreover, India’s languages are some of the richest, most scientific, and most expressive in the world, with a huge body of ancient as well as modern literature that help form India’s national identity. Despite the rich, expressive and scientific nature of Indian languages, there has been an unfortunate trend in schools and society towards English as a medium of instruction and as a medium of conversation. Logically speaking, of course, English has no advantage over other languages in expressing thoughts; on the contrary, Indian languages have been specifically developed over centuries and generations to express thoughts in the Indian scenario, climate, and culture. Moreover, Indian languages are very scientifically structured, and do not have unphonetic, complicated spellings of words and numerous grammatical exceptions; they also have a vast and highly sophisticated ancient, medieval, and modern literature in the Indian context; as a consequence, they have a certain home-feel and “apnaapan” quality in the Indian context, making them easier, more relatable, and more relevant for children and adults alike to learn and speak, and with which to learn and express deep concepts across school subjects. What then is the reason that English is being pursued by so many in India as a medium of instruction and of conversation, when most other technologically advanced countries of the world have naturally kept their P4.5.3. P4.5.4. National Education Policy 2019 82 own native languages for these purposes? The answer, of course, is that, since Independence, the economic elite of India have adopted English as their language; only about 15% of the country speaks English, and this population almost entirely coincides with the economic elite (compared with, e.g. 54% of Indians who speak Hindi). Furthermore, the elite often use English (whether deliberately or inadvertently) as a test for entry into the elite class and for the jobs that they control: English is regularly used by the elite as a criterion to determine whether someone is “educated”, and perhaps most unfortunately of all, as a prerequisite for jobs - even in cases of jobs where knowledge of English is entirely irrelevant. This sad scenario and attitude (again, it may well be inadvertent) has resulted in the marginalisation of large sections of society based on language, keeping them out of higher-paying jobs and the higher socio-economic strata. This attitude has kept the elite class and the jobs they control segregated from the economically weaker sections of society, which of course contain many hardworking, smart, high quality, highly skilled, and educated people who happen not to speak the language of the colonists and current elite. It has created an unnatural aspiration of parents for their children to concentrate on learning and speaking languages that are not their own. For true equity and inclusion in society, and in the education and employment systems across the country, this power structure of language must be stopped at the earliest. A major effort in this direction must be taken by the elite and the educated to make increased use of languages native to India, and give these languages the space and respect that they deserve (particularly in hiring, societal events, and in schools and all educational institutions, as well as in daily conversation wherever possible). An importance and prominence must be returned to Indian languages that has been lost in recent years. Language teaching jobs must be created in schools and universities across the country to help connect together Indians from differing geographical areas as well as from differing socio-economic strata. In particular, taking into account the enhanced abilities of young children to learn languages, and to help break the current divide between the economic elite and the rest of the country, in addition to teaching languages native to India, English must also be available and taught in a high quality manner at all government and non-government schools. The emphasis should be on functionality and fluency. Meanwhile the medium of instruction, and the depth of study of literature, arts, and culture in the Indian context should be conducted and explored to the extent possible through the local language/ mother tongue and other Indian languages. We further observe that English has not become the international language that it was expected to become back in the 1960s. As already noted, most advanced countries use their own native languages as the languages of interaction and transaction, and it is suggested that India works towards the same, or its rich language and cultural heritage, along with the rich power of expression, may slowly be lost. It is also strongly recommended that interactions between people within India be conducted in languages native to India; thus Indian languages must be heavily promoted again and with new vigour (see Chapter 22). 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 83 Of course, English has become an international common language in certain realms such as science and technology research, e.g. most high level scientific journals around the world at the current time publish predominantly in English. For this reason, it is also important for children (especially those who intend to pursue scientific subjects at a postgraduate level) to become bilingual in science and to be able to communicate science fluently both in their home/local language and in English. This is in concurrence with the practice in all technologically advanced countries. Continuation of the three language formula in schools: The three language formula, followed since the adoption of the National Policy on Education 1968, and endorsed in the National Policy on Education 1986/1992 as well as the NCF 2005, will be continued, keeping in mind the Constitutional provisions and aspirations of the people, regions, and the Union. However, because research now clearly shows that children pick up languages extremely quickly between the ages of 2 and 8, and moreover that multilingualism has great cognitive benefits to students, children will now be immersed in three languages early on, starting from the Foundational Stage onwards. Implementation of the three-language formula: The three-language formula will need to be implemented in its spirit throughout the country, promoting multilingual communicative abilities for a multilingual country. However, it must be better implemented in certain States, particularly Hindispeaking States; for purposes of national integration, schools in Hindispeaking areas should also offer and teach Indian languages from other parts of India. This would help raise the status of all Indian languages, the teachers of such languages, and the literature of such languages, and would open positions and increase opportunities for language teachers across the country; it would of course also truly expand horizons and enlarge the range of opportunities for graduating students. There will be a major effort from both the Central and State governments to invest in large numbers of language teachers in all regional languages around the country, and in particular all Schedule 8 languages. States, especially States from different regions of India, may enter bilateral agreements to hire teachers in large numbers from each other other, in order to satisfy the three-language formula in their respective States, and also to encourage the study of Indian languages across the country. Recruitment of teachers for language teaching: In localities where there is a shortage of teachers who speak a given language, special efforts will be made, and special schemes rolled out, to recruit teachers (including retired teachers) to that locality who speak that language. There will be a major nationwide effort and initiative for the development of teachers of Indian languages. P4.5.5. P4.5.6. P4.5.7. National Education Policy 2019 84 Learning science bilingually: Students whose medium of instruction is the local/home language will begin to learn science bilingually in Grade 8 or earlier, so that by the end of Grade 10 they can speak about science both in their home language and English. This will enable students to think about scientific concepts in more than one way, and enable future scientists to talk about their work and about science to their families and to local news channels, write about their work for regional newspapers, and speak to children about their work in their home States and towns to help inspire the next generation. Being science-bilingual in this way is indeed a boon; most Nobel Prize winners in science indeed report being able to think and speak about science in more than one language. In the current Indian system, many scientists have complained about their inability to think and speak about their subject in their mother tongue, and how this has hindered both their own thinking and their outreach capabilities in their communities. Flexibility in the choice of languages: In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English. The change in language choice by students in the middle school will be subject to the condition that they would still require to demonstrate the expected level of proficiency in three languages (one language at the literature level) in their modular Board Examinations some time during secondary school (see P4.9.5). Since the modular Board Examinations for language proficiency will indeed test only for basic proficiency in each language, and since it is possible to achieve basic proficiency in a language in a span of about four years, such a change in language choice in Grade 6 would certainly be feasible if the student so desires and would in such cases be supported by teachers and the schooling system. Additional choices of languages would therefore be offered in middle school for facilitating flexibility in the study of languages within the three language formula. Foreign language offerings in secondary school: A choice of foreign language(s) (e.g. French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese) would be offered and available to interested students to choose as elective(s) during secondary school. Such an elective would indeed be an elective and not in lieu of the three-language formula. Because of the need for excellent translators in the country, one aspect of teaching foreign languages will include translation exercises between Indian and foreign languages. Approach to language learning and teaching: During the Foundational stage of education (pre-primary school to Grade 2), languages will be taught in a P4.5.8. P4.5.9. P4.5.10. P4.5.11. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 85 fun and interactive style with an emphasis on functionality and interaction (Samskrita Bharati and Alliance Francaise, which are organisations in India that teach Sanskrit and French, respectively, may serve as excellent models for such language teaching, and which may be adapted to other languages if desired). Language teaching would consist primarily of conversation (with a knowledge of alphabets and reading basic words) in the Foundational stage. It would move on to more sophisticated reading and basic writing abilities in each language’s script in the Preparatory stage. Writing will be incorporated more extensively during the middle stage. Language teaching at all stages will include extensive speaking exercises (especially in the home/local language in the beginning) to increase students’ power of expression in each language. In addition, the home/local language and/or second language will be enhanced with the reading of and analysis of uplifting literature from the Indian subcontinent, ancient to modern, and by authors from all walks of life (see also P4.5.12-P4.5.16.); these languages will also be enhanced through other arts, such as by playing and discussing music or film excerpts, or engaging in theatre in these languages. The incorporation of literature and other arts relating to language will be incorporated at all stages as appropriate, but particularly in depth during the secondary stage. When teaching the State language and its literature, other forms of the language and other languages predominant in the region or variations thereof may also receive suitable attention for inclusivity, interest, enjoyment, and enrichment (e.g. excerpts from the rich traditions of Khariboli, Awadhi, Maithili, Braj, and Urdu literature may be included in Hindi courses for inclusivity and enrichment). Exposure to Languages of India: Modern and Classical As so many developed countries around the world have amply demonstrated, being well educated in one’s language, culture, and traditions is not a detriment but indeed a huge benefit to educational, social, and technological advancement. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that India’s languages, art, and culture be given a prominence again that has been lost in recent years. These cultural resources of one’s country help make the people human beings equipped with cultural values, identity, and expression, which is necessary to work efficiently, creatively, and with happiness. India’s languages are among the richest, most scientific, most beautiful, and most expressive in the world, with a huge body of ancient as well as modern literature (both prose and poetry), along with films, and music that help form India’s national identity and wealth. For purposes of cultural enrichment as well as national integration, all young Indians should be aware of the rich and vast array of languages of their country, and the treasures that they and their literatures contain. National Education Policy 2019 86 Course on the Languages of India: Every student in the country will take a fun course on “The Languages of India” sometime in Grades 6-8. In this course, students will learn about the remarkable unity of most of the major Indian languages, starting with their common phonetic and scientifically-arranged alphabets and scripts, their common grammatical structures, their origins and sources of vocabularies from Sanskrit and other classical languages, as well as their rich inter-influences and differences. They will also learn what geographical areas speak which languages, get a sense of the nature and structure of tribal languages. They will learn to say a few lines in every major language of India (greetings and other useful or fun phrases), and a bit about the literature (e.g. simple poetry or major uplifting works from a representative and diverse set of authors) of each. Such a class would give them both a sense of the unity and the beautiful cultural heritage and diversity of India, and would be a wonderful icebreaker their entire lives as they meet people from other parts of India. NCERT, together with SCERTs and language experts from across the country, will be tasked with designing this important course. Incorporation of relevant excerpts from great works of Indian literature throughout the curriculum: Excerpts from works of great Indian authors, classical and modern, in all Indian languages, suitably translated into the medium of instruction, will be incorporated as relevant throughout the curriculum across all subjects in order to expose students to great inspirational writings of India (e.g. suitable excerpts from works of Shri Rabindranath Tagore may be incorporated in classes on philosophy, writing, ethics, or history, etc.). See also P4.5.14-P4.5.15. Classical languages and literatures of India. The importance, relevance, and beauty of the classical languages and literature of India cannot be overlooked. Sanskrit, while also an important modern (Schedule 8) language, possesses a classical literature that is greater in volume than that of Latin and Greek put together, containing vast treasures of mathematics, philosophy, grammar, music, politics, medicine, architecture, metallurgy, drama, poetry, storytelling, and more, written by people of various religions as well as non-religious people, and by people from all walks of life and a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds over thousands of years. India also has an extremely rich literature in other classical languages, including classical Tamil, as well as classical Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia, in addition to Pali, Persian, and Prakrit; these classical languages and their literatures too must be preserved for their richness and for the pleasure and enrichment of posterity. When India becomes a fully developed country, the next generation will want to be able to partake in and be enriched as humans by India’s extensive and beautiful classical literature which contain great intellectual and cultural treasures. P4.5.13. P4.5.12. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 87 Study of Sanskrit and knowledge of its extensive literature: Sanskrit has been a great repository of knowledge pertaining to numerous subjects including science, mathematics, medicine, mathematics, law, economics, politics, music, linguistics, drama, storytelling, architecture, and more, by authors from all walks of life. Sanskrit (and Prakrit) has played a great role in the Indian tradition of the quest for knowledge, including the study of the 64 kalas or liberal arts. Considering the special importance of Sanskrit to the growth and development of Indian languages, and its unique contribution to knowledge development in as well as the cultural unity of the country, facilities for the study of Sanskrit, its scientific nature, and including samplings of diverse ancient and medieval writings in Sanskrit from a diverse set of authors (e.g. the plays of Kalidasa and Bhasa), will be made widely available in schools and higher educational institutions. Where relevant, history-changing Sanskrit writings will be integrated suitably in various school subjects as well as in literature and writing classes (e.g. Bhaskara’s poems on mathematics and puzzles that help to make the study of mathematics more engaging, the incorporation of relevant Panchatantra stories in ethics classes, etc.). Sanskrit will be offered at all levels of school and higher education as one of the optional languages on par with all Schedule 8 languages. Sanskrit textbooks at the Foundational and Middle school level may be rewritten in Simple Standard Sanskrit (SSS) in order to teach Sanskrit through Sanskrit (STS) and make its study truly enjoyable. Make available courses on all classical languages of India: In addition to Sanskrit, the teaching of other classical languages and literatures of India, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Pali, Persian, and Prakrit, will also be widely available in schools, to ensure that these languages and literatures stay alive and vibrant, especially in States where they may be best taught and nurtured. Classical writings in these and other languages across India from diverse sets of authors will also be studied and suitably incorporated throughout the curriculum and in literature and writing classes to inspire students with the rich long-standing traditions and writings of India (e.g. Sangam poetry in classical Tamil, the Jataka tales in Pali, the works of Sarala Dasa in classical Odia, excepts from Raghavanka’s epic Harishchandra Kavya in Kannada, Amir Khusro’s works in Persian, and Kabir’s poems in Hindi, etc.). A two-year relevant course on a classical language: For the enrichment of our children, and for the preservation of these rich languages and their artistic treasures, all students in all schools, public or private, will take at least two years of a classical language of India in Grades 6-8, with the option to continue through secondary education and university. In order to make such courses in classical languages more enjoyable and relevant, relevant great works of literature that are easy to read, enjoyable, and relatable, and P4.5.15. P4.5.16. P4.5.14. National Education Policy 2019 88 written by authors from diverse sections of society, will be read, and their connection to the phonetics and etymology of, and their influence on, modern languages will be discussed. Students who may have opted for Sanskrit as one of their chosen languages in the three-language formula may instead take an additional modern or classical Indian language or literature class for two years in lieu of the classical language requirement. For example, students in Hindi-speaking States who are taking Hindi, Sanskrit, and English as their three languages could take two years of a language from another part of India (e.g. Tamil) in order to satisfy this language requirement. 4.6.Curricular integration of essential subjects and skills While students must have a large amount of flexibility in choosing their individual curricula, at the same time this Policy envisions that certain subjects and skills should be learned by all students in order to become good, successful, innovative, adaptable, and productive human beings in today’s rapidlychanging world. In addition to proficiency in languages, these skills include: scientific temper; sense of aesthetics and art; languages; communication; ethical reasoning; digital literacy; knowledge of India; and knowledge of critical issues facing local communities, States, the country, and the world. Young children learn and grasp nontrivial concepts most quickly in their home language/mother tongue. 4.6.1. Scientific temper Inculcate scientific temper and encourage evidence-based thinking throughout the curriculum: Evidence-based reasoning and the scientific method will be incorporated throughout the school curriculum - in science as well as in traditionally “non-science” subjects - in order to encourage rational, analytical, logical, and quantitive thinking in all aspects of the curriculum. P4.6.1.1. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 89 For example, in history, one could ask, “What are the possible historical scenarios consistent with the known archaeological and literary evidences?” In music/physics, one could ask, “What frequencies of notes should be used in musical scales, given that notes with resonant frequencies are the ones that sound good together to the ear?” In ethics, one could ask, “What are the positive benefits to society if every individual always acts according to certain ethical principles?” Evidence-based and scientific thinking throughout the curriculum will lead naturally to rational, ethical, and compassionate individuals who can make good, logical, and sound decisions throughout their lives. Evidencebased thinking and a scientific temper is also considered a key ingredient in teaching students to “learn how to learn”, to adapt to new situations, and to establish themselves as lifelong learners. 4.6.2. Art and aesthetics Any education emphasising creativity and innovation must include the arts. It is well established that people (including engineers and scientists) who are well educated in the arts as children tend to be more productive, creative, and innovative in their lives as adults. Music, in particular, has been shown to build in children emotional well being and the ability to focus, be creative, and collaborate. Wide-scale research also clearly demonstrates that children who practice music score substantially higher reading and math scores; schools that have music programmes also have significantly higher graduation rates; and people who learned music as children had far lower rates of substance abuse as adolescents and adults. A survey of Nobel Prize winners in all fields revealed them to be six times more likely to be practicing musicians or have a musical hobby than general adults. These studies make it clear that including art - particularly music - from an early age and throughout school can be extremely beneficial for children’s education and for their lives. India has extremely rich traditions in the arts, including and especially in music, and every student at every level must have the opportunity to partake in these character-building creative activities. Thus specific Policy actions are: Music and art experiences in the early years: Every student from the Foundational stage onwards will have basic exposure to the notes, scales, ragas, and rhythms of classical Indian music (Carnatic and/or Hindustani) through vocal exercises, singing, and clapping, as well as in local folk music, art, and craft in a hands-on way; they will have exposure to both vocal and instrumental music. Simple, inexpensive hand instruments such as shakers and xylophones would be available in pre-schools and schools, especially for young children, in order for them to learn, make, and experience music. P4.6.2.1. National Education Policy 2019 90 Arts experiences will also include theatre, poetry, painting, drawing, and sculpture, and vocational arts such as carpentry and embroidery/sewing/ clothes-making. The methodology of teaching will aim to be age appropriate and safe. Instruction will be imparted throughout the school years by general teachers, as well as through trained art teachers and professional artists/musicians hired at the school and school complex level. The aim, over time, will be to create a strong community of music and art educators. Community musicians and artists will also be recruited and trained to teach as special instructors in schools and school complexes. These initiatives for music and art would also help preserve local artistic traditions and cultural heritage. Taking up at least one art for deeper study: In addition to spending sufficient time experimenting with and learning the basics of the arts, be it through an instrument, singing, sculpting, drawing, painting, or a vocational craft, students will be strongly encouraged to take up at least one such art more deeply - even if they plan to specialise in science or engineering in the future. Experience with the arts will help bring out the creative and innovative side of the brain regardless of specialisation. Technology use for bringing the arts to more students: Technology will be used to bring the arts to more students. For example, professionally recorded classes/demonstrations by great, famous artists of the country could be played on video screens or projectors, and students and teachers could follow along together in the exercises. This has been found to be a fun way to learn. Interaction with local artists: Local artists and crafts-persons will be recruited and utilised in schools - from short demonstrations to full-fledged classes - in order to ensure that local arts are enjoyed, well represented, and nurtured in each community. A more holistic, artistic, interactive, fun, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary education will be key in unlocking the creativity, innovation, and humanity of students. 4.6.3. Oral and written communication Communication skills - both verbal and written - have become increasingly important in the modern world. People spend much of their daily lives communicating messages, requests, questions, opinions, feedback, anecdotes, and more - both in person and in written or digital form. Numerous surveys of employers around the world reveal that verbal communication skills are ranked first among potential job candidate’s “must-have” skills and qualities. The ability to speak, listen, question, discuss, and write with clarity and conciseness - and with confidence, eloquence, friendliness, and open-mindedness - is considered a truly essential skill for all managers and leaders. P4.6.2.2. P4.6.2.3. P4.6.2.4. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 91 The Policy therefore recognises the importance of schooling systems developing excellent communicators. As students learn languages, they must have regular practice in using these languages to speak, write, and communicate with their teachers and their peers. A core principle here will be that every student must have the opportunity to speak freely and creatively in front of their peers on topics of interest to them for at least a few minutes every week, starting in the very foundational years. Some of the key initiatives will be the following: “Show and tell” sessions in the Foundational and Preparatory years: The concept of “Show and tell” (“Dikhao, batao” in Hindi with similar translations in other languages) has been a great success in India and around the world in developing public speaking and listening skills and promoting communication and interaction among children early on. All students in primary school, starting in Grade 1, will have the opportunity (along with their teachers) to participate in an enjoyable “show and tell” session at least once every week. This will involve students and teachers bringing in their favourite toys, games, family photos, flowers, children’s books, original short stories, and personal anecdotes (about family members, friends, festivals, experiences, holidays, favourite lessons that week, favorite subjects, etc.), and speaking for a few minutes about them in front of the class. These “show and tell” sessions would initially be in the children’s home languages, but eventually would also be held in other languages that students are learning within their language classes. Students and teachers would also ask questions and give comments during or at the end of each presentation to make the sessions more fun and interactive. Teachers would lead the way with their own presentations to set an example, and would participate throughout, encouraging discussion, in order for teachers to truly bond with students and for students to bond with each other. In middle school, such show-and-tell sessions would still continue but be limited to a one-period-per-week course, and would discuss more sophisticated matters. Students would again source their own material, talking about anything that is important or of interest to them, such as news items, science trivia, recent technological gadgets, local art events, or their own artwork, poems, stories, humour, etc. Incorporation of communication in every subject in the Middle and Secondary years: In the Middle and Secondary stages, communication in front of one’s peers will continue, with the aim to discuss more sophisticated and course-specific topics. For example, in science class, students may be asked to explain a creative solution to a problem at the board, or in ethics class, explain their own perspective on an ethical dilemma or discuss examples from their own lives. Teachers will constantly assess where the talents and interests of each student lie, and will ask her/him to speak on topics and problems, and at the level, in which they will do very well, so that each student’s confidence is built up and fellow students are inspired, all while their collective communication skills are improved. P4.6.3.1. P4.6.3.2. National Education Policy 2019 92 At the Middle and Secondary stages, students will also formally learn to talk about social, scientific, technological, agricultural, medical, and environmental problems facing India and the world (see P4.6.10.1 and P4.6.10.2). These aspects would naturally have important implications for students’ future contributions to the country and to the global community. School education will develop scientific temper, aesthetic sense, communication, ethical reasoning, digital literacy, knowledge of India, knowledge of critical issues facing the community and the world. 4.6.4. Physical education, wellness, and sports Physical education is important for both physical and mental health and development. It helps improve a child’s muscular and cardiovascular strength, flexibility, endurance, motor skills, and mind-body connection and wellness. It gives children the opportunity to set and strive for personal and achievable goals. Moreover, playing sports also helps students develop the qualities of teamwork, cooperation, problem-solving, discipline, perseverance, and responsibility. In general, physical activity is well established to be among the best releases for tension and anxiety, and facilitates emotional stability and resilience. All of these qualities and benefits are also relevant to success in the classroom; studies show that students who stay physically active are more successful with other school work as well. Finally, people who are physically active as young people tend to stay more fit as adults as well, leading them to lead longer, healthier, and more productive lives. The following measures will therefore be taken: Incorporating physical education, mind-and-body wellness, and sports into the curriculum starting at the Foundational stage: All students at all levels of school will have regular periods and opportunities to participate in physical activity and exercise, including sports, games, yoga, martial arts, dance, gardening, and more, in accordance with local availability of teachers and facilities. Playgrounds and sports fields will be available - if not on the school grounds, then within the school complex region, with suitable transport provided if needed - so that all students have the opportunity to participate and excel in sports. Joint sports activities and competitions between schools within the school complex and across school complexes will be fostered and encouraged. P4.6.4.1. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 93 4.6.5. Problem-solving and logical reasoning Just as exercising the body is important to keep it fit and healthy, so too is exercising the mind. Games of strategy, logic and word puzzles, and recreational mathematics are the best way to excite children about mathematics, and to develop the logical skills that are so critical throughout their school years and indeed throughout life. Jigsaw puzzles, playing with blocks, and solving mazes help to develop a child’s spatial reasoning; games of strategy (such as tic-tac-toe, and leading up to deeper games like chess) develop strategic thinking and problemsolving skills. Word and logic puzzles (including grid-process-of-elimination puzzles) are a fun way to teach deductive reasoning. Simple puzzles can help develop in students skills of logical and creative thinking in an enjoyable manner. For example: • If a drawer in a very dark room has 10 red socks and 10 blue socks, how many socks does one need to remove from the drawer to ensure that one has two socks of the same colour? • A farmer traveling with a fox, a goat, and a head of cabbage needs to cross a river by boat. Alas, the boat only fits the farmer and one of the fox, goat, or cabbage, and the farmer cannot leave the fox with the goat on either bank of the river unsupervised (or the fox may try to eat the goat), and similarly she cannot leave the goat with the cabbage unsupervised. How can the farmer successfully bring the fox, goat, and cabbage across the river? • A domino consists of two squares, 1x2, and covers two adjacent squares of the chessboard. Can 32 dominoes be used to perfectly cover an 8x8 chessboard? (Of course.) Can 31 dominoes be used to perfectly cover an 8x8 chessboard with 2 diagonally-opposite corners of the chessboard removed? Why or why not? (The answer is one sentence!) The puzzles can get more challenging, and incorporate arithmetic and other elements, as students get older. Language puzzles teach students to think linguistically - e.g. in North and South Indian languages, competitions asking students to write a paragraph about some chosen topic, in which no labial sounds (“p”, “ph”, “b”, “bh”, and “m”) are used - or in English, where the letter “e” is not used - can be fun ways for students to understand and play with language. Arithmetic puzzles and games can help develop a comfort with numbers and develop quantitative reasoning, e.g.: • Take your favorite single digit number and multiply it by 9. Then multiply the result by 12345679. What happens? Why? • Would you prefer to receive: (a) 1 crore rupees today, or (b) 1 rupee today, 2 rupees tomorrow, 4 rupees the day after, etc., doubling the amount received each day, for 30 days? National Education Policy 2019 94 For instance, the last puzzle above - which has its origins in Indian writings (in a famous story about a king agreeing to grant rice on each square of a chessboard, in this doubling fashion, to the poor but brilliant citizen who invented chess) - teaches students about the powers of 2, exponential growth, and large numbers. Given the extensive need and use for large numbers in the world today, in science, mathematics, finance, and beyond, it will be important to familiarise students, and enable students to be comfortable, with large numbers. At the moment, students generally only learn how to count up to 1 crore, which is hardly sufficient in today’s world. In order to talk about the numbers needed for life and work in modern times, students must be taught the first several powers of 10: one, ten, hundred, thousand, 10 thousand, lakh, 10 lakh, crore, 10 crore, arab, 10 arab, kharab, 10 kharab, neel, 10 neel, padma, 10 padma, shank, 10 shank, mahashank, so that they can understand and speak about larger numbers early on and throughout their lives. These numbers can be incorporated across subjects to enhance learning. Interesting examples, from biology, astronomy, finance, and geology, could include: the number of brain cells in a human - and the number of stars in our galaxy - is each about one kharab; the GDP of India is approximately �20 neels; and the number of grains of sand on Earth is about one mahashank! India has a long tradition of riddles and mathematical puzzles - often written in the form of poetry, e.g. as in Bhaskara II’s works - that would also be similarly enjoyable, enlightening, and beneficial to students. Making learning enjoyable through fun exercises, games, and puzzles across subjects will be a key aspect in ensuring that students stay engaged in school and at the same develop strong mental capacity and creativity. Seriously incorporating games, puzzles, and problem-solving activities into the curriculum: Games, puzzles, and problem-solving activities, including word puzzles such as those illustrated above, that involve spatial reasoning, wordplay, strategy, logic, arithmetic, and play with large numbers, will be seriously incorporated throughout the curriculum, particularly in the mathematics curriculum, in order to develop a love for thinking, logical deduction, quantitative reasoning, and creativity. Examples relevant to India, and which incorporate India’s rich traditions of problem-solving and riddles, will also be extensively incorporated. In particular, chess (which also has its origins in India) will be seriously promoted as a mental sport. 4.6.6. Vocational exposure and skills Vocational education is extremely vital for our country to run efficiently and properly, and thus it is beneficial to increasingly incorporate elements of vocational education into the school curriculum to expose children to its utility and its value as art. Indeed, some exposure to practical vocational-style training is always fun for young students, and for many students it may offer a glimpse of future professions while for others it would at the very least help teach and reinforce the dignity of all labour. P4.6.5.1. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 95 Vocational exposure: The importance of and a basic knowledge of various livelihoods and life-skills (such as gardening, pottery, wood-work, electric work, and many others) will be taught at the Foundational and Elementary level, as early as the safety of children allows, so that students are well aware of, and may become interested in, these professions well before finishing high school. Some vocational arts, such as gardening or work with clay, will even be introduced in the foundational years (ages 3-8), so that experiential learning through working with one’s hands is completely integrated. Schools may choose a subset of livelihoods and related skills that are of value to the local community. Artisans and practitioners will be hired as tutors by schools or school complexes for teaching each of these skills, and tutors may be shared across multiple schools in the school complex as needed. Survey course on vocational skills and crafts in Grades 6, 7, or 8: Every student will take a fun year-long course, during Grades 6-8, that gives a survey and hands-on experience of a sampling of important vocational crafts such as carpentry, electric work, metal work, gardening, pottery making, etc., as decided by States and local communities and as mapped by local skilling needs. Include ample vocational course options for all in secondary school curriculum: Vocational courses in addition to more traditional academic courses will be offered in Grades 9-12 in secondary school and all children will have access to all courses on offer. Students will have plenty of choice regarding the curriculum, being allowed to mix and match academics with skills education, with sports and arts, and with soft skills training. 4.6.7. Digital literacy and computational thinking Integration of digital literacy: The new curriculum will also integrate digital literacy for all learners at the basic level, with hands-on assessments and worksheets keeping in mind the available digital infrastructure on the ground. At a more advanced level, curricula will be developed for: a. Computational thinking (the thought processes involved in formulating problems and solutions in ways that computers can effectively execute), a fundamental skill in the digital age; b. Programming and other computer-based activities. Appropriate learning outcomes will be formulated as part of the National Curricular Framework in these subjects, and they will be extensively offered as courses in upper primary and secondary schools with adequate computing and teacher resources. P4.6.6.2. P4.6.6.3. P4.6.7.1. P4.6.6.1. National Education Policy 2019 96 4.6.8. Ethical and moral reasoning Introducing an “ethics” component to the curriculum early on and throughout the years of school is also considered extremely important in helping students to build character, grow up into moral and good human beings, lead productive and happy lives, and contribute positively to society. Major initiatives will include: Incorporation of basic ethical and moral reasoning throughout the school curriculum: Students will be taught at a young age the importance of “doing what’s right”, and will be given a logical framework for making ethical decisions: “Will this hurt somebody? Is that a good thing to do?” In later years, this would then be expanded along themes of cheating, violence, plagiarism, tolerance, equality, empathy, etc., with a view to enabling children to embrace moral/ ethical values in conducting one’s life; formulate a position/argument about an ethical issue from multiple perspectives; and use ethical practices in all work. Incorporation of ethical and moral awareness and reasoning in the curriculum will be promoted through direct as well as indirect methods. In the direct method there will be classroom activities, discussions and readings specifically designed to address ethical and moral awareness and reasoning. In the indirect method, the contents of languages, literature, history, and the social sciences will incorporate discussions particularly aimed at addressing ethical and moral principles and values such as patriotism, sacrifice, nonviolence, truth, honesty, peace, forgiveness, tolerance, mercy, sympathy, equality and fraternity. Incorporation of ethical and moral principles and values: As consequences of basic ethical reasoning as in P4.6.8.1, traditional Indian values of seva, ahimsa, swacchata, satya, nishkam karma, tolerance, honest hard work, respect for women, respect for elders, respect for all people and their inherent capabilities regardless of background, respect for environment, etc. will be inculcated in students. Scientifically speaking, these qualities are extremely important for society’s and India’s progress. Using dustbins, using toilets and leaving toilets clean after use, standing in queues properly and patiently, helping the less fortunate and conducting charity work, being punctual, and always being courteous and helpful to those around you in general even when you do not know them, are basic values of social responsibility that will be taught and inculcated in students early and throughout their school years. Development of Constitutional values: The process and the content of education at all levels will also aim to develop Constitutional values in all students, and the capacities for their practice. This goal will inform the curriculum as well as the overall culture and environment of every school. Some of these Constitutional values are: democratic outlook and commitment to liberty and freedom; equality, justice, and fairness; embracing diversity, plurality, and inclusion; humaneness and fraternal spirit; social responsibility and the spirit of service; ethics of integrity and honesty; scientific temper and commitment to rational and public dialogue; peace; social action through P4.6.8.1. P4.6.8.2. P4.6.8.3. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 97 Constitutional means; unity and integrity of the nation, and a true rootedness and pride in India with a forward-looking spirit to continuously improve as a nation. Development of ideas of personal freedom and responsibility among students: At the same time, ideas of personal freedom and responsibility will be important to develop as well: the idea that India is a free society, but that freedom comes with responsibility for all citizens, in order for society to truly function and prosper. Students will be taught not to cave into peer or societal pressure, and aim to pursue what they are most passionate about; it is best for the individual and for society if everyone attempts to do what they are best at and enjoy the most. In this regard, the school system will also help the individual by allowing students more freedom and empowerment to choose their own path, and a longer time period over which to do so. Basic health and safety training, as a service to oneself and to those around us: Basic training in health, including preventative health, mental health, nutrition, personal and public hygiene, and first-aid will also be included in the curriculum, as will be scientific explanations of the detrimental and damaging effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. Sex education will also be included in secondary school for future judgment surrounding consent, harassment, respect for women, safety, family planning, and STD prevention. Socio-emotional learning: Recent research drawing from a large number of scientifically rigorous cross-sectional and longitudinal studies demonstrates that introduction of socio-emotional learning (SEL) in schools can lead to improved cognitive and emotional resilience and promote constructive social engagement. Examples of activities that inculcate socio-emotional learning include: carrying out work or tasks in teams/groups, organising get-togethers and games across different grades, role-playing and conflict resolution, discussing stories of kindness, and reflective writing, speaking, and art. Explicit training in socio-emotional skills ensures higher levels of attention and emotional and cognitive regulation that are necessary not only for wellbeing, empathy towards others, and lower stress, but also leads to increased academic success. Inspiring lessons from the literature and people of India: India has a long history and tradition of people and stories that beautifully teach us about so many of the above-mentioned core values and socio-emotional skills. Children will have the opportunity to read and learn from the original stories of the Panchatantra, Jataka, Hitopadesh, and other fun fables and inspiring tales from the Indian tradition. Excerpts from the Indian Constitution will also be considered essential reading for students, for the values of Equality, P4.6.8.4. P4.6.8.5. P4.6.8.6. P4.6.8.7. National Education Policy 2019 98 Liberty, and Fraternity that it espouses. Highlights from the lives of great Indians of history will also be an excellent way to inspire and introduce core values in India’s young people - such Indian heroes including but not limited to Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Swami Vivekananda, Guru Nanak, Mahavira Acharya, Gautam Buddha, Sri Aurobindo, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Shri Rabindranath Tagore, Dr. MS Subbulakshmi, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Dr. C.V. Raman, and Dr. Homi Bhabha, and indeed all Bharat Ratna awardees. Heroes from all over the world in various disciplines will also be studied to further inspire our youth, such as Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. Courses on ethical and moral reasoning: In addition to incorporating P4.6.8.1-P4.6.8.7 throughout the school curriculum, a one-year course on ethical and moral reasoning will be required for all students sometime in Grades 6-8, where the subject of ethics as already described above will be discussed in a more sophisticated and deeper manner, with full class participation, and drawing from arguments of India’s and the world’s great philosophers and leaders. Subjects such as seva, swacchata, nonviolence, respect and safety for women, cheating, helpfulness, tolerance, equality, fraternity, etc. will again be discussed in this context. More advanced semester courses on philosophy, ethics, and moral reasoning will be available in high school as well. 4.6.9. Knowledge of India Indian literature and traditions contain deep knowledge in a variety of disciplines, including mathematics, philosophy, art, logic, grammar, law, poetry, drama, astronomy, chemistry, metallurgy, botany, zoology, ecology, environmental conservation, medicine, architecture, water management, agriculture, music, dance, yoga, psychology, politics, fables, and education. These knowledge systems, which occur in ancient as well as more recent Indian literature, folk arts, and local oral and tribal traditions, serve to impart culture as well as valuable knowledge - yet much of this knowledge remains better known outside India than in India. For example, in mathematics, the so-called Pythagorean theorem, Fibonacci numbers, and Pascal’s triangle were first discovered and mathematically described in history (in very artistic and fascinating ways) by Baudhayana, Virahanka, and Pingala, respectively. The concept of zero and its use in the place value system that the world uses to write all numbers today - without which computers and modern technology would not be possible - also originated in India, over 2000 years ago; the use of this place value system for scientific computations was first demonstrated, extensively, by Aryabhata. The negative numbers - and the algebraic rules governing zero and negative numbers - were first introduced and used by Brahmagupta in Rajasthan, while the seeds of calculus were first laid down by Bhaskara II and Madhava in Karnataka and Kerala, respectively - among numerous other such fundamental contributions throughout mathematics and other fields. Such basic historical facts are not currently taught in India - perhaps a remnant of an earlier colonial time. P4.6.8.8. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 99 Indian contributions to knowledge and the contexts in which they were discovered must be incorporated into the school curriculum not just for reasons of historical accuracy (which is sufficient reason on its own), but also for the often more holistic nature of the traditional Indian approach which leads to a deeper understanding, as well as for reasons of increased relatability due to geographic location, national pride, inspiration, and selfesteem. There are a number of excellent, truly scientific, and learned scholars in India who are experts in traditional knowledge systems of India in various subjects, including in tribal knowledge. We must get their help to accurately and scientifically bring the most enlightening and relevant aspects of Indian knowledge systems to the appropriate grade levels in the school curriculum. Specific initiatives will include: Incorporation of Indian knowledge systems into the curriculum: Indian contributions to knowledge - and the historical contexts that led to them - will be incorporated in an accurate and engaging manner, wherever relevant, into the existing school curriculum and textbooks. Topics will include Indian contributions to mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, psychology, yoga, architecture, medicine, as well as governance, polity, society, and conservation. Inclusion of local and tribal knowledge systems in the curriculum and textbooks: Local and tribal knowledge systems will also be included in more detail in regions where such knowledge systems may hold a greater relevance with respect to local needs and customs. Course on Indian knowledge systems: A course on Indian knowledge systems (one such has already previously been designed by NCERT) will be available as an elective to students in secondary school who may wish to delve deeper into the subject. 4.6.10. Current affairs The knowledge that schools impart to students is not an end in itself, but a means to a better and more meaningful and purposeful life in the future. In particular, since possible future endeavors and occupations to be taken up after school or university are dictated by the realities of the evolving world around us, we must encourage a constant connect between the classroom and the real world, and not isolate the two. Much of the material in the school curriculum - though fundamental - is also “static”. Indeed, compiling knowledge into “textbook” format freezes it, often for decades! Thus it it logical and critical to have at least one subject that can focus purely on “dynamic” content - especially when it is the dynamic content that will eventually serve as the bridge between school lessons in theory and their real world applications in practice. P4.6.9.1. P4.6.9.2. P4.6.9.3. National Education Policy 2019 100 Dynamic content would involve talking about the current economic scenario, recent scientific inventions, advances in medicine, geopolitical power equations around the world, trends in art and music, gender issues, environmental concerns, etc. - all topics that would have a direct bearing in the future on students’ lives and their livelihoods. Any education emphasising creativity and innovation must include the arts. Course on critical issues facing the community, the country, and the world for all students in Grades 7-8: All students in Grades 7 and 8 will take a course (one period per week, for one session) on Critical Issues facing humans in their communities and around the world. In this class, students would learn about current issues that they will likely need to face and hopefully address in their futures as adults, including those surrounding climate change, sanitation, water, Swacch Bharat, gender equality, social justice, science and its interaction with society, universal education, and, e.g. problems with this national education policy. The focus would be on content that is slightly dynamic but still introductory in nature in order to get students acquainted with the issues, and their potential solutions, that require awareness and attention from society. This course would also encourage communication, and serve as a discussion group where students would speak a few sentences to the class about their viewpoints, concerns, experiences, and aspirations relating to the topics in question. Course on current affairs for all students in Grades 9-12: Having become aware of some of the key issues, in Grades 9-12 the course in P4.6.10.1 would be continued in a more advanced manner, to be held during one period each week, and be sourced from current newspapers, journals/magazines, books, and even films. This will encourage reading and awareness about current affairs and foster critical thinking. The article will be assigned or read by the teacher in class, and the students will be asked to discuss and debate it, as individuals or in groups. Teachers of current affairs within the same geographical region may gather or consult with each other periodically to discuss what will be taught in the forthcoming month’s current affairs classes. This will allow the content to remain current and well-sourced, and also include a healthy amount of regional literature to encourage discussions over articles by regional authors as well. This local flavour will help in gaining relevance and relatability with respect to students’ lives and experiences. P4.6.10.1. P4.6.10.2. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 101 The job of the teacher will be primarily to help simplify ideas and communicate the content of the article to the students, until students themselves develop the skill of reading, digesting, and analyzing complex information. The teacher will nudge the discussions in the right direction and ask questions when required, but otherwise must mostly stay out of voicing her/his own opinions. It will be necessary to include a wide variety of material in this class ranging from science, technology and medicine to art, literature, and music. Articles addressing social issues such as patriarchy and racism will be included as well. 4.7. National Curriculum Framework Revision of the National Curriculum Framework: The NCF 2005 outlines many excellent strategies that are still relevant for accomplishing a more constructivist type of learning. This document will be revisited and updated by the end of 2020, taking into account the changing context of education today and, in particular, all the above Policy points, and will be made available in all regional languages. 4.8. National textbooks with local content and flavour The reduction in, and increased flexibility of, school curriculum content - and the renewed emphasis on constructivist rather than rote learning - must be accompanied by parallel changes in school textbooks. All textbooks shall aim to contain the essential core material (together with discussion, analysis, examples, and applications) deemed important on a national level, but at the same time contain any desired nuances and supplementary material in accordance with local contexts and needs. Where possible, teachers will also have choices in the textbooks they employ - from among a set of textbooks that contain the requisite national and local material - so that they may teach in a manner that is best suited to their own desired teaching styles and to the needs of the students and communities. The aim will be to provide such quality textbooks at the lowest possible cost - namely, the cost of production/printing - in order to remove the burdens of textbook prices on the students and on the education system. This may be accomplished by using high quality textbook materials developed by NCERT in conjunction with the SCERTs; additional textbook materials would be funded by public private partnerships and crowdsourcing that incentivise experts to write such at-cost-priced high quality textbooks. States will prepare their own curricula (which may be based on the NCERT Curriculum Framework) and prepare textbooks (which may be based on the NCERT P4.7.1. National Education Policy 2019 102 P4.8.4. textbook materials) having State flavour. The availability of such textbooks in all regional languages must be a top priority, so that all students have access to high quality learning. Revision of NCERT textbooks: Following the shrinking of the curriculum content in each subject to its core (see Section 4.3), NCERT textbooks will be revised to first contain only the essential core material in each subject, keeping in mind a constructivist, discovery-based, analysis-based, engaging, and enjoyable style of learning in accordance with the revised NCF as in Section 4.7. In certain subjects, in addition to this core material, NCERT may also prepare a few supplementary units that may be used to enhance the core material in various States. Preparation of textbooks at the State level: In order to have a national curriculum which also allows local variations, the SCERTs in each State will be encouraged to prepare textbooks that contain: a. NCERT core material; b. Any NCERT supplementary material deemed of interest to the State; and c. Any other material and edits prepared by SCERT or local districts that add local relevance and flavor as needed or desired. The goal, overall, will still be to have textbooks that contain far less content load than they do now, but that are written in a more constructivist, analysis-based, and enjoyable style emphasising 21st century skills. Textbooks will aim to contain only correct, relevant material; when unproven hypotheses or guesses are included, this will be explicitly stated. After review, SCERTs may simply adopt NCERT textbook material, consisting of core national material, and supplementary material as chosen by the State, when no further modifications are necessary for the local context; if NCERT does not include certain material relevant in the local context, this may be added by SCERTs. For example, the NCERT core material in music may contain primarily the fundamentals of Hindustani and Carnatic music, while additional State material in Maharashtra may include information regarding abhangs, lavanis, and other varieties of folk and local musical traditions. Such textbooks will be finalised by SCERTs and then printed and made available at minimal cost, i.e., at the cost of production/printing. Textbooks and materials for additional subjects: With the new flexibility in the school curriculum, NCERT/SCERT textbooks and teaching-learning materials will be developed for additional subjects as well, e.g. computer science, music, and literature. All textbooks will aim to have a national and Indian flavor, as well as a local flavor where possible/desirable. High quality translations: An Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation (IITI) will be established as a constituent unit of one of the existing nationalP4.8.1. P4.8.2. P4.8.3. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 103 level institutions or in a Central University, in collaboration with States, to carry out high quality translations of materials of importance between various Indian languages as well between foreign languages and Indian languages. The IITI will be equipped with state of the art equipment to enable it to use latest processes and adopt modern approaches to translation of materials into different languages. The IITI will have multilingual language experts from across the country, which will help to promote all Indian languages. In particular, through the IITI, all NCERT-developed textbooks and nationally recommended teaching-learning materials (with collaboration from SCERTs) will be made available in all major Indian languages. Innovative textbook development for increased choice of textbooks in schools: To encourage innovative new school textbooks in all States and in all regional languages, and to give teachers choice in the textbooks and pedagogical styles that they use, both public and private schemes will be developed to give incentives or prizes to authors for excellent textbooks for given subjects, levels, and regional languages. Such textbooks will be approved by an autonomous body of experts nationally and in each State. Textbooks will be approved on the basis of containing: a. The national core curricular material and, where relevant, any local material deemed necessary by States; b. Innovative, creative, and engaging presentation; and c. Correctness and accuracy. Such textbooks would also be available to teachers and students at minimal cost, i.e., at the cost of printing. The exact model for how to pay, incentivise, recognise, or crowdsource authors would be set separately for each such public or private philanthropic scheme. Every student has innate talents, which must be discovered, nurtured, fostered, and developed. P4.8.5. National Education Policy 2019 104 4.9.Transforming assessment for student development The changes in curriculum described in Section 4.2-Section 4.8 must be accompanied by parallel changes in assessment procedures and mechanisms. The very aim of assessment in the culture of our schooling system must shift from one that primarily tests rote memorisation skills to one that is more formative, promotes learning and development for our students, and tests higher-order skills such as analysis, critical thinking, and conceptual clarity.The primary purpose of assessment should indeed be for learning - it should help the teacher and student - and the entire schooling system - continuously revise teaching-learning processes in order to optimise learning and development for all students. The approach must be to focus on formative and developmental assessment throughout the school years. Learning assessment must shift towards testing only the understanding of core concepts and knowledge, along with higherorder capacities such as critical thinking, analysis, and application; this approach must be used throughout the educational system and throughout all subjects, including on school examinations, Board Examinations, entrance examinations for universities, university examinations, and examinations for employment. Unfortunately, the current nature of examinations - and the resulting coaching culture of today - are doing much harm, especially at the secondary school level, replacing valuable time for true learning with excessive examination coaching and preparation. While the rigour of and the importance placed upon the Grade 10 and 12 Board Examinations do force students to study, and have been important resources with which to assess students for university admissions and employment, the current structure of the Board Examinations have also systematically prevented optimal learning from taking place in a number of ways: • First and foremost, the Grade 10 and 12 Board Examinations place an enormous amount of pressure on students over just a few days of their lives. The harmful coaching culture results from the fact that students’ lives depend so heavily on their performance over these few days, that all other considerations in a students’ life become secondary. In particular, real understanding, thinking, analysing, doing, and learning takes a secondary seat to mugging, rote learning, and obtaining coaching for performing on these life-altering examinations. • Second, the current structure of Board Examinations force students to concentrate only on a few subjects at the expense of others, preventing a truly holistic development. Specialisation is forced upon students early on, and an unnatural and early streaming and partitioning of students into science, arts, or commerce is the result. The desired flexibility for students to choose a wide range of courses across fields throughout secondary school and beyond is prevented by such early specialisation. Moreover, when 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 105 certain necessary areas, such as sciences, mathematics, arts, humanities, languages, and vocational skills are simply not assessed at all for some students, depending on their specialisations, such students simply never learn those areas well, as there is little incentive for them to do so. For example, science students in the country rarely study the arts, vocational subjects, or sports after grade 8, and vice versa, due to the nature of these all-important examinations, and this strongly prevents students from learning in the desired multidisciplinary manner in accordance with their interests. • Third, if life-determining Board Examinations are given on only two occasions, in Grade 10 and 12, then it is inevitable that these examinations will be mostly summative and not formative, which is a wasted opportunity. Examinations should also be learning experiences, from which one can learn and improve in the future; the current Board Examination system does not line up with these goals. These various negative effects of the current Board Examination system are also seen in the current university entrance examination system - in particular, there is a corresponding harmful coaching culture and further incentives for early specialisation and rote learning. To make matters worse, many universities give their own entrance examinations despite offering similar programmes, rendering 12th Grade for many students as a year of mugging and obtaining coaching for various different entrance examinations, rather than actually learning in school and pursuing their individual talents. Students often have to travel across the country for taking these examinations to enter select institutes. Furthermore, many of these examinations happen only on one given day during the year - if a student misses a test, he/she has to wait a full year to try again. The financial load of taking multiple examinations with inflexibility in terms of timing, location, and content represents a tremendous burden on students. Entrance to postgraduate programmes suffers from similar issues. In order to break these harmful effects of Board and entrance examinations during secondary school, it is necessary that Board and entrance examinations be restructured to encourage holistic development, flexible and individualised curricula, and formative assessment. For these aims, the solution that emerges is that: • Board Examinations should be given in a range of subjects to encourage holistic development; • Students should be able to choose many of the subjects in which they take Board Examinations, depending on their individualised interests; • Board Examinations must also be made “easier”, in the sense that they test primarily core capacities rather than months of coaching and memorisation; any student who has been going to and making a basic effort in a school class should be able to pass the corresponding subject Board Examination without much additional effort; National Education Policy 2019 106 • Students should be able to take a Board examination in a given subject in whichever semester they take the corresponding class in school, i.e., whenever they feel most ready; and they should be able to take any such subject Board Examination again if they feel they can study and do better. • Board Examinations in each subject may replace the in-school final examinations for semester or year-long courses, whenever possible, so as not to increase the examination load on students. Such a system is used by many countries, where coaching cultures for Board Examinations have not developed due to their structure. The principles for university entrance examinations must be similar; the National Testing Agency (NTA) (see P4.9.6) will work to offer high quality common modular entrance examinations multiple times each year in various subjects, from logic, quantitative reasoning, and languages, to more specialised subject examinations in the sciences, arts, and vocational subjects, so that most universities may use these common entrance examinations, rather than having hundreds of universities devising their own examinations - thereby reducing the burden on both students and universities and colleges. The advantage of such a system is that students will be able to choose the range of subjects that they are interested in, and each university will be able to see each student’s individual subject portfolio, and admit students into their programmes based on individual interests and talents. It is thus of high importance that the NTA serve as a premiere, expert, autonomous testing organisation to conduct entrance examinations for admissions and fellowships in higher educational institutions. The NTA will be entrusted with the responsibility of assessing competence at scale in an efficient, transparent, and rigorous manner, using state-of-the-art methods in test preparation, test delivery, and test analysis. It will use the best subject experts, psychometricians, and IT-delivery and security professionals to ensure high quality assessment across the board. Finally, all examinations such as Board and entrance examinations will not be as “high stakes”, by allowing students best of multiple (i.e., at least two) attempts. A new paradigm of assessment for learning and development: Guidelines will be prepared by NCERT, and teachers prepared, for a transformation in the assessment system by 2022, to align with the NCF 2020. The focus will be on formative assessment, i.e., assessment for learning. In this transformation, assessment will be redesigned to primarily test core concepts and skills along with higher order capacities such as critical thinking, analysis, and conceptual clarity rather than rote memorisation. This approach will be used across all examinations - from schools to “entrance examinations” to National or State-level achievement surveys to university examinations and examinations for employment. Examinations will not be as “high-stakes” - the psychological burden on students will be significantly reduced through mechanisms such as best of multiple attempts. P4.9.1. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 107 Formative assessment to continually improve teaching-learning processes: At the school level, such developmental assessment of learning will be carried out periodically, and at least once a month, in all domains, to help both teachers and students continuously reassess and optimise learning plans. Over time, online question banks of higher order questions will be made available to teachers and students for this purpose. Since assessment will be formative and will test primarily higher order skills and applications of essential concepts, open book examinations may be used as well, and portfolios may be used in the Secondary Stage. Teachers will prepare their own quizzes, examinations, and portfolio assessments in this spirit to track students’ progress and revise personalised lesson plans accordingly for each student as needed. These quizzes, examinations, and portfolios will also help teachers identify students who may make excellent candidates for participation in local subject-specific clubs and circles, who may make for excellent peer tutors in given subjects, and who may benefit from, e.g. the NTP and RIAP programmes in given subjects. The culture of assessment must shift from one that primarily tests rote memorisation to one that is more formative, promotes learning, and tests higher-order skills. Piloting adaptive computerised testing: Once internet and computers are standard in schools, assessment at all levels - especially during the Middle and Secondary stages - may also be conducted in an adaptive computerassisted manner, so that students could regularly monitor their own progress and formulate, with the help of their teachers, revised personalised learning plans and goals. Formal official assessments, such as Board and entrance examinations, could eventually be conducted in this manner also, with students thereby being easily able to take such tests on more than one or two occasions to improve. Census examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8: To track students’ progress throughout their school experience, and not just at the end in Grade 10 and 12 - for the benefit of students, parents, teachers, principals, and school management committees in planning improvements to schools and teaching-learning processes - all students will take State census examinations in Grades 3, 5, and 8 in addition to the Board Examinations in Grades 10 and P4.9.2. P4.9.3. P4.9.4. National Education Policy 2019 108 12. Again, these examinations would test core concepts and knowledge from the national and local curricula, along with relevant higher order skills gained during the respective levels of education, rather than rote memorisation. The Grade 3 census examination, in particular, would test basic literacy, numeracy, and other foundational skills. Restructuring of Board Examinations: Board Examinations will be significantly restructured to test only core concepts, skills, and higher order capacities in a range of required subjects and a range of elective subjects of the student’s choice. The goal will be to be flexible, like the curriculum, and to design the Board Examinations so that any student attending classes in their chosen subjects and making basic efforts in these classes will be able to comfortably pass their Board Examinations - without any necessity for coaching, cramming, or other major outside-of-usual-schoolwork efforts. Board Examinations will thus be used as a check for basic learning, skills, and analysis. To eliminate the “high stakes” aspect of Board Examinations, all students will be allowed to take Board Examinations on up to two occasions during any given school year. Eventually, when computerised adaptive testing becomes widely available, multiple attempts for Board Examinations could be allowed. To achieve such flexibility, reduce stress, lessen the examination burden on students by replacing in-class final examinations with Board Examinations, and allowing students to take the Board Examination in each subject at the end of the semester in which they take that subject, the Policy envisions shifting, as soon as is possible, to a “modular Board Examinations” approach, where Board examinations are offered each semester in a range of subjects. As a suggested model, each student over the duration of secondary school would be required to take at least two semester Board Examinations in mathematics, two in science, one in Indian history, one in world history, one in knowledge of contemporary India, one in ethics and philosophy, one in economics, one in business/commerce, one in digital literacy / computational thinking, one in art, one in physical education, and two in vocational subjects. In addition, each student would be required to take three basic language Board Examinations that assess basic proficiency in the three-language formula, and at least one additional Board Examination in a language of India at the literature level. Additional Board Examinations in various other subjects, including more advanced subjects in mathematics, statistics, science, computer programming, history, art, language, and vocational subjects, will be available. Students will be expected to take a total of at least 24 subject Board Examinations, or on average three a semester, and these examinations would be in lieu of inschool final examinations so as not to be any additional burden on students or teachers. Practical portions of certain Board Examinations would be assessed locally according to a pre-set State paradigm, and grades for the written and practical portions would be listed separately on a student’s assessment report. Recall that students will be taking 40+ semester courses during secondary school, so 15 or more semester courses could be decided completely locally by the student and assessed locally by the school, including subjects that would traditionally have been considered co-curricular or extra-curricular. P4.9.5. 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 109 National Testing Agency strengthened to conduct college and university entrance examinations: The autonomous NTA will comprise of numerous academic, educational, and psychometric experts, and from 2020 onwards will administer aptitude tests and tests in specific subjects that can be taken on multiple occasions during the year in order to reduce the intense and unnecessary pressures of the university entrance examinations system. The NTA tests will aim to assess essential concepts, knowledge, and higher order skills from the national common curriculum as per the NCF in each subject, for the purpose of aiding colleges and universities in their admissions decisions. While admissions to institutions of higher learning will be based on criteria that higher educational institutions choose to set, most educational institutions and many employers will be encouraged to use these NTA tests rather than their own examinations to ease the burden on students and on themselves. This will help to eliminate the intensity, stressfulness, and wasted time of the Grade 12 examination season faced by students every year as well as by so many higher educational institutions and employers. The NTA will institute processes which would ease admissions into higher education programmes (e.g. directly sending scores to the institution). It could also institute processes which would connect it directly to the bodies offering scholarships to students. The NTA will establish test centres across the country and have rigorous processes to enable their effective functioning. Tests will be offered in as many languages as possible. In the long run, tests will be offered in all mediums of instruction offered by higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country, and the NTA will institute processes for reliable translations of test material into multiple languages. The preferred modality will be computer-based testing (with the exception of assessment of practical skills), e.g. at ICT-equipped adult-education centres and schools; where this is not possible, paper-pencil tests will be used till such time the transition can be made. The NTA will develop strategies for ensuring validity and reliability of its assessments, and to create credibility of its tests for admissions to universities and colleges across India as well as other countries. The NTA may also partner with institutions in the country and across the world to build up its capability. It will work in close collaboration with school systems, HEIs, Professional Standard Setting Bodies (PSSBs) (See P18.3.1) and all other relevant institutions in the education system. It may constitute an Advisory Board with representatives from such institutions which would ensure that its work remains relevant and forward-looking. Due to its large-scale work, the NTA may also serve as a storehouse for assessment data in the country, which it may use and make available to external academics for educational research purposes and to policymakers within appropriate ethical considerations. Through assessment, data collection, and other initiatives towards research and assessment-literacy among all stakeholders, and building of capacity for formative assessment, the NTA will be committed to improving education quality and access across the country. P4.9.6. National Education Policy 2019 110 4.10. Support of students with singular interests and talents Every student has innate talents, which must be discovered, nurtured, fostered, and developed. These talents may express themselves in the form of varying interests, dispositions, and capacities. Those that show particularly strong interests and capacities in a given realm must be encouraged to pursue that realm beyond the general school curriculum. The current curricular transaction arrangements involve a “One-size-fits-all” approach to education with little variation or modification from student to student. All students in a given course receive the same type of instruction, same assignments, same learning assessments and pre-fixed assessment schedules. The Policy recognises the need to strongly support students who exhibit ‘singular interests’ and or ‘talents’ beyond what is ordinarily available to them in the school curriculum. Some approaches to supporting students who exhibit singular interests and or talents will include: making individual interests and talents an important consideration in instructional approaches; designing a variety of learning experiences and academic support strategies, such as themes or topic-centered learning activities; project-based learning; etc. that are intended to respond to the distinct interests, talents and dispositions of individual students. In mathematics, the idea of a “Mathematics Circle” has been a highly successful method (in Bulgaria, Russia, and more recently the United States) of enriching the mathematical horizons of young students who exhibit unusual inclinations and talents in mathematics - many of the world’s great mathematicians have come through this system. The idea is to use school or university infrastructure, generally on weekends or evenings when school is not in session, to gather interested students (typically from Grade 6 and up) and their teachers, from around the neighborhood, to engage in enjoyable enrichment activities that go beyond the school curriculum. These activities may include creative problemsolving competitions (team or individual) interspersed with inspiring lectures by local mathematicians or math teachers, or other play-based activities that stimulate the mind. A Math Circle generally meets once every week or two, and is organised jointly by enthusiastic local teachers and talented university or high school students. It is an opportunity for students and teachers with common interests to explore a topic together in more depth and at a high level. These Math Circles, to add prestige, may be named after donors or after eminent mathematicians from the local area. In a similar manner, topic-centred and project-based Clubs and Circles in localities in all subjects where there is such interest from students are highly encouraged to be set up in this manner at the levels of schools, school complexes, districts, and beyond. Examples include Science Circles, Music Performance Circles, Chess Circles, Poetry Circles, Language Circles, Debate Circles, and so on. Funds should be made available for transportation for teachers to 4. Curriculum and Pedagogy in Schools 111 take their students to these circles or clubs when not taking place at their schools. Along these lines, national residential summer programmes for secondary school students in these various subjects will also be funded, with a rigorous merit-based admissions process to attract the very best students and teachers to these programmes. Teachers may also encourage students with singular interests and/or talents in the classroom, or groups of these students in a school setting, by giving them supplementary enrichment material and guidance and encouragement. Key initiatives will include: Identify and foster singular interests and talents: Teachers will aim to identify students with singular interests and talents and help support such students through supplementary enrichment material, projects, guidance, and encouragement. Project-based teaching in general will be encouraged at all levels so that a diversity of talents, interests, and dispositions may be fostered. Such students will be selected to help lead, along with the support and participation of teachers, topic-centered and project-based clubs at the school, school complex, block, and district levels. Establish topic-centered and project-based clubs at the school, school complex, block, and district levels: A system of Topic-centered and Project-based Clubs and Circles in Mathematics, Science, Music, Chess, Poetry, Language, Literature, Debate, Sports, etc. will be set up and funded in accordance with student needs in various localities, in order to foster singular interests and talents of students across the country. Teachers along with students would be encouraged to apply for such clubs where sufficient interest is present; further funding would be based on attendance levels achieved and the transportation and educational material needs of the circle or club. Establish a system of centrally funded topic-based residential summer programmes across the country in various subjects for students with singular interests and talents: New centrally-funded national residential summer programmes with rigorous merit-based subject-dependent admissions processes will be set up in various subjects, to be held once a year at institutions offering to host such programmes. The various clubs and circles mentioned in P4.10.2 may naturally lead up to participation in these national programmes. Olympiads and competitions: Olympiads and competitions in various subjects will be strengthened across the country, with clear coordination and progression from school to local to State to national levels. The very best performers in India would be funded to attend International Olympiads in various subjects. Public and private universities would be permitted and indeed encouraged to use results from Regional, National, and International