Bhubaneswar: To streamline the roll-out of NEP in the State, a three-day National Workshop on the implementation of NEP 2020 in Odisha, will begin here from Tuesday.
The event will be inaugurated in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Manjhi and Union Education Minister Dharmedra Pradhan.
It’s deliberation will sensitize the state teams and develop a roadmap for phase-wise implementation of NEP in Odisha.
Notably, the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 issued by the Ministry of Education (MoE) with its commitment to high-quality education for all, has envisaged landmark reforms in the education system for the 21st century.
Guided by its pillars of access, equity, quality affordability, and accountability it lays special emphasis on vocational skills, education in the mother tongue, digital education, holistic development of the child, competency-based assessments, and universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy skills.
Odisha has planned to undertake a phased intervention of NEP 2020 from the academic year 2025-26.
In the first phase of the implementation Department of School and Mass Education, Odisha earlier in the month vide its notification no. 1234 dated 15.01.2025 has announced the implementation of National Education Policy in the State and adoption of National Curriculum Frameworks with local contextualization as the State Curriculum Frameworks.
As part of the State’s initial steps for policy implementation, ‘Nipun Odisha’ was launched in September 2024, in alignment with the national policy guidelines underlining the commitment to universal acquisition of foundational literacy and numeracy.
PM Shri schools are being set up in the State as model schools aimed at demonstrating the vision outlined by the policy.
The age of enrolment for grade 1 has been revised to be 6 + years as on 1st September of the concerned academic year and opening of “Shishu Vatika” in all primary schools for pre-school education for children who have attained the age of 5 and above, as envisaged in NEP 2020, has been announced vide notification no. 1753 dated 20.01.2025
The revision in the State Curriculum Frameworks will be initiated in a phased manner from academic year 2025-26, with the National Curriculum Framework Foundational Stage (NCF FS), being adopted in the first phase, with local contextualization for the State.
The first 15 years of a child’s education will be modified phase-wise to the 5+3+3+4 structure covering ages 3-18, as outlined in NEP 2020.
The academic structure envisaged under the NEP comprises of Foundational stage (5 years) spanning from ages 3-8, corresponding to 3 years of pre-school and 2 years of Grades 1 and 2, Preparatory Stage (3 years) spanning from ages 8 – 11, corresponding grades 3 to 5, Middle Stage (3 years) spanning from ages 11-14, corresponding grades 6 to 8, and Secondary Stage (4 years) spanning from ages 14-18, corresponding grades 9 -12.
The State in its initial phase of the policy implementation is focusing on modification in the foundational stage and will roll out implementation for the preparatory, middle and secondary stages in subsequent phases.
Earlier, the State Government had constituted a high-level Task force under the chairpersonship of Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary to suggest measures to be taken up for implementation of NEP 2020 in the state of Odisha.
Subsequently, a State Steering Committee has been constituted to develop the State Curriculum Frameworks, chaired by Prof. Nityanand Pradhan, Former Principal of RIE, Bhopal.
The committee will be responsible for preparing the State Curriculum Frameworks in alignment with the National Curriculum Frameworks in the Local Contextualization.
