Shoot your questions in any language

The National Council of Educational Research and Training has appealed school teachers to encourage students, so that they can express themselves in whichever language they are comfortable with.

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has appealed to primary school teachers to encourage students to express themselves in whichever language they are comfortable with.

Speaking on Kaksha ki Bhasha (language in the classroom), at the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education here, NCERT director Krishna Kumar said the new curriculum framework has taken care of multi-language and multi-cultural aspects of the country.

This would improve their cognitive as well as comprehensive abilities. Therefore, teachers should allow students of the primary classes to express themselves in any language they are comfortable with, he said. The new national framework was formulated in 2005 and the new textbooks would be made available in three phases from April 2006.

"The teachers should not curb or discourage the students by stressing on the purity of language," he said. Kumar said it was the responsibility of all primary school teachers to implement the new curriculum framework and it will help in smooth processing of the thinking of students and also improve their comprehension.

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Since schools in different parts of the country get students from different linguistic backgrounds, the teachers should encourage freedom of expression among students which would form a good basis for a rich human resource development, he said.

"This fact has been researched even by the Institute of Language Research and the teachers need to undergo rigorous training to meet the challenge," Kumar added. Speaking on the sidelines of the seminar, Kumar said students should study all subjects from class I to X as outlined in the current national framework.

Although NCERT is making changes in the curriculum, it is not planning to keep any subject optional upto Class X, he said. NCERT is trying to build consensus among educational boards to ensure continuation of the development of education process even if the changes are brought about in textbooks, he said.