The NEP 2020 offers many novel ideas. One of them is to empower students through flexibility in the choice of subjects at the secondary level. But is this a practical & workable idea? What does the available data tell us? On 29 July 2020, the Union Cabinet approved National Education Policy 2020. This policy would replace the existing Nation Policy on Education, 1986. The aim of the new policy is to bring in transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country. Various opinions have been expressed regarding the NEP-2020. There has been appreciation and support from certain sections in respect to some of the innovative ideas put forth in the policy, which could provide the much-needed fillip to the Indian education system in tune with the times. At the same time, there are apprehensions also, especially regarding the implementation of NEP-2020. The policy has put forth many propositions which provide a different dimension to the prevailing education system. One such is providing flexibility to students in choosing subjects of their choice at the secondary level. This is proposed to be a hallmark feature of Secondary School Education, where in the students will be able to design their own courses for study, without having to confine to the rigidity of silos like – arts, humanities, sciences etc. While this is a step in the right direction, the implementation poses a challenge. There are various factors that influence the flexibility of choice – systemic challenges, preferences, trends, perception of career opportunities etc. Furthermore, while NEP- 2020 proposes flexibility in choosing subjects, it ought to be noted that a varied choice of subjects already exists even for the current set of students studying Classes XI & XII in various boards. We take a look at data related by CBSE , which reflects the prevailing situation and offers the much-needed insights around choice of subjects among students at the Class XII level. The analysis of this data might also help us approach the implementation this plan in the right way. Around 1/3rd of the Subject options in CBSE XII Standard was chosen by less than 100 students each As per data released by the CBSE, the XII standard CBSE students attempted examinations from around 160 subject options in 2018. Out of all the subjects, only 3% i.e. 5 subjects were attempted by more than 5 lakh students. Among these, was the compulsory language option of ‘English Core’ for most of the English medium students and the Co-scholastics option of ‘Physical Education’. Another 9 subjects i.e. around 5% of the subjects had students between 1 lakh-5 lakhs. Nearly 84% of these subjects had less than 5 thousand students each and around 68% of the subjects had less than 1000 students across the country. In fact, 1/3 of the subjects have enrolment of less than 100 students each. This trend is prevalent even in the preceding years. Even for the years 2014-2017, the percentages more or less remain the same, in line with that of 2018. During 2015 and 2016, the share of subjects that have an enrolment of less than 100 was 42% and 40% respectively. This drop-in percentage in 2017 & 2018 is not due to increase in number of students taking other subjects but due to the fall in number of subjects which had at least one student enrolment. For example, subject ‘Store Accounting’ had no student in 2016 & 2017. Same is the case with other subjects like ‘Business Data Processing’, ‘Introduction to Financial Marketing’, ‘BPO Skills’ etc. The total number of subjects which had at least one student in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 were – 175, 180, 184, 159 and 164 respectively. Mathematics, Physics & Chemistry are the most sought-after subjects CBSE students have the option to select subject electives (apart from the two language subjects) for Classes XI & XII, unlike IX & X where there are no elective options for the subjects. Review of the CBSE examination data for Class XII in 2018 shows that, among the subject electives, the highest number of students were for Chemistry with over 6.2 lakh students, closely followed by Physics and Mathematics with 6.1 lakhs and 5.9 lakh students respectively. Even during the earlier years, the number of students enrolled for these three subjects is the highest. In 2014, students for Mathematics were highest followed by Physics & Chemistry while during 2015-2017, Physics had the highest number of students. Among the non-science subjects – Economics, Business Studies and Accountancy have higher enrolment but the numbers are only around 50-60% compared to the enrolment for the 3 science subjects.