NEP push: New school education Act to be tabled in Budget Session

PANAJI
The State government is set to introduce the new Goa School Education Act and Rules, 2025 in the upcoming Budget Session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, starting from March 6.
The new Rules are aimed at ensuring a smoother transition in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Sources confirmed that the Bill will be introduced in the session, following which a detailed consultation with the stakeholders will take place before notifying it and implementing it from the coming academic year 2026-27 onwards. “The Bill has already been vetted by the law department,” sources said.
A special Task Force, constituted to draft the new legislation, submitted “The Proposed School Education Act and Rules, 2025” to the Education Department in April 2025. The draft outlines key structural changes to facilitate the shift from the existing education framework to the NEP-aligned system.
At present, schools in Goa are governed under the Goa, Daman and Diu School Education Act, 1984, and the Goa, Daman and Diu School Education Rules, 1986.
In line with NEP 2020, the new Act proposes a restructuring of the schooling system from the existing 10+2 model to the 5+3+3+4 framework. It also makes provisions for high-stakes board examinations at Classes X and XII, commencement of the academic year in April across all grades in the future, and the scrapping of the no-detention (no-fail) policy, among other reforms.
Under the NEP framework, children aged 3–8 years fall under the foundational stage, 8–11 years under the preparatory stage, 11–14 years under the middle stage, and 14–18 years under the secondary stage.
From the coming academic year 2026–27 onwards, the NEP implementation will be expanded to Classes III, IV, V, VII and VIII, thereby covering the entire Balvatika, preparatory and middle stages, and partially secondary level, bringing students from Class I to X under the NEP framework.