Schools will have to choose from 3 model time-tables
PANAJI
In June later this year when students enter their Std IX classrooms, they will be confronted with a whole new style of teaching-learning and an even stranger scheme of assessment – a credits based two-semester system, papers set by the Goa Board although assessment will be done internally in the school itself and for ‘internal assessment’, a HPC (holistic progressive card) concept.
The introduction of the National Education Policy for first (Class IX) of four at the secondary stage this year will therefore be a challenge not just for the faculty and school managements but also for the teenagers making an overnight switch to the new system.
According to the scheme to implement NEP charted out collectively by the Directorate of Education, State Council for Education, Research and Training (SCERT), Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) and the two committees set up for NEP implementation, there will also be extra institutional hours post lunch, from 2.15 to 4.15 pm, at least twice a week.
There are three model time-tables from which schools will be at liberty to choose, each of which have the same number of instructional hours.
“The overall focus has been to map the existing syllabus with the curricular goals and testing the competency-learning outcomes for languages, mathematics, science and social science,” said, Prasad Lolayekar, IAS, who is secretary to the Government for Education.
In keeping with the goal to inculcate life skills and break the learn-by-rote mode of the current academic system, the inter-disciplinary module is introduced which includes environmental education, road safety awareness, financial literacy, electoral (politics) literacy and general laws in addition to the old Scouts & Guides, Junior Red Cross (JRC), National Cadet Corps (NCC) and social service.
Learning of these new topical subjects will be distributed between the two semesters with environmental education carrying two credits in the first semester and Financial Literacy, Road Safety & Electoral Literacy & General Laws carrying one credit in the second.
Also, students can earn one more credit in the second semester with any one of the old subjects – Scouts & Guides, JRC, NCC or Social Service.
Additionally, there will also be vocational education which will include 15 NSQF sectors with the existing computer subject converted to NSQF.
The non-academic physical education subject has also been modified to include well-being and yoga. More facets have also been added to ‘Art Education’ to bring in theatre, music and performing art.
The entire academic year will have a total of 1200 instructional hours distributed in equal tranches of 600 hours per semester, broken down to 39 hours per week.
Lolayekar said, the education department will be providing training to all teachers on how to use the Holistic Progressive Card (HPC) for the Internal Assessment. The department will also make provisions, if any school so needs, to make available trained teachers on a lecture basis.
