The Indian Metamorphosis by Arup Maharatna

Author:Arup Maharatna
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9789811307973
Publisher: Springer Singapore

National School Curriculum Frameworks, Model Textbooks and Pedagogy

After the NCERT was given the responsibility of developing a template of pan-Indian school curriculum and textbooks in all subject areas, it came up with a series of what it named ‘National Curriculum Framework ’ (NCF )—which are, in its own words, ‘attempts at visualizing a reorientation of the system to keep the educational effort in step with the changing times’ (NCERT 2011: 3). It has been a long and, of course, intellectually tumultuous journey in step with the shifting tones and tunes due to changes in government coming to power with new rhetoric and propagandized agenda/manifestos. So far there have been four revisions/editions of NCF . The first one, titled ‘The Curriculum for the Ten Year School – A Framework’ was released in 1975 . Its next revision titled ‘National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary Education: A framework’, was published in 1988 (NCERT 1988); the third official revision was framed in 2000 under the title ‘National Curriculum Framework for School Education’ (NCF 2000). In 2005, a fourth revision/edition of NCF came out and the new document prepared was titled ‘National Curriculum Framework 2005’ (NCF 2005), which is the one currently in place purportedly throughout the country.1 However, it is like an open secret that there is a considerable variation in the degree to which this NCERT -prescribed NCF is actually adhered to or implemented across all the states and union territories of vast and diverse India, as education being in the concurrent list under the Constitution gives enough authority and leverage to each individual state on this matter. In our present analysis, however, we shall not delve into such state-level variations, but concentrate on sketching and evaluating the changing ideas, aims and content of school education as reflected in successive NCF prepared by the apex central government organ, namely NCERT .

In the 1975 document on a nationwide uniform curriculum framework, among many somewhat routine recommendations such as flexibility of curriculum, concern for democratic values, social justice, physical education and learning from work experience, there is a distinct message on school curriculum’s overriding role in ‘character building and human values’—a subject on which it writes as follows:The school curriculum should have a core centring the objective of character building. The best way to do this is to help the child find the right road for self-actualization and encourage him to follow it, watching, suggesting, helping, but not interfering. Self-actualization is a strong need in human beings; but the conditions in which the child lives – its social, mental and moral environment – may not [be] always conducive for the fulfilment of this need. Hence, attempts have to be made to nurture the child to discover its potentialities. (NCERT 1975: 5)

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