Report on school curriculum

NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK FOR SCHOOL EDUCATION: National Council for Educational Research and Training, Publication Department, NIE Campus, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi-110016. Price not mentioned.

THE REPORT under review has an opening with chapter IVA of the Constitution of India on fundamental duties of citizens, but what about compulsory elementary education as a fundamental right? Of course, in chapter II of the report there is reference to human rights including the rights of the child, especially those of the girl child.

There are eight sections. The first on "Contexts and concerns" also begins with a quotation, which warns against a curriculum becoming a dead weight, crushing all originality in students and turning them into mere automatons. Indeed, this is the touchstone against which existing and future curriculum can be judged. From all accounts, one can say that the Indian system of education has not encouraged originality in recent years, barring a few exceptions like Prof. A.K. Sen and Prof. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. One can only hope that in the years to come the school curriculum will encourage originality and not become a mere dead weight. This section has laid down the approach to the curriculum process which it regards as a total process in which different components such as formulation of curriculum policy, curriculum research, its planning, implementation and then evaluation play an important role and, therefore, the report under review has considered them taking note of the most recent trends — national and international. The above considerations naturally imply a new need for the educational system, namely, multiple intelligence — like linguistics, logical, mathematical, spatial, bodily kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist.

An educational institution must develop these eight varieties of intelligence by providing the right kind of environment and experiences. There should be removal of illiteracy, which reminds one of economic growth, but the removal of human poverty in the terminology of Prof. A.K. Sen. That is why the curriculum framework has referred to multiple intelligence. Indeed, this is a sound direction in which Indian educational system has to move.

Sections two and three have considered organisation of curriculum at elementary and secondary stages as well as higher secondary stages. These are important stages at the school level as well as for the world of work and therefore, in the second section the thrust areas have been identified.

After the enumeration of thrust areas, there are discussions on value education, common core component, towards an indigenous curriculum, minimum level of learning, general objectives of education, the learner's profile, scheme of education for two years called early childhood education, classes 1 to 5, upper primary stage, secondary stage, curricular areas at different stages like languages, the three-language formula as well as different kinds of education. The second section closes with the open learning system. The chapter at this stage has underlined the importance of mother tongue as the medium of instruction.

The third section on "Organisation of curriculum" at higher secondary stage is a crucial one due to various reasons. Firstly, learners pass from adolescence to youth and therefore, specialisation has to begin somewhere. Secondly, access, equity and excellence will have to be noted at this stage. Arising out of these is the importance of the scheme of studies and appropriate instructional strategy. Also, at this stage the slogan of vocational education for all has to be noted along with education for all. In this context, linkages between schools and industries catering to areas relevant to vocational courses will be an important feature of vocational education.

The fourth and fifth sections deal with evaluation and management of the system. Evaluation and its integration with the process of teaching and learning have been attempted.

Indeed, a national curricular framework for school education brought out by a central professional organisation like the NCERT cannot be expected to give the details of the educational system for the country with different stages. It can only be a pointer and a direction indicator. From this point of view, the report is a welcome one. But its usefulness could have been enhanced, among other things, by having a carefully prepared index and glossary of terms because the curricular framework is supposed to be a guide to teachers, planners and administrators. It has rightly cautioned against a panic approach of including new and temporal curricular concerns in the curriculum without prior careful and structured planning.

C.B. PADMANABHAN

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