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Restructuring school curriculum and pedagogy in a new 5+3+3+4 design

4.1. The curricular and pedagogical structure of school education will be reconfigured to make it
responsive and relevant to the developmental needs and interests of learners at different stages of
their development, corresponding to the age ranges of 3-8, 8-11, 11-14, and 14-18 years, respectively.
The curricular and pedagogical structure and the curricular framework for school education will
therefore be guided by a 5+3+3+4 design, consisting of the Foundational Stage (in two parts, that is,
3 years of Anganwadi /pre-school + 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).

4.2. The Foundational Stage will consist of five years of flexible, multilevel, play/activity-based
learning and the curriculum and pedagogy of ECCE as mentioned in para 1.2. The Preparatory Stage
will comprise three years of education building on the play, discovery, and activity-based
pedagogical and curricular style of the Foundational Stage, and will also begin to incorporate some
light text books as well as aspects of more formal but interactive classroom learning, in order to lay a
solid groundwork across subjects, including reading, writing, speaking, physical education, art,
languages, science, and mathematics. The Middle Stage will comprise three years of education,
building on the pedagogical and curricular style of the Preparatory Stage, but with the introduction
of subject teachers for learning and discussion of the more abstract concepts in each subject that
students will be ready for at this stage across the sciences, mathematics, arts, social sciences, and
humanities. Experiential learning within each subject, and explorations of relations among different
subjects, will be encouraged and emphasized despite the introduction of more specialized subjects
and subject teachers. The Secondary Stage will comprise of four years of multidisciplinary study,
building on the subject-oriented pedagogical and curricular style of the Middle Stage, but with greater
depth, greater critical thinking, greater attention to life aspirations, and greater flexibility and student
choice of subjects. In particular students would continue to have the option of exiting after Grade 10

and re-entering in the next phase to pursue vocational or any other courses available in Grades 11-

12, including at a more specialized school, if so desired.. Read More