5+3+3+4 System of Education
The 10 + 2 education policy is now replaced by 5+3+3+4 policy in the new education system after 34 years. This new curriculum has 4 stages: –
- Foundational years of 5 years – This will consist of 3 years of pre-school education and 2 years of primary education including class 1 and 2. It will be for the age group from 3-8. This will include multilevel play activity based learning commonly for the play schools and kindergarten. For classes 1 and 2 focus will be kept on development of language skills and teaching will be play based and activity based curriculum.
- Preparatory stage for 3 years – This will cover school education from class 3-5 with focus on experiential learning. It will cover the age group from 8-11.  The focus now shifts to interactive classroom learning with development of language and numeracy skills, in accordance with the cognitive development of a child. Medium of instruction till Grade 5 would be home language or mother tongue or local language as and where possible. Three languages would be taught to all students – and states would decide which ones.
- Secondary Stage for 3 years – This will cover school education from class 6-8 and will be for age group from 11-14.  The new structure aims at transforming the pedagogy from the existing system to a more experiential learning in the sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences and humanities. Focus would be on critical learning objectives and not on bookish learning. Also learning technology mainly computers and programming will be an important focus.
- Secondary stage for 4 years – This will cover school education from class 9-12 in two phases. The first phase will be from 9-10 (secondary) and second from 11-12 (higher secondary). The changes suggested at this stage include a multidisciplinary study where students would be able to pick and choose any set of subjects from the available structure. The focus would be on greater critical thinking and flexibility, allowing the child to pick subjects as per their interests – even technical and arts. There is no distinction between arts, commerce and science. Students can mix and match subjects from any stream.
The New Education Policy has revised the examination structure. Key stage assessments would be conducted to track the development of the child. There will be no regular annual exams but students will be writing exams at grade 3, 5 and 8 to assess their knowledge and skills and their overall development. As for the secondary stage, the board examinations would be reformed. They would be made easier where students would be tested on the core capabilities. Instead of just one board, a more modular model to be explored. The 5+3+3+4 structure focuses on scientific ways for education with the stages of cognitive development as well as social and physical awareness of the child.
Cabinet has approved the New Education Policy 2020.
Education policy has been changed after 34 years. The remarkable things about the new education policy are as follows:
5 Years Fundamentals
1. Nursery @ 4 Years
2. Jr KG @ 5 Years
3. Sr KG @ 6 Years
4. Std 1st @ 7 Years
5. Std 2nd @ 8 Years
3 Years Preparatory
6. Std 3rd @ 9 Years
7. Std 4th @ 10 Years
8. Std 5th @ 11 Years
3 Years Middle
9. Std 6th @ 12 Years
10.Std 7th @ 13 Years
11. Std 8th @ 14 Years
4 Years Secondary:
12. Std 9th @ 15 Years
13. Std SSC @ 16 Years
14. Std FYJC @ 17Years
15. STD SYJC @ 18 Years
Important points of the new Education Policy:
- There will be board in 12th class only.
- 4 years of college degree.
- No 10th Boards
- MPhil will also be closed. (In institutes like JNU, 45 to 50 years old students stay there for many years and pursue MPhil. All these debauched leftist ideologues will now be removed from the institute)
- Now students up to 5th will be taught in mother tongue, local language and national language only. The rest of the subjects, even if they are English, will be taught as a subject.
- Now one just has to take board exams in 12th standard. Whereas earlier, it was mandatory to take the 10th board exam, which will not happen now. Examination will be done in the semester form from 9th to 12th class.
- Schooling will be done under the 5 + 3 + 3 + 4 formula (see table above).
- College degree will be 3 and 4 years old i.e., a certificate will be given on the first year of graduation, diploma on the second year, degree in the third year.
- 3-year degree is for those students who do not have to take higher education. At the same time, students doing higher education *will have to do a 4-year degree. Students doing 4 years degree will be able to do MA in one year.
- Now students will not have to do MPhil. *Rather MA students will now be able to do PHD* directly.
Students will be able to do other courses in between. Gross enrollment ratio will be 50 percent by 2035 in higher education. *At the same time, under the new education policy, if a student wants to do another course in the middle of a course, then he can take a second course by taking a break for a limited time from the first course.*
Many reforms have also been made in higher education. Improvements include graded academic, administrative and *financial autonomy etc. Apart from this, e-courses will be started in regional languages. Virtual Labs* will be developed. A National Educational Scientific Forum (NETF) will be started. There are 45 thousand colleges in the country.
Uniform rules will be for all government, private, deemed institutions. According to this rule, new academic session can be started and all students and parents need to carefully read this message.