Bengal government drafts its own education policy

Calcutta: The Bengal government has drafted it’s own education policy which details how far the state government has accepted the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 prepared by the Centre.

The draft also details the areas of the NEP that have been rejected by the state government, factoring in the recommendation of the empowered committee. 

The state government has rejected changing the school structure to a 5+3+3+4 system from the existing model because it advocates abolishing the Class X board examination, said an official of the education department.

Education minister Bratya Basu said the draft will be placed as a bill in the ongoing session of the Assembly.

The draft of the state education policy contains what the NEP says on a particular issue, what the draft says on this and the comments of the school education/ higher education department on the topic.

The NEP advocates changing the school structure to a 5+3+3+4 system with Class 9-12 seen as one continuum with options for students to pick their subjects. 

The draft of the state education policy seeks to retain the existing 4+4+2+2 structure expanding the academic integration with the children of AWCs (Anganwadi centres).

The education department in the comment section has written: “We agree with the suggestions of the (empowered) committee to maintain secondary and higher secondary education, as separate blocks students should not be burdened with choosing their career paths at Class 9 level Itself. Besides, the basket system for subject choice already exists in West Bengal at a higher secondary level”.

The NEP advocates the language formulae be continued from Class I to VIII.

“The 3 language formula shall be applicable for upper primary level (Class V to VIII. In this setup students will learn their first language (Bengali), English and a third language that may be native to India or a foreign language,” the draft education policy says.

The Centre and the state government have concurred on introducing a four-year multidisciplinary undergraduate programme.

“Four-year undergraduate course should be implemented from the academic session 2023-24 in order to maintain parity between the UG courses in the state and in the rest of the country ...” it says.