NCF 2005

NCF 2005

The Executive Committee of NCERT had taken the decision, at its meeting held on 14 and

19 July 2004, to revise the National Curriculum Framework, following the statement made

by the Hon’ble Minister of Human Resource Development in the Lok Sabha that the

Council should take up such a revision. Subsequently, the Education Secretary, Ministry of

HRD communicated to the Director of NCERT the need to review the National

Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE – 2000) in the light of the report,

Learning Without Burden (1993). In the context of these decisions, a National Steering

Committee, chaired by Prof. Yash Pal, and 21 National Focus Groups were set up.

Membership of these committees included representatives of institutions of advanced

learning, NCERT’s own faculty, school teachers and non-governmental organisations.

Consultations were held in all parts of the country, in addition to five major regional

seminars held at the NCERT’s Regional Institute of Education in Mysore, Ajmer, Bhopal,

Bhubaneswar and Shillong. Consultations with state Secretaries, SCERTs and examination

boards were carried out. A national conference of rural teachers was organised to seek their

advice. Advertisements were issued in national and regional newspapers inviting public

opinion, and a large number of responses were received.

The revised National Curriculum Framework (NCF) opens with a quotation from

Rabindranath Tagore’s essay, Civilisation and Progress, in which the poet reminds us that a

‘creative spirit’ and ‘generous joy’ are key in childhood, both of which can be distorted by

an unthinking adult world. The opening chapter discusses curricular reform efforts made

since Independence. The National Policy on Education (NPE, 1986) proposed the National

Curriculum Framework as a means of evolving a national system of education,

recommending a core component derived from the vision of national development

enshrined in the Constitution. The Programme of Action (POA, 1992) elaborated this focus

by emphasising relevance, flexibility and quality.

SUMMARY OF NCF 2005:

Ø  Reducing the curriculum load based on insights provided in ‘Learning Without Burden’.

Ø  Ensuring quality education for all children.

Ø   Building a citizenry committed to democratic practices, values, sensitivity towards gender justice, problems faced by the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, needs of the disabled, and capacities to participate in economic and political processes.

Ø  Holistic approach in the treatment of learners’ development and learning.

Ø  Creating an inclusive environment in the classroom for all students.

Ø  Language : A renewed effort should be made to implement the three-language formula, emphasising he recognition of children’s home language(s) or mother tongue(s) as the best medium of instruction. These include tribal languages.

Ø  Mathematics: Mathematisation (ability to think logically, formulate and handle abstractions) rather than ‘knowledge’ of mathematics (formal and mechanical procedures) is the main goal of teaching mathematics.

Ø  Science : Science teaching should engage the learners in acquiring methods and processes that will nurture their curiosity and creativity, particularly in relation to the environment.

Ø  Social Sciences: Social science content needs to focus on conceptual understanding rather than lining up facts to be memorised for examination, and should equip children with the ability to think independently and reflect critically on social issues.

Ø  Art : Arts (folk and classical forms of music and dance, visual arts, puppetry, clay work, theatre, etc.) and heritage crafts should be recognised as integral components of the school curriculum.

Ø  Peace: Peace-oriented values should be promoted in all subjects throughout the school years with the help of relevant activities.

Ø   Peace education should form a component of teacher education.

Ø  Health and Physical Education: Health and physical education are necessary for the overall development of learners. Through health and physical education programmes (including yoga), it may be possible to handle successfully the issues of enrolment, retention and completion of school.

Ø  Habitat and Learning: Environmental education may be best pursued by infusing the issues and concerns of the environment into the teaching of different disciplines at all levels while ensuring that adequate time is earmarked for pertinent activities.

Important Facts:

Ø  Availability of minimum infrastructure and material facilities, and support for planning a flexible daily schedule, are critical for improved teacher performance.

Ø  A school culture that nurtures children’s identities as ‘learners’ enhances the potential and interests of each child.

Ø  Multimedia and ICT as sources for two-way interaction rather than one-way reception.

Ø   School library as an intellectual space for teachers, learners and members of the community to deepen their knowledge and connect with the wider world.

Ø  Quality concern, a key feature of systemic reform, implies the system’s capacity to reform itself by enhancing its ability to remedy its own weaknesses and to develop new capabilities.

Ø  Institutionalisation of work-centred education as an integrated part of the school curriculum from the pre-primary to the +2 stage is expected to lay the necessary foundation for reconceptualising and restructuring vocational education to meet the challenges of a globalised economy.

Ø   Vocational Education and Training (VET) need to be conceived and implemented in a mission mode, involving the establishment of separate VET centres and institutions from
the level of village clusters and blocks to sub-divisional/district towns and metropolitan areas in collaboration with the nation wide spectrum of facilities already existing in this sector.

Ø  Availability of multiple textbooks to widen teachers’ choices and provide for the diversity in children’s needs and interests.

Ø  Sharing of teaching experiences and diverse classroom practices to generate new ideas a n d facilitate innovation and experimentation.

Ø   Development of syllabi, textbooks and teaching-learning resources could be carried out in a decentralised and participatory manner involving teachers, experts from universities, NGOs and teachers’ organisations.\

Ø  SYSTEMIC REFORMS FOR CURRICULUM CHANGE:
It is in the context of 86th amendment to the Constitution of India and the explosive parental demand for education that we need to take a hard look at our continued failure to universalise school education at least up to Class X, to improve the quality of our schools and to transform the Indian educational system so that it is able to realise the vision of society enshrined in the Constitution of India.

Ø  The entire system should be process-driven apart from being target-driven. It calls for long-term intergenerational planning and not spurts of small projects for small periods of time. The system, in addition, should have a style of functioning that is receptive to the ground and provide for expertise and technical support in a systematic fashion in response to the demands made by teachers, professionals and educationists. In its annual review/report each layer such as the CRC, BRC, DIET, SCERT, NCERT and all the Departments of Education, Boards of Examination must give a record of number of policy modifications and initiatives that they have made in response to the demands made by the schools, teachers and community. Supply-driven teacher training programmes must be avoided at all costs and time must be taken to build the confidence of the schoolteachers whenever a “top-down” program is felt necessary. Further all decisions have to be institutionalised and not to be adhoc based on personal responses or fund driven agendas.

Ø  Inclusive Curriculum: The curriculum should respect cultural diversities and formulate policies, which will not exclude the beneficiaries of the system.

Ø   There is a need to commission studies and reports in a continuous manner to examine the functioning of decentralisation of the education system as it is in operation and what have been the systemic and organisational changes and a constant sharing of experiences