NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK 2005 (NCF 2005) By Indu Goswami

NCF BACKGROUND It is the outcome of a mountain of labor spread over ten months of 21 National Focus Groups supervised by a National Steering Committee and chaired by well-known scientist & former chairman of University Grants Commission Prof. Yash Pal. The steering committee comprising 35 highly respected educationists — professors, NGO leaders, school teachers, intellectuals from across the country — edited, abridged and incorporated the recommendations of the 21 focus groups into the draft NCF 2005

NCF 2005 – AIMS OF EDUCATION Based on our Constitution’s Vision of India: Independence of thought and action Learning to respond to new situations flexibly and creatively Pre-disposition for participation in democratic processes & social change Empower All children to learn

A MOTHER’S RESPONSE “Our syllabus gets more massive and moves beyond the teaching capacity of the teachers so they rush through the contents with tedious methodology. Students cannot meet the attention span requirement in the classrooms and either fail at comprehension or blank out into daydreaming. Newer topics of many different subjects are covered even before the previous ones have been chewed over. The burden of the syllabus is then passed on to the parents or tuition classes. Little children burdened with loads of ‘education’ on their shoulders trip from school to tuition classes, bypassing childhood. A section of students study harder and harder to beat each other to the top slot. Majority of the students are hounded by parents and teachers to study harder and become stressed, some requiring even clinical treatment.”

NCF 2005 – NATIONAL FOCUS GROUPS Perspectives Learning & Knowledge Curricular Areas & Assessment Systematic Reforms

PERSPECTIVES - GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT Connecting knowledge to the life outside of school Learning shifts away from rote Curriculum enrichment – going beyond the textbooks Making exams more flexible by integrating them with classroom life Nurturing a caring identity

PERSPECTIVES The Child as Learner & What should be Learnt NCF Perspectives Commonly Held Views All children are motivated -> Not true of large numbers of & capable of learning children Children learn in a variety -> Children learn in limited way of ways Child as a ‘critical’ learner -> Child as passive imbibers and as the constructor of of textbook information & of knowledge providing set answers to all questions Developing capacity for -> Developing generally only abstract thinking, reflection skills necessary to helping & work are most important students pass or excel in aspects of learning examinations.

LEARNING & KNOWLEDGE Local Knowledge is rich source of learning for All Children Knowledge brought into school – home language Integrating outside world and school – natural environment Integrating outside world and school – cultural environment

LEARNING & KNOWLEDGE Focuses on the child as an active learner Recognizes need for developing a enabling environment Highlights the value of interaction with:  environment,  peers,  older people to enhance learning; Learning tasks must be designed to enable children to seek out knowledge from sites other than textbooks. Need to move away from the rigid lesson planning to planning and designing activities that challenge children to think and try out what they are learning.

CURRICULUM AREAS & ASSESSMENTS Traditional Other Areas Language *Art Education Mathematics *Health & Physical Science *Education for Peace Social Sciences *Habitat & Learning

CURRICULUM AREAS & ASSESSMENTS - LANGUAGE Three language formula reaffirmed – importance of home language as a medium of instruction Multi-Lingualism as resource – learning needs to build a sound language pedagogy of mother tongue Position of English and recommendations Achieve basic English proficiency in 8 years of elementary education within four years

CURRICULUM AREAS & ASSESSMENTS - MATHEMATICS A majority of children have a sense of fear & failure of Math's: they tend to give up early. Textbooks are replete with problems, exercises and methods of evaluation which are repetitive and mechanical Focus on child’s ability to think and reason Visualize and handle abstractions Formulate and solve problems

CURRICULUM AREAS & ASSESSMENTS - SCIENCE Science should nurture curiosity & creativity particularly in relationship to environment Science teaching should be placed in the context of children’s environment to help them to examine and analyze their everyday experiences Awareness of environmental concerns by involving outdoor project work. Environment education to be made part of every subject

CURRICULUM AREAS & ASSESSMENTS – SOCIAL SCIENCES Equip children to think critically on social issues Recognize disciplinary markers so that content is not eroded, but also emphasizes integration of themes. Recommends paradigm shift to study social sciences from the perspective of marginalized groups Gender justice and sensitivity to the issues of tribal and socially deprived groups, and minority sensibilities must inform all sectors of social sciences. Significance of history – conception of past and civic identity

NCF 2005 – OTHER AREAS Art Education:  Covers four major spheres of music, dance, visual arts and theatre.  Focus on interactive approaches, not instruction – because goal is to promote aesthetic awareness and enable children to express themselves in different forms Health & Physical Education:  Success in school depends on nutrition and well planned physical activities

NCF 2005 – OTHER AREAS (CONTD.) Education for Peace:  As a precondition for national development in view of growing tendency towards intolerance and violence. Habitat and Learning:  Work should be infused in all subjects from primary stage upwards  Agencies offering work opportunities outside the school should be formally recognized.

NCF 2005 – SYSTEMATIC REFORMS Covers need for academic planning for monitoring quality Reaffirms faith in local self government Teacher education should focus on developing professional identity of the teacher Examination reforms to reduce the psychological stress, particularly on children in Class X and XII

Teacher-centric - > Teacher direction and - > decisions Teacher guidance and - > monitoring Learning passive - > reception Learning within four - > walls Knowledge as “given” - > and fixed Learner-centric Learner autonomy Facilitates supports and encourages learning Active participation in learning Learning in wider social context Knowledge evolves is created TEACHER EDUCATION FOR CURRICULUM RENEWAL (MAJOR SHIFTS)

NCF 2005 – WAY FORWARD Development of syllabi and textbooks based on following considerations :  Appropriateness of topics and themes for relevant stages of children’s development  Continuity from one level to the next  Pervasive resonance of the values enshrined in the Constitution of India in organization of knowledge in all subjects  Inter-disciplinary and thematic linkages between topics listed for different school subjects, which fall under discrete disciplinary areas

WAY FORWARD (CONTD.)  Linkages between school knowledge in different subjects and children’s everyday experiences  Infusion of environment related knowledge and concern in all subjects and at all levels  Sensitivity to gender, caste and class parity, peace, health and needs of children with disabilities  Integration of work related attitudes and values in every subject and at all levels  Need to nurture aesthetic sensibility and values

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