Karnataka: NEP 2020 to be implemented in anganwadis in February

School Education and Literacy Minister BC Nagesh said that the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 would be implemented in the school education system as early as February in selected schools.

The minister said that NEP would be introduced in around 400 to 500 schools in the state in February. Speaking to The New Indian Express, sources within the department said that the implementation would only be limited to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). “Implementation will not be major at this stage. It will be limited only to anganwadis and nurseries, where teachers will be switching to more activity-based learning and play learning as mentioned in the NEP. The department is currently finalising necessary changes needed for this in changing the syllabus. Since it is ECCE, the changes are only limited to the syllabus and teaching method of teachers as there are no textbooks for younger students,” they said.

Awaiting approval from Central government

As the department is finalising the first implementation of NEP in school education, they have also approached the Central government in seeking an appointment for the inauguration of NEP implementation in the state. “We are currently awaiting approval from the Central government, following which, we will have an inauguration ceremony in February to launch the implementation,” they said.

Earlier, the School Education and Literacy Minister had promised that the implementation of NEP would take place within this academic year in a phase-wise manner. While he had mentioned that as many as 20,000 anganwadis would be switching to the NEP curriculum, he has now said that the NEP implementation would be limited only to selected schools. He also said that training is currently being given to teachers and caretakers at anganwadis to help prepare them for the switch towards NEP.

Meanwhile, speaking on the recruitment of teachers, the minister said that the teacher recruitment process was being delayed due to the issue being in court. Speaking to reporters, the minister said that the next court hearing would happen next week, following which, if a final order is given, recruitment would be completed within the next 15 days.