The direction that the NCF needs to take

Context: Shaping a National Curriculum Framework (NCF) using only the National Education Policy will be short-sighted.

NCF – Processes to be put in place: As a part of implementing recommendations of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, 

• The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has tasked State Councils of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs) to develop four State Curriculum Frameworks (SCFs).
• They pertain to School Education, Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), Teacher Education (TE) and Adult Education (AE).
• NCERT will provide templates to States to develop four draft SCFs; later, NCF will be designed taking suggestions from all States.
  • E-templates will have detailed survey questionnaires/multiple-choice questions, or MCQs etc.

Challenges and concerns in the shaping of NCF

• The kind of questionnaires and template that one develops can emphasise certain kinds of recommendations while muting some others, leading to scope for bias. 
• Problem of what the majority ‘wants’ and what ‘ought to be done remains: Eg. If one asks about public opinion on medium of instruction for ECCE, overwhelming majority is likely to favour English. Does it mean this would be in the best interest of children and society?
• Organisational and pedagogical issues in foundational education:
  • For E.g. ECCE plus Classes one and two (first five years of education, for age group three to eight years) is proclaimed as one stage, but ECCE and Classes one and two will be run in separate institutions.
  • On pedagogical grounds, capabilities of self-restraint, dealing with adults and people outside the family, concentration span, responsible behaviour, self-directed activities and understanding the value of completing a task widely differ for a four-year-old and a six-year-old.  
• Risk of methodological failure as in the case of NEP 2020: Despite huge opinion gathering exercise, NEP 2020 lists just heaps of words, devoid of any organising principle to decide priorities, inter-relationships and deriving curricular content and pedagogy from them.

Way forward

• Time to place democratic ideal at the centre of our education: As the source of a framework of values and principles to judge and justify all other aspects and thus the curricular debates should be rooted in democratic values.
  • The Secondary Education Commission Report (SECR – 1950s) followed democratic processes, collected a lot of data, analysed and organised it in light of vision of the individual, society, and education inherent in the democratic ideal.
  • Zakir Hussain’s Basic National Education (BNE – 1st report in 1938) report also followed a rigorous, rational, and very sound approach.
  • They had all three necessary elements: (i) Overall framework of values and future direction, (ii) current issues and problems of the education system, and  (iii) public opinion.
• Upholding a good set of recommendations in NEP 2020: Like flexibility in secondary education, examination reform, more exposure to Indian languages, and taking on board Indian knowledge systems can make our education system better.