Pre-draft version of National Curriculum Framework for School Education

Pre-draft version of National Curriculum Framework for School Education

• The Ministry of Education released a pre-draft version of the National Curriculum Framework for School Education.
• Based on the vision of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and to enable its implementation.
• It addresses education for the age group 3 to 18 years, across the entire range of diverse institutions in India.
• This is across the four Stages in the 5+3+3+4 Curricular and Pedagogical restructuring of School Education as envisioned in NEP 2020.
• The National Steering Committee under the chairmanship of K. Kasturirangan was set up by the Ministry to undertake and develop NCFs.

Key Highlights

• It leans towards making students acquainted with true sources of knowledge, which have been a philosophical preoccupation of ancient Indians.
• These sources focus on six pramanas:
• Pratyaksa, interpreted as perception through five senses;
• Anumana, which uses inferences to come to new conclusions
• Upamana, which is knowing through analogy and comparison;
• Arthapatti, which involves knowing through circumstantial implication
• Anupalabdhi, which includes perception of non-existence, and
• Sabda, which the document explains is “something an individual can only directly know a fraction of all reality through direct experience and inference but must rely on other experts was acknowledged thousands of years ago”.
• Panchakosha Vikas for Moral Development:
  • It recommends developing moral values for the child through a balanced diet, traditional games, yoga asanas, as well as a wide variety of stories, songs, lullabies, poems, and prayers to develop a love for cultural context.

Teachings from Indian History:

• It focuses on the importance of questioning by giving examples of the Upanishads, and includes examples from Katha Upanishad.
• It also stresses on identifying and explaining important phases of the Indian national movement against British rule, with special reference to Gandhian and other subaltern movements.
• It also recommends teaching concepts of Buddhism, Jainism and Vedic and Confucian philosophies.
• No Exams till Class 2:
• It proposes that explicit tests and exams are not suitable assessment tools for children in classes up to 2 and recommends introducing written tests only from class 3 onwards to avoid imposing additional burden on the child.

Curriculum for Secondary Stage:

• For Grade 10 certification, students will have to take two essential courses from humanities, maths and computing, vocational education, physical education, arts education, social science, science, and interdisciplinary areas.
• In Grades 11 and 12, students will be offered choice-based courses in the same disciplines for more rigorous engagement.
• This phase of the Secondary Stage would be divided into semesters and each choice-based course would be for a semester.

Objectives of this NCF

• It aims to help in positively transforming the school education system of India as envisioned in NEP 2020, through corresponding positive changes in the curriculum including pedagogy.
• It aims to help change practices in education and not just ideas
• It is this holistic overall transformation of the curriculum that will enable us to positively transform overall learning experiences for students.

Current Status 

• This is a pre-draft of the NCF-SE which still requires several rounds of discussion within the National Steering Committee (NSC). 
• Feedback from diverse stakeholders will further help NSC to look critically into different modalities and approaches that this framework is proposing,

Mains Practice Question

What are the important provisions of Pre-draft version of National Curriculum Framework for School Education.

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