Changes in Secondary School ( Grade 9th to 12th ) as per NEP 2020

                                        

The National Curriculum Framework designed to implement New National Education Policy 2020 has been published for public feedback . Below are the important changes proposed in educational structure for grades 9-12 ( The secondary section as per NEP 2020)

The Secondary Stage is for four years and includes Grades 9, 10, 11 and 12. This Stage will comprise of four years of

• Multidisciplinary study – Greater Breadth ( in Grade 9 and 10)
• Greater depth ( in Grade 11-12), greater critical thinking, greater attention to life aspirations,
• Greater flexibility and student choice of subjects.

 “Students will be given increased flexibility and choice of subjects to study, particularly in secondary school - including subjects in physical education, the arts and crafts, and vocational skills – so that they can design their own paths of study and life plans. 

Holistic development and a wide choice of subjects and courses year to year will be the new distinguishing feature of secondary school education. 

There will be no hard separation among ‘curricular’, ‘extracurricular’, or ‘co-curricular’, among ‘arts’, ‘humanities’, and ‘sciences’, or between ‘vocational’ or ‘academic’ streams. 

Subjects such as physical education, the arts and crafts, and vocational skills, in addition to science, humanities, and mathematics, will be incorporated throughout the school curriculum, with a consideration for what is interesting and safe at each age.” [NEP 2020, 4.9]

The implications of the above two policy directions for curriculum design of the Secondary Stage are the following:

A. It consists of four years of multidisciplinary study, during which students will be offered a range of courses including:

i. Essential courses which all students must take

ii. Choice-based courses which each student may select

iii. Vocational education, arts and sports which will be an integral part of the curriculum

B. The current practice of streaming into science, arts/humanities, and commerce will be replaced by a design that enables both breadth through engagement with a variety of courses across streams and depth in areas chosen by students.

C. Greater breadth will be enabled by the essential courses that all students will take, while greater depth will be enabled through courses based on student choice.

D. Students will receive greater attention to their personal and career aspirations as they ready themselves for work or higher education.

E. The Secondary Stage will be divided into two phases:

 i. Broad Curricular Areas (e.g., Science, Social Science, Humanities) will be offered in Grade 9 and 10 to enable breadth. Learning Standards are defined for this phase, and it is expected that all students attain these learning standards.

 ii. Disciplines (e.g., History, Physics, Language) within each Curricular Area will be offered in Grade 11 and 12 to enable depth. The students have a choice in selecting specific areas and disciplines. They make these choices based on their interests and their future plans either in the world of work or in higher education after their school completion. There are no common learning standards for this phase, while each of the disciplines would have its specific competencies and learning outcomes defined.

Design of Grades 9 and 10

To complete Grade 10, students will complete two Essential Courses from each of the eight Curricular Areas available i.e., a total of 16 Essential Courses across two years of Grade 9 and 10. These either Curricular Areas – Humanities (that includes languages), Mathematics & Computing, Vocational Education, Physical Education, Arts, Social Science, Science, and Inter-disciplinary Areas gives the necessary breadth of understanding and capacities for the students.

Grades 9 and 10 will follow an annual  Exam structure.  Board Exams for Grade 10 will continue albeit with much reduced stress on students However it may be Noted that Grade 10 Board Exam will evaluate   learnings of Grade 9 and 10 together. How would  they do it,  needs to be seen.

Figure 1-                  

8  Curricular Categories in Secondary Education

The final Grade 10 Board certification will be based on the cumulative result of each of the examinations.

Design of Grades 11 and 12

The same set of eight Curricular Areas will continue to be on offer, but choice-based courses will be designed based on the Disciplines within the Curricular Areas to ensure deeper and more rigorous engagement. Choice-based courses and their content will be designed on the basis of the specific nature of disciplines. This phase of the Secondary Stage would be divided into semesters and each choice-based course would be for a semester. Students must complete 16 choice-based courses to complete Grade 12. To ensure that the students have adequate breadth, they have to choose Disciplines from at least 3 Curricular Areas. To ensure depth, when they choose a Discipline, they have to complete 4 choice-based courses in that Discipline.

In the case of academic disciplines, the intent of these four courses should be to give an introduction to give a good introduction to the discipline. By gaining knowledge of the key conceptual structures and theories of the discipline, and developing capacities of inquiry in that discipline, students can make informed decisions about the pursuit of this discipline in higher education. In the case of vocational areas, these four courses should equip that student to enter the world of work in that particular vocation.

Table 1

#	Curricular Areas	Disciplines (four courses within each discipline)
1	Humanities	Languages, Literature, Philosophy
2	Social Science	History, Geography, Political Science, Psychology, Economics, Sociology
3	Science	Physics, Chemistry, Biology
4	Mathematics and Computing	Mathematics, Computer Science, Business Mathematics
5	Arts	Music, Dance, Theatre, Sculpture, Painting, Film appreciation, Scriptwriting, Set design
6	Vocational Education	Aligned to the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF)
7	Sports	Courses on specific sports/games/yoga to include all aspects (e.g., coaching, financing)
8	Inter-Disciplinary	Commerce, Sustainability and Climate Change (Environmental Education), Health (Public, community health), Media and Journalism, Family and Community Sciences (the current form of home science), Knowledge of India/Indian Knowledge, Traditions and Practices/Indian Knowledge Systems, Legal studies. List may be enhanced continually.

 

As an illustration, if a student chooses Social Science (Curricular Area) and History (Discipline) within that, she must complete all four courses in History. She could then choose the Humanities as the second Curricular Area and do four courses in Philosophy. Mathematics could be the third Curricular Area with four courses in Computer Science. The fourth set of courses could be from one of the three Curricular Areas already chosen or from a completely different one.

Alternatively, if a student chooses Science (Curricular Area) and Physics (Discipline) within that, she must complete all four courses in Physics. She could then choose Arts as the second Curricular Area and do four courses in Music. Mathematics could be the third Curricular Area with four courses in Mathematics. The fourth set of courses could be from one of the three Curricular Areas already chosen or from a completely different one. Modular Board Examinations will be offered as opposed to a single examination at the end of the year. The final certification will be based on the cumulative result of each of the examinations.

 

How will The Disciplinary courses look like?

1. Each discipline will have four courses through which a thorough introduction to the discipline is to be given to the students. Each course will be semester-long in duration.

2. Since students have a wide choice Disciplines will not assume that students would choose the complementing Disciplines. For e.g., the Biology courses cannot assume that students are enrolled in Chemistry in their Grade 11 and 12.

3. The intention will be not to “cover” all the important concepts in that discipline. This would result in a very high content load. Instead, the design will focus on some key conceptual structures and theories in that discipline, along with an adequate emphasis on the methods of inquiry in that discipline.

4. The students are expected to develop an understanding of how this discipline fits within the Curricular Area and what are currently the open questions that the discipline is engaging with.

Implications for Secondary Schools ( Read Junior Colleges as well)

All Secondary Schools will need to offer Essential Courses in all the Curricular Areas so that all students are able to complete Grade 10. The design and learning standards for the Essential Courses have been articulated in the NCF.

Since the Grade 11 and 12 of the Secondary Stage has a wide range of Disciplines, many schools might struggle to offer this entire range. This in effect limits the choice for the students. To ensure that students have a reasonable choice, Secondary Schools, to begin with, must offer at least one Curricular Area from each of the following categories:

a. Category 1: Humanities or Social Science or Science or Mathematics and Computing

b. Category 2: Inter-disciplinary Areas

c. Category 3: Arts or Sports or Vocational Education In the medium term, more and more schools must offer as many of the Curricular Areas as possible to truly enable student choice

 

It may be noted that some changes may be made to this based on public feedback. Pls refer Official website of NCF for the updated details. 

Team BOLDNET will try and bring to you  specific and relevant documents  whenever the Final Framework is published

For any career-related query feel free to connect with Team BOLDNET India

 

Regards

Avinaash Deshmukh , 

Certified Career Coach