Upper Primary Department (5TH – 10TH)

Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) is a constitutional provision and a national commitment in India. Universalization implies educating all children upto the age of 14 which is equivalent to completion of upper primary level of education. Over the years, efforts by the government towards achieving the goal of UEE were focussed more on the primary stage than on the upper primary level of education.

Universalization of upper primary education in India is normally discussed in terms of enrolling and retaining all children belonging to the age group 11 to 14. This seems more to be a desirable goal to be achieved in the long run than a realizable target at the present levels of development of primary education. Enrollment is a function of the relevant age group at the primary level of education. However, enrollment in upper primary schools is more a function of primary education completion rates than a function of the relevant age group. It is logical to argue that all children in the relevant age group (11 to 14) cannot be enrolled in upper primary classes unless they complete primary level of education.

Salient features of the upper-primary department are:

• Young children find security in rhythm, ritual, and repetition.
• Young children learn through play.
• Young children want to belong to a community that is safe, beautiful, and good.
• Young children explore the world with wonder.
• Young children “understand” the world first through their bodies.
• Young children seek independence and mastery.
• Young children thrive in the natural world.
• Young children use stories to construct meaning.
• Young children seek patterns in the world around them.
• Young children construct their identities and build cultural bridges.
• Young children express themselves in complex ways.

Learning goals in a primary department:

• To develop and promote the pupils’ eagerness to learn, their skills, interests and talents.
• To strengthen and develop the pupils’ trust in their own ability to act.
• To strengthen and build their social competence (responsible behavior, team spirit, integration, development and acceptance of rules and norms, critical thinking),
• To enhance their language skills (communication, expression).
• To develop and impart basic knowledge, skills, abilities, insights and attitudes that serve.
• To acquire reading, writing and arithmetic skills (including the use of modern communication and information technologies in a manner suitable for children).
• To get into contact and deal with the environment.
• To broadly develop artistic and technical skills as well as physical and motor skills.
• To gradually develop an appropriate attitude towards learning and working (perseverance, care, accuracy, the readiness to help others and considerateness).