How NEP is reshaping language policy, assessments, pedagogy in Uttar Pradesh

UP's progress on the NEP includes a robust three-language policy, but challenges in implementation and resource availability persist.

As the debate intensifies in Parliament over Tamil Nadu government’s opposition to National Education Policy (NEP) and the three-language policy, HT explores the progress made by the Uttar Pradesh government over the past four years in implementing NEP, particularly in the context of the UP secondary education and the languages adopted to promote multilingualism.

A notification has been issued for 10 bagless days and instructions have been given to all the government and aided schools to organise summer camps/classes in May or June of new academic year. (FOR REPRESENTATION)

With a total student enrolment exceeding 1.04 crore, including over 54 lakh students (precisely 54,38,597) registered for the UP Board exam—27,40,151 in high school and 26,98,446 in intermediate—Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state has made some initial strides in implementing the NEP. However, the state still needs significant progress, requiring synergy between NCERT and SCERT, as well as coordination among various education departments, including basic, secondary, higher, technical and vocational education.

Ashok Ganguly, former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and member of the NEP 2020 steering committee in UP stated that the state was among the first to form a taskforce for implementation. The committee report outlines strategies for curriculum designs, pedagogy and evaluation.

He emphasised, “The three-language formula has taken a very firm root in UP and a government order has been issued to ensure the proper implementation of the 15-year of pedagogical structure in school education. However, adequate facilities in government and aided institutions remain a key requirement.”

He stated, “UP is likely the only state offering vocational education from class 9 onwards, which now needs to be fully integrated under National Curriculum Framework for Secondary Education (NCF-SE). The state is coordinating with PSSVIT Bhopal for guidance and has made significant strides in technology-assisted education.”

Additional chief secretary (secondary education), Deepak Kumar said, “While all necessary steps have been taken for the effective implementation of the new curricular design and evaluation under NCF-SE from class 9 onwards, some challenges remain, particularly in adopting experiential learning and competency-based education. The state is awaiting the release of new NCERT-designed textbooks before moving forward with these initiatives.”

According to a government document accessed by HT on the three-language policy, high school students are currently required to choose Hindi or Elementary Hindi (for students exempted from Hindi). Additionally, they must opt for one more modern Indian language— such as Gujrati, Urdu, Punjabi, Assamese, Marathi, Oriya, Kannada, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam, or Nepali— or a modern foreign language like English, or one classical language, including Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic, or Persian.

At the intermediate level, as per Regulation-5(I) of chapter 14 of the Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad (UPMSP), the current provisions for the study of languages include, one compulsory subject— Hindi or General Hindi, and one Indian language from the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution, including Sanskrit, Urdu, Gujrati, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, Oriya, Kannada, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Nepali. It should exclude Hindi and modern foreign language— English and a classical language— Sanskrit, Pali, Arabic or Persian.

Additionally, proposals have been submitted to the government for amending regulations to include the following languages at the high school and intermediate levels: one modern Indian language, from Konkani, Dogri, Bodo, Manipuri, Maithili, Santhali, Lepcha, Limbu, and Mizo; one modern foreign language, from French, Germa, Russian, Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Spanish, and Portuguese and one classical language as Latin.

The language selected for the middle and secondary levels is Hindi (mandatory), one to choose from Sanskrit, Pali, Oriya, Tamil, Gujrati, Bangla, Kannada, Telugu, Urdu, Marathi, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, Sindi and Nepali, and, additional languages include English, Arabic and Farsi (Persian).

Regarding the development of textbooks aligned with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), and State Curriculum Framework (SCF), the document states that NCERT syllabus and curriculum have been implemented at high school and intermediate levels under UPMSP. The process of alignment of textbooks is currently ongoing at NCERT level. Additionally, a notification has been issued for 10 bagless days and instructions have been given to all the government and aided schools to organise summer camps/classes in May or June of new academic year.

At the secondary level, the mode of instruction is being implemented in Hindi and English. However, with the approval of the chairman of the secondary education department, there is a flexibility to adopt Urdu or other languages as a medium of instruction.