Bhubaneswar: Accelerating the process for implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in Odisha, the State Government revised the age of enrollment for Grade 1 to 6+ years.

The Government’s notification mentioned children attaining the age of 6+ years as on September 1 of the concerned academic year will be eligible to enroll in Grade 1. 

Also, the ‘Shishu Vatika’ will be set up in all primary schools for pre-school education of children who have attained the age of five and above. 

Official sources said the first 15 years of a child’s education will be modified phase-wise to the 5+3+3+4 structure covering ages 3-18, as outlined in NEP 2020. 

The academic structure envisaged under NEP comprises of the Foundational Stage (5 years) spanning from ages 3-8, corresponding to 3 years of pre-school and 2 years of Grades 1 and 2, the Preparatory Stage (3 years) spanning from ages 8–11, corresponding Grades 3 to 5, Middle Stage (3 years) spanning from ages 11-14, corresponding Grades 6 to 8, and Secondary Stage (4 years) spanning from ages 14-18, corresponding Grades 9 -12. 

The official sources added Odisha in its initial phase of the policy implementation is focusing on modification in the Foundational stage and will roll out implementation for the Preparatory, Middle and Secondary stages in subsequent phases. 

The official sources also stated the revision in the State Curriculum Frameworks will be initiated in a phased manner from academic year 2025-26, with the National Curriculum Framework Foundational Stage (NCF FS), being adopted in the first phase, with local contextualisation for the State. 

Earlier, The Odisha Government constituted a high-level Task Force under the chairpersonship of the Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary to suggest measures to be taken up for implementation of NEP 2020 in the state of Odisha. Subsequently, the Government constituted a State Steering Committee to develop the State Curriculum Frameworks, chaired by Prof. Nityanand Pradhan, Former Principal of RIE, Bhopal. The committee will be responsible for preparing the State Curriculum Frameworks in alignment with the National Curriculum Frameworks in the Local Contextualization.

A three-day National Workshop on the implementation of NEP 2020 in Odisha will be held from January 21 to 23, 2025. 

The workshop will be inaugurated in the presence of the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and the Union Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan. The workshop deliberation will sensitise the state teams and develop a roadmap for phase-wise implementation of NEP in Odisha.

As part of the State’s initial steps towards NEP implementation, the ‘Nipun Odisha’ was launched in September 2024.  The PM Shri schools are being set up in the State as model schools aimed at demonstrating the vision outlined by the policy.