NEP 2020: Maths with History, Accounting with Physics could be among à la carte subjects in senior school

Wouldn’t it be good if you could choose subjects across educational streams purely on the basis of your interests?

That could be a reality from the next academic year as students in a few government schools and partly-funded institutions would be allowed to choose subjects irrespective of the specific streams in Class XI and XII under pilot schemes to assess the flexibility allowed by the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, sources told Moneycontrol.

This means that students from Science/Commerce streams could take up any five (or six) subjects such as History, Geography, Psychology, Taxation, Accountancy, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, IT, Computer Science, Tax, Business Studies, Management, Food Preparation among others. Each school will be able to decide which subjects to offer.

Currently, their choice is limited by the streams they opt for. Science students can take up Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics (PCM/PCB). The commerce stream has options such as Taxation and Accounting while humanities students can take subjects such as History, Geography, Fashion Studies, Sociology among others.

“Education should be holistic and that is the vision of NEP 2020. We are in talks with schools on the implementation of the plan for ‘subject of choice’ for school students in XI and XII classes,” said a government official.

NEP 2020 that came into force in July 2020 proposed a wide variety of changes in the way education is imparted in schools and colleges. A crucial part of this policy pertains to allowing students the freedom to decide what subjects to study.

Another official added that pilot studies will begin in about 150-200 schools across the country by the end of 2021. These studies will assess the response of students and the challenges in implementation.

What will be the changes?

Once a student is promoted to Class XI after the board exam results, he/she is required to choose their preferred stream of education. This stream will play a crucial role in their higher education and professional career.

For instance, a student eyeing an engineering degree takes up PCM at the Class XI, XII while medical aspirants take up PCB. While some flexibility is now being proposed for students for undergraduate engineering streams, this is at the sole discretion of the concerned institutes.

“We have noticed that school students often want to choose subjects from across streams. But there are unable to do so due to the linear structure of the education system. NEP 2020 will change that and students will benefit. But we need to see how to implement it if a higher proportion of students end up choosing a single subject and we don’t have adequate teachers,” added Swapna Saha, the principal of a partly funded school in Kolkata.

She said the government should undertake an exercise to analyse which subjects are most popular and which are least popular among students. Subjects that don’t have any demand for three consecutive years could be removed from the curriculum, she added.

Under the new plan of allowing students to choose subjects across streams, it is likely that their performance would be monitored after one term. This would allow students to review their decision if they are found lacking in aptitude for the subject they selected.

An education department official said that schools will be responsible for checking the interest and aptitude of students.

“A student could be interested in studying Maths but may not have the aptitude for it. So, rather than poor performance continuing, the student could be given an option to shift to some other subject after completion of one term,” he added.

Will this be available across all schools?

Initially, this project is likely to be implemented in a few schools as a pilot. Based on its success, it will be extended to the government schools and partly funded schools.

Private schools will also be able to implement this scheme for Class XI, XII students in the last phase of the project.

What are the challenges?

Schools will have the option to give this flexibility but students who take up this option may face some hurdles if they choose engineering or medicine.

Engineering institutes may make Physics, Chemistry and Maths mandatory for admission to the programme. So, a student who has chosen subjects other than these may lose out.

Similar is the case with NEET where PCB with English is mandatory for the undergraduate medical entrance test. Medical degree aspirants choosing some other subject will not be eligible for an MBBS or BDS (dental) course.