Page 56 - EW November 2024

Cover Story

NCF for School Education 2023. The Na-
tional Curriculum Framework for School
Education (NCF-SE) 2023 outlining
ways and means to implement the Na-
tional Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in the
country’s 1.5 million primary-secondary
schools was presented to the nation on April 6. NCF-SE is
an exhaustive and detailed document of 628 pages provid-
ing a road-map for seamless integration of 13 curricular
goals for transforming school education in all its stages.
The draft is supplemented by manuals written by 25 focus
groups.
EW comment. In a detailed
cover story (EW August), we
summarised the NCF-SE 2023,
CUET mismanagement protest its implementation challenges
and way forward, for the ben-
EW comment. The following month (April), EW deplored efit of teachers, parents and
the hasty promulgation of CUET without debate and warned students. Commented your
that the introduction of a mandatory CUET for admission editors: “A common factor for
into much-prized undergrad colleges of Central universi- the successful implementation
ties poses the danger of diluting formal higher secondary of NCF-FS, NCFSE and the im-
schooling to the advantage of edtech and coaching/tutorial minent National Curriculum
companies that drill and skill students to pass examinations for Teacher Education and
rather than acquire in-depth knowledge of subjects. More- National Curriculum for Adult
over with the first phase of the exam held on July 15-20 in Education is larger budgetary allocation. Therefore, govern-
554 cities countrywide marked by chaos and confusion, in ment expenditure (Centre plus states) for public education
a Special Report titled ‘Repairing CUET collateral damage’ must forthwith be raised to 6 percent of GDP.”
(EW August 2022), your editors wrote: “even though CUET NB. The issue of increasing the annual outlay (Centre
is a fait accompli, its rules, regulations and mandate have to plus states) for education has not been squarely addressed
be tweaked to repair the collateral damage that its peremp- for the past half century since the Kothari Commission first
tory introduction has caused”. proposed 6 percent of GDP in 1967. Your editors’ repeated
NCF for Foundational Stage 2022. The National Curriculum calls and presentation of painless roadmaps to attain this
Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) 2022 for chil- desideratum, have been sidestepped by establishment
dren in the three-eight age group was formally launched by economists and academics with nostrums such as “inputs
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Octo- don’t guarantee outcomes” and “priority should be efficien-
ber 20. The 360-page NCF-FS 2022 unambiguously pre- cy of expenditure”. For mysterious reasons, politicians and
scribes learning through play — conversation, stories, toys, academics can’t grasp the truism that schools and colleges
music, art and crafts — and prohibits textbooks for children should be infrastructurally well-equipped and furbished in-
below age six. This unambiguous pedagogy prescription for stitutions that children and youth love to attend and learn
the foundational stage cleared widely prevalent confusion within.
among ECCE providers, many of whom prematurely im- Green light to foreign universities. In early November, the
pose textbooks and exams on youngest children. Delhi-based University Grants Commission (UGC) noti-
EW comment. NCF-FS 2022 was welcomed by EW “for the fied the UGC (Setting up and Operation of Campuses of
vastness of areas covered and great combination of cur- Foreign Higher Educational Institutions in India) Regula-
riculum assessment and teacher training” (Education News tions, 2023. The notification provides a legal and regula-
December 2022). However your editors pointed out that tory framework for foreign universities to establish owned
“the real challenge is for the Central and state governments campuses in India and sets terms and conditions for entry
to operationalise NCF-FS 2022 in government schools, of FHEIs. Among them: Applicant foreign universities have
particularly the country’s 1.4 million Central government to be ranked among the Global 500 in league tables ap-
anganwadi centres” because of poor funding to the In- proved by UGC from “time to time”; degrees awarded have
tegrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme to be on a par with country of origin; tuition fees have to
which funds AWCs. “As in the case with numerous official be reasonable; faculty employed have to be on a par with
initiatives in education, NCF-FS is likely to flounder on the country of origin; study programmes should not be contrary
rock of funding,” predicted your editors. to sovereignty of India and should adhere to public order,

56 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024