Govt plans to implement NEP for Std IX from next academic year

PANAJI
The State is likely to roll out the National Education Policy 2020 for Class IX, from the upcoming 2024-25 academic year, bringing in a bunch of changes including doing away with foreign languages.

Reliable government sources revealed to The Goan that senior education officials recently convened a closed-door meeting with headmasters, laying out the details along with the assurance that any questions from institutions, headmasters and teachers will be addressed.

“Many changes are expected to ease the academic burden on students, as it will be combined with interdisciplinary subjects. However, the government will ensure that students don’t compromise on academics,” the source said.

Another official also stated that the authorities are seriously considering implementing the NEP for Class IX. It has come to the fore that each class period will stretch to one hour, unlike the usual 45 minutes. Some attendees raised concerns about other classes still having 45-minute periods, during the marathon meeting on Monday, to which the senior education officials assured to resolve it.

“Timetable details will be chalked out... If there are any questions, headmasters/ principals can email the department, and officials will sort it out at the earliest to ensure NEP's implementation,” the source added.

The department also plans to scrap foreign languages as a third language option while also contemplating renaming the first, second, and third languages as R-1, R-2, and R-3 respectively.

“R-1 will be English whereas R-2 and R-3 options will be strictly Indian languages. Since some schools have already offered this option for the 2024-25 academic year, the department has allowed it to continue with the decision to drop it in the subsequent academic year,” the source said.

As for foreign language teachers, the department will “take care of them.”

The State has already begun the NEP implementation, starting with the foundation course in the last academic year. By 2027-28, the foundation stage will be entirely under the NEP.

Similarly, the preparatory stage for Class 3rd, 4th, and 5th will start from the next academic year, 2025-26, while the secondary level from Class 9th will begin this upcoming academic year. By 2027-28, the NEP will cover Class 9th to Class 12th. Sources said that the syllabus will largely remain unchanged with details to be emailed to each institution. “By 2027-28 these institutions will be covered under the NEP,” the source said.