Page 34 - EducationWorld December 2022
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Expert Comment



             NCFFS 2022: ghost of early



             literacy


                                                                                    KRISHNA KUMAR




                    ARLIER THIS YEAR WE LOST INDIA’S  stal-    If angandwadis are attached to
                    wart campaigner for sane policies that affect little
                    children’s education. If Mina Swaminathan were   primary schools the new focus will be
             Earound and active, I wouldn’t have ventured to   on literacy. The pipe dream of child-
             critique the recently presented (October 20) National Cur-
             riculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCFFS) 2022.   centred education in India’s villages and
                NCFFS aims to integrate anganwadis with early primary   urban slums can be expected to recede
             classes. The stated purpose of this restructuring is to fo-  further
             cus on foundational literacy. It marks a remarkable act of
             walking backwards. This is not, of course, the first time the
             system is doing so. Our systemic history is full of examples
             that an English teacher might use to explain usage of ‘one   demic, is difficult to imagine.
             step forward, two steps backwards’.                 Prima facie, its emphasis on the acquisition of depend-
                We know now that the new NCF will be a huge docu-  able literacy at an early stage seems a good idea. If we look
             ment, divided stage-wise. What has just been published has   back, the ghost of literacy has always haunted the estab-
             354 pages and it covers only the ‘foundation stage’ — early   lishment. For decades progressive educators have argued
             childhood and primary school years. As the policy docu-  that literacy cannot be isolated from intellectual and aes-
             ment clarifies, the government wants anganwadis to be of-  thetic nourishment during childhood. Numerous studies
             ficially tied to early primary classes.           have demonstrated that India’s kindergartens and primary
                If this happens, it will constitute a major structural   schools are so obsessed with literacy that they underplay
             change. Anganwadis were the institutional expression of   everything else. And within literacy, our institutions put
             the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) pro-  mechanics above meaning. These are not just stumbling
             gramme introduced in 1975. The programme envisioned   blocks: they are characteristic weaknesses of the system.
             feeding millions of India’s infants deprived of basic nutri-  downside of the stage-wise approach to curriculum
             tion and care. Their psychological development at this early   Aplanning is that it allows us to view interaction between
             stage of life was to be addressed by a routine offering play   stages. The case of primary and upper primary education is
             and movement, colour and music. These were ambitious   typical. The hard-won shift towards the ‘elementary’ stage
             goals, and they have remained elusive in most states of the   promised a change, but the new education policy document
             Indian Union.                                     and NCFFS indicate that the movement towards elemen-
                But even a limited ICDS must be recognised as a mile-  tary education is unlikely to be supported. Other stages of
             stone. It was the great achievement of women scholars   education are similarly perceived in a fragmented way. If
             including Mina Swaminathan who pushed the State to ac-  each stage of school education is going to be covered in the
             knowledge its duty towards children of the poor. Angan-  style of this document, we can expect over one thousand
             wadis are run by women. In the northern states, they are   pages of unhelpful prolixity.
             poorly paid and their struggle to be treated with dignity   A curriculum framework is supposed to be an enabling
             hasn’t made much headway. Now, if anganwadis are at-  document. If it is to be useful, the intended readership must
             tached to primary schools, one can hardly imagine things   be taken into account. If teachers are part of that reader-
             getting better for infants and their care-givers, especially   ship, their daily struggles and achievements under highly
             when the new focus will be on literacy. The pipedream of   diverse conditions should find reflection. Alas, teachers are
             informal child-centred education in India’s villages and ur-  far too remote from the concerns of people who prepare
             ban slums can be expected to recede further.      policy documents. Our system considers prescribed text-
                A document that doesn’t acknowledge state-level reali-  books as a sufficient resource for the teacher.
             ties and variation in efforts to negotiate financial limita-  Moreover we hear that teachers will be monitored by
             tions, cannot be expected to serve as a guide to action. But   technology. Their autonomy is of zero value to the authori-
             even as an academic document, the sweep and verbosity   ties and school managers, fond of uniformity. They believe
             of NCFFS are amazing. It contains just about everything   that uniformity is the key to quality. Such belief offers little
             that has ever been said or discussed in the context of child   scope for confidence in the teacher. Every effort is made
             development, language learning and acquisition of literacy.   to keep teachers under a tight grip every hour of the day.
             In places it reads like a voluminous assembly of disserta-  A teacher who is so regimented can hardly nourish an au-
             tions. Ancient Indian philosophy also finds a place. How it   tonomous mind in the child, no matter what the subject.
             will help the primary education system to deal with harsh   (Dr. Krishna Kumar is a former director of NCERT and NCTE and author of
             realities that have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pan-  Smaller Citizens (2021))


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