Recent Initiatives on NEP Priorities

The Foundational Stage is a single curricular and pedagogical phase which comprises five years of flexible, multilevel, play and activity-based learning for children between 3 and 8years of age. NEP 2020 sees these early years as critical to development and learning. Education in these years must focus on developing foundational capacities and skills.

These comprise cognitive, linguistic, and socio-emotional skills for the development of which the early years represent the most sensitive period. They prepare the bedrock for children to learn academic reading and writing and numeracy as they mature as well as provide a foundation for lifelong learning. Some programs are launched to achieved the goal . These are following-

• NIPUN Bharat(2021)

NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy) Bharat is the National Mission for attaining the goals of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) in the country as directed by NEP 2020. NIPUN Bharat aims to achieve FLN by 2026-27 for all children in the country by Grade 3.

The challenges of achieving FLN have become deeper and more widespread because of the learning loss due to school closure during the pandemic. NIPUN Bharat brings a focus on strategic implementation as well as clear indication of the necessary structures, and roles and responsibilities critical for meeting the goals.

It has done an excellent job in focusing attention on this critical issue, and work has begun across the country on the same. It must continue full steam on this important task. The elements of NIPUN Bharat which are curricular in nature (e.g., Curricular Goals, and Competencies) .

• Vidya Pravesh 

Vidya Pravesh is based on the deep emphasis that NEP 2020 lays on attainment of the goals of FLN for all children. The Policy expresses the concern that since we are yet to attain universal access to ECCE, a large proportion of children already fall behind within the first few weeks of Grade 1. To help overcome this gap in learning, a three-month, play-based school preparation module has been proposed as an interim measure.

Vidya Pravesh has been developed by NCERT for students entering Grade 1. It will be transacted over three months, with four hours a day devoted to familiarizing children with the school environment and to provide experiences for maintaining well-being. Vidya Pravesh will also enable the learning of ethical values and cultural diversity, and interaction with the physical, social and natural environment.

In addition to these aspects, Vidya Pravesh will be designed to build the foundations of mathematics, language, and literacy, in alignment with the learning outcomes of NIPUN Bharat.

 Balvatika 

 

NEP 2020 states that ‘prior to the age of 5 every child will move to a “Preparatory Class” or“ Balvatika” (that is before Class 1) which has an ECCE-qualified teacher’ The Balvatika programme is envisaged as a one-year programme before Grade 1 which is meant to prepare children with cognitive and linguistic Competencies that are prerequisites for learning to read, write and develop number sense through a play-based approach. NCERT has developed guidelines and processes for three years of preschool including the Balvatika.

This NCF aims to build a curriculum framework for the Foundational Stage that realizes the goals of NEP 2020, taking into account the extensive worldwide research on ECCE, leveraging the rich ECCE traditions of India, and building on the recent initiatives already launched such as NIPUN Bharat and Vidya Pradesh, in order to have an early childhood care and learning eco-system for all of India’s children that is second to none in the world.