President Droupadi Murmu emphasised on Tuesday the importance of stakeholders focusing on the overall development of students while developing curriculum for the future and ensuring that students not only acquire academic knowledge but also learn life skills. She was speaking after attending the centenary celebrations of Hyderabad Public School in this city. "While preparing the curriculum for the future, all the stakeholders should keep in mind the overall development of the students. It should be ensured that students not only gain academic knowledge but also learn life skills as well," she said. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has been designed with this objective, Murmu also added.

As the state of Goa implements the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 starting the academic year 2023-24, it has brought Gopal Mugeraya onboard. A former director of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) - Goa, Mugeraya has been appointed as the vice-chairperson of the Goa State Higher Education Council, formed as per requirement of the NEP. The new NIT Goa complex at Cuncolim was constructed during Mugeraya’s term. NIT Goa was ranked in the 100 best engineering colleges in the country under him in the Union education ministry’s national institutional ranking framework. “The appointment is for a non-extendable term of five years or till professor Gopal Mugeraya attains the age of 70,” states the order.

Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria presided over the second consultative committee meeting on higher education on Monday and expressed interest in facilitating the implementation of NEP 2020. The meeting discussed subjects including the establishment of a NEP cell and preparatory steps for launching postgraduate education based on NEP 2020 in all the higher educational institutions and examinations under the four-year undergraduate programmes in alignment with the new guidelines, the release said. The preparation of the institutions for the introduction of one or two years PG programmes from the academic year 2024-2025 was also discussed, it said. Emphasis was also placed on readiness for UG/PG research labs and on the importance of education in "environmental science and climate change".

Assam Education Minister Ranoj Pegu held a discussion with delegations from Manipuri Sahitya Parishad, Manipuri Language Protection Coordination Committee, and Santhali Sahitya Sabha at Guwahati's SCERT office on December 18. A discussion was initiated with regards to implementation of mother tongue-based education under NEP 2020 to students of Manipuri and Santhali descent. Minister Pegu tweeted, "Both Manipuri and Santhali are 8th Schedule languages of India and there are substantial population of both Communities. While Manipuri is already a medium of instruction, the Santhali is yet to be introduced as a medium officially. We are doing our best for mother tongue-based education at the primary level for all linguistic groups".

The British Council, the UK's international organization for cultural relations and educational opportunities, partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to host a significant school education conference in India. The conference aimed to explore and share knowledge on innovative teaching methodologies. Sessions focused on orienting school leaders and practitioners to valuable resources enhancing teaching, learning, and assessment. Renowned entities, including the Jane Goodall Foundation, Premier League, Micro: Bit Foundation, Alpha Plus, Cambridge University Press and Assessments (CUPA), and CBSE, conducted master classes as part of the conference. Cambridge University Press and Assessment shared findings and recommendations from their scoping study on strengthening pedagogy and assessment in practical teaching for classes 5-10.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training’s (NCERT) new constituent body for exams and assessments, PARAKH, is planning to develop AI-based personalised adaptive learning programmes (PALs) in schools by 2028. It plans to be a full-fledged centre by then and provide consultancy and technical expertise to “other countries in the region”. The Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development (PARAKH full form) was set up as an autonomous unit within the NCERT in February 2023. A key recommendation on exam reforms of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, its primary objective is to bring parity between India’s five dozen school examination boards – including the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) – and set norms and standards for assessment and evaluation at the school level.

In a move that could help revival of the government primary schools in the state, over 21 per cent of such schools have managed to start the pre-primary section. Presently, there are 708 government primary schools in Goa of which 149 have the pre-primary section. “When we began with the process of implementing the National Education Policy 2020, we asked the government primary schools to explore the possibility of starting pre-primary section. The same students could later join the primary section and continue with the primary education till standard IV,” an official of the Directorate of Education (DoE) said. The official further said the move could help in the revival of the government primary schools that have low enrolment.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has clarified that no request will be accepted by the board to change uploaded marks for practical exams in any manner. It has directed all schools to follow guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) that have been issued for the practical examinations, failing which the exam will be cancelled. CBSE has asked examiners to report students using unfair means to the respective regional offices. Similarly, examiners should not reveal the marks secured in the practical exams as it has the same sanctity as the annual theory exam. Schools have also been directed to contact the regional office in case names of the students are missing in the list.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) officials have announced a shift in how they will be assessing students' performance. Moving away from traditional Report Cards, it is said that the CBSE is likely to be introducing a holistic progress card to comprehensively evaluate students' academic journey. According to reports, While an official notice from CBSE is yet to be released, insights from a school principal attending the CBSE national conference in Mumbai indicate plans to include English, Hindi, and Punjabi in the curriculum for classes 9 and 10.

The Lakshadweep education department has announced that all schools under it will be transformed from Malayalam to CBSE English medium from the next academic year, in a decision aimed at “elevating the standard of education” in the Union Territory and “aligning with the dynamic educational landscape”. An order issued by Rakesh Dahiya, director of education, on Tuesday, stated that all schools in the UT will admit students exclusively under the CBSE English medium stream from grade 1 onwards from the 2024-25 academic year. Existing students of grades 2 to 8 in the Malayalam medium SCERT schools will also shift to CBSE English medium from next year onwards. As for students of classes 9 and 10, the shift will be systematically executed within a two-year timeframe ensuring “minimal disruption” to ongoing board examinations, the order stated.

The Election Commission (EC) has written to the central government, flagging “factual mistakes and infirmities” in NCERT social science textbooks, according to official records. The EC says it wants to vet the books for “correctness and relevance”, adding that existing content “fails” to prepare students for making “ethical ballot decisions”. The EC proposal is “an outcome of high-level correspondence starting from 2016, between the chief election commissioner and the minister of human resource development (MHRD)”, show the records.  The MHRD was renamed Ministry of Education in 2020.

The Assam state government has decided to introduce tribal languages into the basic education curriculum. This initiative is set to commence in the upcoming school session and aims to provide textbooks in various tribal languages such as Dimasa, Tiwa, Mising, Deuri, and others.  The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been asked to supply these textbooks. This multilingual approach also aligns with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which advocates for primary education to begin in students' mother tongues before introducing regional or English languages at secondary school levels.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal inaugurated an auditorium at Dr BR Ambedkar School of Specialised Excellence (ASoSE) at Civil Lines’ Raj Marg Niwas on Monday. The government wants to provide the best infrastructure to ensure that every child of Delhi, whether poor or rich, gets equally good education, he told students. The 335-seater auditorium has features like a speaker system, sub-woofer, stage monitoring system, and a wireless presentation facility, besides all other necessary amenities. In the next session, the school will offer performing and visual arts as a specialisation along with the already available high-end 21st century skills.

According to the data shared by the school education department, 45,000 posts of teachers in government schools in the state remain vacant, of which 30,000 vacancies will be filled once the recruitment process is over. Maharashtra School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar said the recruitment process is underway and will be completed in the next two months. Further, the minister said that a survey by the education department revealed that 3,214 children were out of school in the state, of which 1,624 were boys and 1,590 girls. An official from the finance department also added that the state spends around ₹63,000 crore in salaries for teachers, this sum will increase significantly once 30,000 vacancies are filled.

National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and its National Assessment Centre Parakh; Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) SCERT and the Ministry of Education’s Vidyanjali scheme joined hands with PHDCCI to conduct second workshop in a nation-wide campaign on learning competencies, called Project Vidyasagar, in Srinagar on 1-2 December. About 100 teachers from 10 districts of Kashmir and state education officials participated in the workshop.

The workshop aimed to create awareness among school teachers about learning competencies at different levels and Vidyanjali.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced class 10th and 12th exam dates for 2024, and the examination will begin on February 15, 2024. According to the schedule released by CBSE, the exams will be conducted for a period of 55 days and the subject-wise dates will be announced via the date sheet. This year, more than 35 lakh students will appear for the Board Exams 2024. Students who want to appear for the examination can visit the official website at cbse.gov.in.

The Department of School Education and Literacy has been implementing the Integrated Centrally Sponsored Scheme for School Education, known as Samagra Shiksha, since the academic year 2018-19. This scheme has undergone a revamp to align with the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, according to an official release. The primary objective is to ensure that every child, spanning from pre-school to grade 12th, receives quality education within an inclusive and equitable classroom setting.

The PM eVidya initiative, accessible to students nationwide at no cost, comprises key components aimed at enhancing educational resources. These include DIKSHA, the digital infrastructure offering quality e-content for school education across States/UTs and QR coded Energised Textbooks for all grades, consolidating under the vision of one nation, one digital platform. In line with the Union Budget for the Financial Year 2022-23, the initiative has expanded from 12 to 200 PM e-VIDYA DTH TV Channels, facilitating supplementary education in various Indian languages for  grades 1st-12th.

In a first, the Prayagraj-headquartered UP Board has decided to also start assessing the creativity of around 50 lakh students enrolled in Classes 9 and 10 in over 27,000 schools affiliated to it across the state from the ongoing academic session. In the coming months, it could also be introduced for students of Classes 11 and 12. As part of the present initiative, creative assessment system has been implemented by the Board under the new National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 for students of Classes 9 and 10 from the 2023-24 academic session itself, Board officials said.

Responding to questions regarding an NCERT panel’s recommendations of replacing the name India with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks, Union Minister of State for Education Annapurna Devi said, “Article 1 of the Constitution of India states that ‘India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States’. India’s Constitution recognises both India and Bharat as the official names of the country which can be used interchangeably. The NCERT duly acknowledges this spirit as enshrined in our Constitution and does not differentiate between the two.”

Punjab school education minister Harjot Singh Bains on Saturday instructed the authorities concerned to start the online attendance system for students of government schools from December 15.

Issuing an order in this regard, the minister said all the necessary requirements regarding the online attendance system should be completed by December 12. Information regarding absentee students would be sent to the parents every day through SMS on their registered mobile numbers.

AICTE Chairman Prof T G Sitharam, at the Ministry of Education's IIC Regional Meet in Amity University. “India will become the most developed nation of the world by 2047 and during this Amrit Kaal, we have to take higher education to the next level and work on various transformational reforms,” Sitharam said.

The Education Ministry’s regional meets are the flagship programme of its Innovation Cell, designed to provide a networking platform for innovation to institutions. Around 800 to 1,000 participants, including innovators and startups, policymakers, and state and central government agencies, joined Thursday’s meeting at Amity University in Noida.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said on Wednesday the main objective of the National Education Policy 2020 is to focus on education and learning and make India a global knowledge superpower.

While talking to UNI, Arif Mohammad Khan said the National Education Policy 2020 aims to create an efficient education system by 2040 in which all learners have equal access to high-quality education irrespective of their socio-economic background.

The Bengal gov-ernment on Tuesday announced a 10% quota for pupils from the Economic Weaker Section (EWS) in state-run, -aided and -sponsored schools, to be applicable from the 2024-25 academic session. The decision follows a similar quota in higher education earlier this year.

The reservation quota for schools in the state now stands at 22% for SCs, 6% for STs, 17% for OBCs (A and B) and 3% for children with special needs.

Union education and skill development minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday suggested introducing a multidisciplinary curriculum, including humanities, management, art, music, culture and tradition, in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.

The minister made the suggestion while he was addressing the 15th convocation of VSSUT, Burla.

Delhi schools have been directed to observe a minimum of 220 working days in an academic year, according to a circular from the Directorate of Education (DoE) issued on Monday.

"As per section 19 of RTE Act-2009 and National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023, it is mandatory for all the schools running under Directorate of Education to observe the minimum 220 working days in an academic year giving consideration to the notified lists of gazetted/restricted/local holidays for the calendar year (January to December)," the circular stated.

Making India a global provider of education is a part of the ‘Vision 2047’ document that NITI Aayog is preparing, chief executive of the federal policy think tank BVR Subrahmanyam said on Wednesday.

"NITI Aayog is preparing a vision document for 2047 and education has a separate role in it. One of the important points is that by 2047 we aim to have half a million foreign students in India. We should become a global provider of education by improving our quality, brand value and our rankings which are globally recognized," he said.