Ministry of Education holds inter ministerial meeting seeking inputs for reconfiguring curricular and pedagogical structure under NCF
To take
forward the process of widespread consultation for the development of the new
National Curriculum Framework (NCF) based on the National Education Policy,
2020, the Ministry of Education held a meeting with senior
officials/representatives of all Ministries and Departments of the Government
of India and important bodies including NCERT, Election Commission of India,
ICAR, DRDO, etc. The meeting was chaired by Anita Karwal, Secretary, Department
of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), Ministry of Education (MoE), and
focused on how ministries and organisations can contribute in developing a
curriculum framework that is responsive and relevant to the developmental needs
and interests of learners at different stages of their development.
In the said meeting, the officials present were first taken
through a presentation by LS Changsan, Additional Secretary, DoSEL, on how a
curriculum framework is prepared, what are its deliverables and what is
expected from them. Many areas of contribution were subsequently discussed,
such as, the rapidly changing technology, need for innovation and generation of
new ideas, need to focus on crucial areas like climate change, future skill
requirements, crucial factors for agricultural growth, knowledge of India,
especially in those areas where India is at the forefront for instilling a
sense of pride, assistive technology for inclusion, enriching subject knowledge
with real-life information, how to promote multilingualism, integration of
sports, fitness, arts, etc. The inputs from ministries would help in
identifying and integrating several pertinent areas, skills and competencies in
the NCF at relevant stages. It was also discussed that it would be very helpful
if the ministries also point out their own role in taking certain ideas forward
by partnering with school education ecosystem.
The key deliverables of NCF were discussed in detail,
including, Early Childhood Care and Education, Foundational Literacy and
Numeracy, Competency Based Education, Flexibility in Choice of Subjects in
Secondary Classes, Reduction of Curriculum to Core Essentials, Reimagining
Vocational education, Identification of Core Skills and Content, Inclusive
Education, Multilingualism, Integrating Knowledge of India, citizenship, values
like-appreciation of national heritage, respect for public property, taking
care of elders, spirit of service, needs of Gifted Children, Experiential
learning, Integration of arts and craft, toys, health and well-being, sports
and physical education Guidance and Counselling, Community involvement etc.
Given the crucial nature of the work undertaken by the
MoE in preparing the new NCF, participants shared their ideas on how they would
be able to contribute to the process. Ideas such as leveraging the innovation
ecosystem of the Department of Science and Technology, understanding the
efforts that go into agriculture to bring food on the table, the huge role of
Gram panchayats in ensuring enrolment and retention in schools, the importance
of imbibing volunteerism in early years, the need for every child to
participate in activities related to physical health and well-being, focus on
Divyang children, exposure to new technology from a young age, etc. were
discussed. It was decided that all ministries would soon send written inputs
for the National Steering Committee and NCERT to take cognizance of. In the
end, the ministries were also requested to whole-heartedly participate in and
disseminate the web-app based citizen survey being undertaken by NCERT on https://survey-ncf.inroad.in/#/ where
the questionnaire is available in 22 Indian languages and in English.
The NCF process can be seen at: https://ncf.ncert.gov.in/#/web/home