Page 52 - EW August 2023

Cover Story

grammes for teachers in the country’s public. Therefore, educationists, ed-
1.10 million government schools, fore- ucators and others who have ideas
most in mind. Relatively less account- and solutions to improve teaching-
able and the great majority of them learning standards in K-12 education
recruited on considerations other should avail this opportunity to send
than merit, teachers in government their recommendations to the Steer-
schools — especially state government ing Committee through the Union
schools which constitute 90 percent ministry of education.
of government schools countrywide
— need training. Although NCFSE Expert comment. “NCF-FS and
2023 also serves as a good roadmap NCFSE are well-researched and well-
for the country’s 400,000 budget pri- written overarching policy docu-
vate schools (BPS) where teaching- ments. Essentially they are for state
learning standards are slightly better, governments to contextualise within
this elaborate document if followed in the frameworks provided. Yet the
letter and spirit will undoubtedly im- devil is in implementation. If they are
prove learning outcomes in govern- Kaushik: implementation conundrum implemented 70-80 percent, it will be
ment and budget private schools. a great leap forward for Indian K-12
Moreover apart from chapters on mentation of the National Education education. They provide very useful
teaching the eight core subjects/areas Policy (NEP) 2020. curricular goals and illustrative learn-
in a systematic way with continuous It’s also noteworthy that the ing outcomes for teachers — perhaps
monitoring and testing, NCFSE con- learned and bona fide authors of NCF- parents — to monitor the progress of
tains several other useful chapters. FS and NCFSE repeatedly stress these children along the school education
Among them Part C: Cross-cutting documents are ‘pre-drafts’ subject to continuum. However, teachers need
Themes (values, inclusion, guidance correction and improvement on the to be cautious about curricular goals
and counselling, environment and basis of feedback received from the because all children don’t learn in the
rootedness in India); Part D (School same way and same speed,” says Amit
Culture and Processes) and Part E (en- A highlight of NCFSE is that Kaushik, an economics postgrad of
suring an appropriate environment for Punjab University with work experi-
learning (teacher-pupil ratio, enabling it details ways and means to ence in the Union education ministry
and empowering teachers, and role of teach, monitor and assess (2001-06), and currently CEO (India)
academic and administrative func- languages, maths, science, of the Australian Council for Educa-
tionaries)). And as NCFSE repeatedly tional Research (ACER), an indepen-
stresses, all its recommendations for social science, arts, physical dent Melbourne-based not-for-profit
curriculum development and delivery and vocational education mandated to improve learning glob-
are purposed to enable smooth imple- ally.

EW COMMENT • NCFSE recommends continuous testing by setting cur-
• Don’t be put off by the voluminous size of NCFSE. It is a ricular goals and illustrative learning goals. These are im-
well sign-posted teachers’ guide to implement the curricula portant recommendations that teachers should heed.
prescribed by exam boards in eight core subjects as also in • NCFSE reiterates that “teachers are at the heart of the
classes XI and XII. From the index, it is easy to navigate practice of teaching”. Therefore to realise the goals of NEP
your way to the section required at a particular time. 2020, teachers need to acknowledge the critical impor-
• NCFSE is a roadmap for teachers to implement the goals tance of their role in the national development effort. In
and objectives set out in the National Education Policy particular, relatively well-remunerated government school
2020. The policy recommends joyous learning through teachers need to improve their attendance records and
comprehension rather than memorisation and rote. There- take responsibility for children’s learning outcomes.
fore, the guidelines and provisions of NCFSE should be im- • State governments who fund the majority of the coun-
plemented through experiential learning in which teachers try’s 1.2 million government schools need to tighten up
and students learn together. their administration of these schools — fill vacancies, en-
• NEP 2020 encourages revival of India’s ancient peda- sure full teacher attendance, eliminate multi-grade teach-
gogy of peer-to-peer learning. This should be encouraged ing and provide enabling infrastructure to transform gov-
by teachers following NCFSE through students learning ernment schools into inviting institutions which children
one-on-one or in clusters. look forward to attending.

52 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2023