Lok Sabha Question No. 1303 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Bal Bhavans
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Nihal Chand Chauhan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1303 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2021

## BalBhavans

## †1303. SHRI NIHAL CHAND:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the salient features the New Education Policy;
- (b) whether under the Policy, the Government has fixed the target of establishing BalBhavans in all districts across the country including Ganganagar District of Rajasthan
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the details of the expenditure earmarked therefor; and
- (e) the time by which these are likely to be setup?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

- (a)  National  Education  Policy  2020,  paves  way  for  transformational  reforms  in  school  and higher education systems in the country. The salient features of New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 are as follows :-
- i. New  Policy  promotes  Multilingualism in both schools and Higher Education institutions; Wherever possible, the medium of instruction until at least Grade 5, but preferably  till  Grade  8  and  beyond,  will  be  the  home  language/mother  tongue/local language/regional  language;  National  Institute  for  Pali,  Persian  and  Prakrit  ,  Indian Institute of Translation and Interpretation to be set up.
- ii. New  Policy  aims  for  Universalization  of  Education  from  pre-school  to  secondary level with 100 % GER in school education by 2030.
- iii. New  5+3+3+4  school  curriculum  with  12  years  of  schooling  and  3  years  of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling
- iv. Emphasis  on  Foundational  Literacy  and  Numeracy,  no  hard  separation  between academic streams, extracurricular, vocational streams in school ; Vocational Education to start from Class 6 with Internships.
- v. Assessment  reforms  with  360  degree  Holistic  Progress  Card  and  tracking  Student Progress for achieving Learning Outcomes. A National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), to be set-up as a standard-setting body for transforming Assessment.
- vi. Setting-up of State School Standards Authority (SSSA) to establish a minimal set of standards  based  on  basic  parameters  (namely,  safety,  security,  basic  infrastructure, number of teachers across subjects and grades, financial probity, and sound processes of governance), which shall be followed by all schools.
- vii. Teacher education to move into a multi-disciplinary environment and four year B.ED integrated to become a minimum degree qualification for school teachers by 2030.
- viii. Achieving 100% youth and Adult literacy.
- ix. GER in higher education to be raised to 50 % by 2035.
- x. Higher Education curriculum to have Flexibility of Subjects,
- xi. Multiple Entry / Exit, and transfer of credit through an Academic Bank of Credits.
- xii. National Research Foundation to be established to foster a strong research culture.
- xiii. Light but Tight Regulation of Higher education, single regulator with four separate verticals for different functions- the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI).
- xiv. A  stage-wise  mechanism  for  granting  graded  autonomy  to  colleges,  through  a transparent system of graded accreditation, will be established.
- xv. NEP 2020 advocates increased use of technology with equity; National Educational Technology Forum to be created.
- xvi. NEP 2020 emphasizes setting up of Gender Inclusion Fund, Special Education Zones for disadvantaged regions and groups.

(b)  to  (e)  Para  7.11  of  NEP  2020,  recommends  that  every  State  will  be  encouraged  to strengthen  existing  or  establish  'Bal  Bhavans'  where  children  of  all  ages  can  visit  once  a week (e.g. on weekends) or more often, as a special daytime boarding school, to partake in art-related, career-related, and play-related activities.

It  would be pertinent to mention here that Education is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution of India and setting up of the schools and other related institutions are in the jurisdiction of the State and UTs. Therefore, it is for the respective State Government to take decision on setting up of Bal Bhavans within their jurisdictional area.

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