Lok Sabha Question No. 5010 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-23
Subject: Implementation of NEP related to School Instructional Hours
Ministry: EDUCATION
Asked by: Shri Captain Viriato Fernandes

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO- 5010 ANSWERED ON 23/03/2026

## Implementation of NEP related to School Instructional Hours

5010.  Shri Captain Viriato Fernandes:

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

(a)  the  documents,  circulars,  frameworks  and  statutory  guidelines  that  State  Boards  and schools  are  required  to  follow  for  implementing  National  Education  Policy  (NEP)  2020, including the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for School-Education (NCFSE);

(b) whether the Government has taken note that Section 4.3 of NCFSE prescribes a working school year of about 34 weeks with approximately 29 instructional hours per week and if so, the details thereof;

(c)  whether schools in Goa are functioning in excess of these norms and if so, the reasons therefor;

(d) whether there are any directives mandating State Boards to align with or follow Central Boards in the implementation of NEP 2020 and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether any guidelines, timelines or financial support plans have been issued to the State for  transitioning  from  10+2  system  to  5+3+3+4  structure,  considering  that  significant infrastructure and manpower requirements are involved and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

## (SHRI JAYANT CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (e):     For implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 a number of documents  have  been  developed  by  the  National  Council  of  Educational  Research  and Training (NCERT) from the perspectives of assessment, such as the Holistic Progress Card (HPC),  large-scale  assessment  frameworks,  and  tools  under  the  Equivalence  of  Boards initiative,  including  Question  Paper  Templates  (QPT),  Equivalence  Questionnaires  (EQQ), and  domain-specific  indicators  covering  areas  like  administration,  curriculum,  assessment, infrastructure  and  inclusiveness.    These  documents  function  as  normative  and  guiding frameworks, enabling States and Union Territories to align with NEP 2020 while allowing flexibility for contextual adaptation.

Also,  in  line  with  national  reforms,  a  National  Assessment  Centre,  PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review, and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), has  been  set  up  as  a  standard-setting  body  under  NCERT  to  fulfil  the  basic  objectives  of setting  norms,  standards,  and  guidelines  for  student  assessment  and  evaluation  for  all recognized school boards of India.

As  a  follow  up  of  NEP  2020,  NCERT  has  developed  the  National  Curriculum Framework  for  School  Education  (NCF-SE)  2023  after  detailed  consultation  with  the States/UTs and other relevant stakeholders.  NCF-SE 2023 is a self-explanatory document. Since education is in the concurrent list, States/UTs have been implementing NCF-SE 2023, taking care of their contexts.

Section  4.3  (point  g)  of  NCF-SE,  states  that  'Given  the  range  of  subjects  in  the different Stages and the reasonable number of hours students can spend in school, a working school year would have around 34 working weeks of around 29 hours of instruction hours every week.'

NCF-SE  envisions  that the day needs to be carefully organised so that all Developmental Domains receive adequate time and attention.  Each activity may be planned keeping  in  mind  the  attention  span  of  the  child  to  balance  between  child-initiated  and Teacher-guided activities, group and individual or pair activities, and alternating activities.

As per Para 4.32 of the NEP 2020, States are to prepare their own curricula (which may  be  based  on  the  NCF-SE  prepared  by  NCERT  to  the  extent  possible)  and  prepare textbooks  (which  may  be  based  on  the  NCERT  textbook  materials  to  the  extent  possible), incorporating State flavour and material as needed.

Education is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution and States & Union Territories including State of Goa have the flexibility to adopt or adapt the recommendations of NEP 2020 in accordance with their specific contextual needs and priorities.

As informed by the State of Goa, the State has mandated that schools (Grades 6 to 12) operate for a minimum of five and a half instructional hours per day, excluding recess. This arrangement is intended to provide adequate time for experiential, interactive, and competency-based learning, as envisaged in the NCF, and to meet the stage-wise study and learning hour requirements prescribed under the National Credit Framework (NCrF).

Education is in the concurrent list of the Constitution.  Thus, implementation of the NEP 2020 is undertaken collaboratively by the Centre and States, allowing autonomy to State Boards  to  adopt  reforms  suited  to  their  local  contexts.  However,  NEP  2020  envisages  a national  standard-setting  role  for  PARAKH  to  promote  comparability  and  equivalence  of academic standards across all boards, including frameworks for equivalence of boards/formulation of guidelines, tools and Standard Operating Procedures (SoP) for granting equivalence to Grade 10 and Grade 12 certificates.

NEP 2020 envisages modification of the extant 10+2 structure in school education with  a  new  pedagogical  and  curricular  restructuring  of  5+3+3+4  covering  ages  3-18. Accordingly, the curricular and pedagogical structure and the curricular framework for school education is to be guided by a 5+3+3+4 design, consisting of the Foundational Stage (3 years of Anganwadi/preschool + 2 years in primary school in Grades 1-2; both together covering ages  3-8),  Preparatory  Stage  (Grades  3-5,  covering  ages  8-11),  Middle  Stage  (Grades  6-8, covering ages 11-14), and Secondary Stage (Grades 9-12 in two phases, i.e., 9 and 10 in the first  and 11  and 12 in the second, covering ages 14-18). In view of the provisions of NEP 2020  and  the  Right  of  Children  to  Free  and  Compulsory  Education  (RTE)  Act  2009,  this Department has advised/requested the States and UTs to bring uniformity in age of admission throughout the country in a phased manner.

NEP 2020 provides different timelines as well as principles and methodology for its implementation.  It  also  envisions  operationalization  of  the  entire  policy  in  the  decade  of 2030-40, following which another comprehensive review will be undertaken.

Under the integrated centrally sponsored scheme of Samagra Shiksha, annual plans are  prepared  by  the  respective  States  and  UTs,  including  infrastructure  and  manpower requirements  for  implementation  of  NEP  2020,  and  this  is  reflected  in  their  Annual  Work Plan  &  Budget  Proposals.  These  proposals  are  appraised  and  approved  by  the  Project Approval  Board  (PAB)  in  the  Ministry  in  consultation  with  the  respective  State/UT government and funds are released as per the norms of the Scheme and fund sharing pattern prescribed by the Ministry of Finance.

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