Draft curriculum plan wants math learning to ‘not be robotic’

NCF suggests various changes in the way mathematics is taught in schools to deal with this.

Arithmetic is often passed off as it is in Indian schools, most of which do not teach it well anyway.

NCF recommends a change in “teaching-learning methods towards play-based, activity-based, discovery-based, and discussion-based learning.” (Getty Images)

The result, as the draft document of the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) released on Thursday puts it, is that many students develop a “real fear” for the subject. Mathematics learning has traditionally been more “robotic” and “algorithmic” rather than creative and aesthetic, it adds.

NCF suggests various changes in the way mathematics is taught in schools to deal with this. For instance, it emphasises that present methods have encouraged “rote learning and meaningless practice and promoted the perception of mathematics as mechanical computation”. “Assessment must move towards testing real understanding — i.e., core mathematical capacities and competencies,” it says.

The draft also recommends a change in “teaching-learning methods towards play-based, activity-based, discovery-based, and discussion-based learning.”

It suggests that the subject be taught using “real-life examples” and local languages, particularly in the early stage of learning. “As a teacher we need to prepare plan in such a way that we can work with students of different level in different methods by using teaching learning materials (TLMs) to engage student and learn the concepts so that the child can feel comfortable to learn the new concepts that are connected to the previously learnt concepts,” the draft says.

The new NCF draft document was prepared by a 12-member steering committee under former Isro chairperson K Kasturirangan, and is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. The document was released by NCERT.

Emphasising that a large proportion of students in early grades do not achieve foundational literacy, the document says, “Attaining foundational literacy and numeracy for all children must therefore become an immediate national mission and a central goal of the Foundational Stage curriculum.”

“We must rethink the approach of teaching where students see mathematics as a part of their life, enjoy mathematics, with a greater focus on reasoning and creative problem solving,” the document adds.

Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School in Delhi, underlined the need for an environment that encourages teaching and learning mathematics.

“The proposed changes that focus on addressing the fear of mathematics and promoting new ways of dealing with the conventional approach are steps in the right direction,” she said.