West Bengal Announces New State Education Policy

The West Bengal Education Department has announced a new State Education Policy (SEP) that maintains the current school education structure. On September 9, the Education Department published a notification proposing the continuation of the state's 5+4+2+2 school system.

''Whereas, the state government has been considering the need to revamp its existing education system starting from pre-primary to higher education level in the state of West Bengal to ensure a higher standard of education for all students, with particular focus on marginalised, disadvantaged and under-represented groups,'' the notice said.

''And whereas, the state government, for this purpose constituted an expert committee comprising of eminent educationists,'' the notification said.

In April 2022, the West Bengal government formed a committee of distinguished academics - Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Sugata Bose, and Suranjan Das - to advise the state on its response to the National Education Policy, which was approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29, 2020, replacing the 34-year-old National Policy on Education. Earlier this year, the committee presented its conclusions to the West Bengal Education Department.