Page 18 - EW September 2023

Education News

DELHI NCF-SE for providing a clear road-
Innovative departure map for teaching eight specified

core subjects, although we entertain
reservations about implementation
of the national curriculum by the
country’s largely indifferent and low
productivity teachers, especially in
government schools. “NCF-FS (NCF
for the Foundational Stage) and
NCF-SE are comprehensive teachers’
manuals that can enable realisation
of the goals set out by NEP 2020.
The large number of CGs (curricular
goals) and ILOs (illustrative learning
outcomes) set out for eight core sub-
jects and classes XI and XII explain
the prolixity of NCF-FS and NCF-SE
(360 and 684 pages) cf. the single
volume NCF 2005 (159 pages),”
wrote your editors.
Nevertheless, the detailed guide-
lines provided to school teachers —
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan with Dr. Kasturirangan (left) especially government school teach-
ers who need a lot of hand-holding
n august 23, india began Although this 600-page curricu- — is perceived as the infirmity of
a new progression to ‘de- lum framework has been criticised NCF-SE by some knowledgeable and
Ocolonise’ its school educa- for being too extensive and detailed, respected educationists. “Important-
tion system with the release of the it is easy to navigate and contains ly, NCF 2023 is not what a ‘national
National Curriculum Framework for numerous stage-by-stage curricu- curriculum framework’ is meant
School Education (NCF-SE), more lar goals and illustrative outcomes to be — a guiding document, for
than three years after the National which makes it easy for teachers to NCERT and the state nodal institu-
Education Policy (NEP) 2020 was monitor and continuously assess tions to develop their own curricula,
promulgated on July 29, 2020. The children’s learning attainments. syllabi and textbooks. Indeed as NCF
pre-draft and draft NCF-SE pre- “Since the explicit objective of this 2005 (with 125 pages) had pointed
sented for public discussion on April NCF-SE is to help improve the out, the term ‘National Curriculum
6, 2023 (see EW cover story, August) practice of education in the reality of Framework’ can be wrongly under-
were quickly formalised into the final our schools, it has attempted to be as stood as an instrument for imposing
NCF-SE 2023 which is a detailed relatable as possible to the practitio- uniformity… Worryingly, NCF 2023
teachers manual to teach, monitor ner — by the use of illustrations, by lays out an extremely detailed plan,
and assess eight major schooling going into details, and other meth- through a micromanaged design for
areas/subjects, viz, language educa- ods. It is this choice that has made the entire spectrum of school stages
tion, maths, science, social science, this volume fairly lengthy,” explains — with details of the subject areas,
arts education, inter-disciplinary the finalised NCF-SE 2023. the interdisciplinary areas and the
linkages, vocational and physical Although ex-facie a forbidding cross-cutting themes it proposes.
education for class III-XII children. 600-page curriculum framework, Spelling out a syllabus outline with
According to Union education NCF-SE has been widely welcomed sample lesson plans, it delineates
ministry sources, the 13-member by experts as a step-by-step roadmap learning standards, curricular goals
Steering Committee chaired by emi- for teachers to teach the eight core and expected outcomes,” writes Dr.
nent outer space scientist Dr. K. Kas- subjects specified by NCF-SE and Anita Rampal, former professor
turirangan prepared NCF-SE 2023 thereby achieve the broader goal of of education, Delhi University and
after evaluating 1,500 specific and replacing rote learning with critical chairperson of the NCERT Textbook
detailed suggestions from over 100 thinking, learning by understand- Development Committee under NCF
institutions and educators, consulta- ing and conceptual clarity. In EW’s 2005 in the online publication The
tions with boards of school education comprehensive 11-page cover story Wire (April 19).
and higher education institutions. (August) your editors welcomed Quite obviously the major reason

18 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2023