In the run up to the 3rd anniversary of the National Education Policy, 2020 on 29th July 2023, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Regional Office Guwahati held a press conference at KV IOC Noonmati on the implementation of NEP 2020 in the 42 Kendriya Vidyalayas of the region. Representatives of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) and Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) were also present.
During the media briefing, it was informed that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi will inaugurate the second Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Samagam which is coinciding with the 3rd anniversary of NEP 2020, on 29th July 2023 at ITPO, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The two-day event is being organised by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. The Prime Minister will be launching various initiatives on the occasion. The Samagam will provide a platform for experts of schools, higher educational institutions, and skilling institutions to discuss, deliberate and share insights, strategies, success stories and best practices in implementing the NEP 2020.
Speaking about NEP 2020, Chandrashekhar Azad, Deputy Commissioner, KVS RO Guwahati stated that “NEP promotes critical thinking rather than rote learning, focuses on learning instead of studying and encourages scientific temperament”. He informed that there are a total of 58 KVs in the Assam state of which 42 come under the Guwahati region. He went on to the state the key aspects of NEP such as Early Childhood Care and Education, NIPUN Bharat, Play based “Vidya Pravesh”, holistic development, technology integration, multilingualism, Teacher Empowerment, Inclusive Education, Multidisciplinary Approach etc. He also listed the stages of implementation of the various provisions of NEP such as:
• Re-alignment of admission age as per the 5+3+3+4 design, wherein age of admission in Class I was revised to 6+ years from the academic year 2022 – 23 in all Kendriya Vidyalayas.
• Under the NIPUN initiative (National Initiative for Proficiency in reading with Understanding and Numeracy) the progress of 1.2 lakh students is being routinely monitored.
• For the pre-schooling years, Balvatikas for ages 3+, 4+ & 5+ have been opened in 50 KVs on pilot basis in the session 2022-23 and 5477 Children admitted in all the three classes of Balvatika. There are 02 such Balvatikas in the Guwahati region (Rangiya & Tezpur) with classes in all three age groups.
• KVS has been following the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF FS) prepared by NCERT under which Jadui Pitara: a play-based learning teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3 to 8 years has been adopted.
• Artificial Intelligence is introduced as a vocational subject in all KVs from Class VIII. In 228 KVs across the country Skill Hubs were initiated for out of school/out of education youth skilling after school hours as part of pilot project under Ministry of Education and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship under PM KVY 3.0.
• All teachers of KVS Guwahati region are trained through the NISHTHA (National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancement) programme under Diksha portal.
• The Vidyanjali Portal supports a community/volunteer management program, through which they interact and connect directly with schools of their choice to share their knowledge and skills as well as contribute in the form of assets/material/equipment. All the 42 KVs of Guwahati region are on board on Vidyanjali portal. For example, in KV Rangia and Barpeta, parents contributed in the development of the school playgrounds.
• An initiative called PM e-VIDYA unifies digital/online/on-air education to enable multi-mode access to education. It includes DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) which is a storehouse of over 3.17 lakh e-contents, 6,600 Textbooks in 36 Languages (29 Indian languages and 7 Foreign Languages) with average daily page hits of 2.2+ crores. It as includes 12 Swayam Prabha TV Channels, Podcasts on iRadio and JioSaavn Mobile apps amongst other things. All 10,000 ISL (Indian Sign Langue) dictionary words have been uploaded on DIKSHA.
• All KVs of the Guwahati region have Smart classrooms in their schools. There are a total of 200 e-classrooms.
Rajesh Gautam, Regional Director, NIOS, Biru Tudu, Under Secretary, CBSE RO Guwahati, Dolly Das, Principal, KV IOC Noonmati further listed the stages of implementation of NEP 2020 by their respective organizations. Naresh Kumar, Venkateshwara Prasad B, RK Panigrahi, Assistant Commissioner, KVS RO Guwahati were also present.
