E-Paper
Centre seeks inputs from ministries for national curriculum
The education ministry has sought inputs from other Union ministries on the formulation of the National Curriculum Framework (NFC) that will lay down the broad guidelines for revision of school curriculum, officials said.
The education ministry has sought inputs from other Union ministries on the formulation of the National Curriculum Framework (NFC) that will lay down the broad guidelines for revision of school curriculum, officials said on Thursday, adding that a few ministries have already sent their recommendations.
The process of the development of four NFCs in areas of early childhood care and education, school education, teacher education and adult education has already been initiated by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) as part of the implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. It is being monitored by a 12-member National Steering Committee, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation chief K Kasturirangan.
States and Union territories have also started providing inputs to NCERT based on the 25 focus areas drawn from NEP 2020.
The education ministry has sought inputs from all other Union ministries and requested them to nominate nodal officers for the purpose, the officials cited above said.
In a letter addressed to secretaries of all Union ministers on April 19, Anita Karwal, secretary, department of school education and literacy, said: “Since implementation of NEP 2020 requires addressing concerns related to various ministries in their own area of work and also the target groups they are catering to, it is requested to kindly provide us your valuable inputs, views and suggestions on the themes concerning your ministry for the education of our children, to facilitate its infusion with the four NCF developments. This will further facilitate the development of syllabus, textbooks, training resources for successful transition of NEP-2020 goals etc.”
While a majority of ministries have begun nominating nodal officers, some have already sent their responses to the education ministry, officials said. For instance, the department of science and technology, in its response, has suggested topics such as traditional knowledge, coding, patents and Intellectual Property Rights and awareness programs for ‘Vaidic Maths’ for the school curriculum, an official said, seeking anonymity.
The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change has suggested a list of topics which includes urban biodiversity and their protection, climate change and role of forests, biodiversity heritage sites, circular economy, ecotourism and zoonotic diseases, a senior official at the education ministry said on condition of anonymity.
The ministry of housing and urban affairs, in its response, suggested including age-appropriate concepts of waste management and sanitation in the school syllabus.
“The valuable inputs provided by all Union ministries will be carefully analysed and incorporated into the NCF,” a second senior official at the ministry said, requesting anonymity.
Meanwhile, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan is scheduled to release the “mandate document” of the NCF in Bengaluru on Friday. The document will describe the development process of NCF and its expected structure and objectives.
