Phased NEP rollout in select Karnataka schools from next year

Training will be imparted to teachers on NEP before the start of the next academic year, Primary & Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh said

The National Educational Policy (NEP) will be introduced in phases for pre-primary classes in select schools of Karnataka, Primary & Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh told the Assembly on Thursday.

Training will be imparted to teachers on NEP before the start of the next academic year, he said, responding to a question by Congress' Mahantesh Koujalagi.

Nagesh said that several subcommittees were formed to review the current situation of the education sector in the state. "They are expected to submit position papers soon," he said, adding that NEP would be implemented completely by 2030.

"NEP will not be introduced in one go. The government is assessing the number of phases in which it can be implemented," he said.

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To a question by Koujalagi on whether teachers were trained ahead of NEP implementation, he said that the curriculum under the new policy is yet to be finalised. "We can't train students without fixing the curriculum. However, only after training teachers will we introduce the new policy in schools," he said.

In his written reply, the minister stated that an Implementation Task Force under retired IAS officer Madan Gopal was already in place to assess the progress of NEP in the state. "There are four subcommittees looking at various aspects of NEP," Nagesh said.

53,700 teacher posts vacant

There are 53,700 vacant teacher posts in government schools of Karnataka, according to a written reply by Nagesh in the Assembly. Of this, 41,869 posts are vacant at government primary schools, 8,292 in government high schools and 3,539 posts in government pre-university colleges. To address this shortage, the government has appointed 18,000 guest teachers in primary schools and 5,078 in high schools. The Education Department is discussing with the Finance Department to fill 2,539 teacher posts in the coming days, Nagesh stated.