AIR Spotlight: National Curriculum Framework 2022

AIR Spotlight is an insightful program featured daily on the All India Radio Newsonair. In this program, many eminent panellists discuss issues of importance which can be quite helpful in IAS exam preparation. This article is about the discussion on National Curriculum Framework 2022.

Participants: 

1. Dr Jyoti Gupta, Educationist 
2. Urmi Goswami, Journalist

Context: The Union Education Ministry recently launched the National Curriculum Framework for foundational stage education of children in the three to eight years age group.

What is the National Curriculum Framework?

• The NCF is one of the key components of National Education Policy 2020, that enables and energises transformation in the education sector, informed by the aims, principles, and approach of NEP 2020. 
• Its objective is to realise the highest quality education for all our children, consistent with realising an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by our Constitution.
• The NCF has four sections:
  • the National Curriculum Framework for School Education
  • the National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education
  • the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education
  • National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education
• The framework focuses on the ‘panchakosha’ concept – the ancient Indian emphasis on the body-mind connection.

Image Source: NCERT.nic

National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for the Foundational Stage:

• This is the first ever integrated Curriculum Framework for children between ages 3-8 in India. 
  • It outlines the criticality of Early Childhood Care and Education, its rootedness in Indian traditions, contemporary research that underlines its importance to life, the centrality of ‘play’ in these years, and the crucial role played by families, and communities at this time.  
• It is a direct outcome of the 5+3+3+4 ‘curricular and pedagogical’ structure that NEP 2020 has come out with for School Education.
• As articulated in NEP 2020, it uses ‘play,’ at the core of the conceptual, operational, and transactional approaches to curriculum organisation, pedagogy, time and content organisation, and the overall experience of the child. 
• It also lays a clear path for the goal of achieving foundational literacy and numeracy as articulated in NEP 2020, with age-appropriate strategies. 

Image Source: Hindustan Times

Rationale for Early Childhood Care and Education:

• The period of early childhood lays the foundation for life-long learning and development and is a key determinant of the quality of adult life. 
• Research from across the world on education, neuroscience, and economics demonstrates clearly that ensuring free, accessible, high quality Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is perhaps the very best investment that any country can make for its future. 
• Children exposed to age-appropriate, physical, educational, and social activities through play-based methods learn better and grow better. When the quality of stimulation, support and nurture is lacking, there can be detrimental effects on overall development.
• Investing in quality early education helps to promote long-term economic growth of the nation while also helping to target the development of the health, cognitive skills, and character necessary for the future success of the individual.

NCF on language of Instruction:

• NCF for foundational stage education has recommended that the mother tongue should be the primary medium of instruction for children till eight years of age, in both public and private schools, saying a new language “reverses the entire learning process” in the early years.
  • It steers clear of any detailed instruction on a timeframe for introducing English. It states that English can be one of the second languages taught at the foundational level, but doesn’t specify which grade.
  • Instead, it emphasises the virtues of the mother tongue as the primary medium of instruction, saying that by the time children join pre-school, they acquire significant competence in the “home language”.
• The previous NCF, released in 2005, had also stated that the language of interaction and communication in ECCE would “normally be the child’s first language, or home language”. 
  • However, it also said that in the light of socio-political realities, English has to be introduced early as a second language, either in Class I, as several states have already done, or at the preschool level.

Key Recent Initiatives on NEP Priorities:

•  NIPUN Bharat: Launched in 2021, NIPUN (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy) Bharat is the National Mission for attaining the goals of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) in the country as directed by NEP 2020. 
  • NIPUN Bharat aims to achieve FLN by 2026-27 for all children in the country by Grade 3. 
• Vidya Pravesh: Vidya Pravesh is based on the deep emphasis that NEP 2020 lays on attainment of the goals of FLN for all children. 
  • Vidya Pravesh has been developed by NCERT for students entering Grade 1. It will be transacted over three months, with four hours a day devoted to familiarising children with the school environment and to provide experiences for maintaining well-being. 
  • Vidya Pravesh will be designed to build the foundations of mathematics, language, and literacy, in alignment with the learning outcomes of NIPUN Bharat.
• Balvatika: The Balvatika programme is envisaged as a one-year programme before Grade 1 which is meant to prepare children with cognitive and linguistic Competencies that are prerequisites for learning to read, write and develop number sense through a play-based approach. 
• • NCERT has developed guidelines and processes for three years of preschool including the Balvatika. 

Read previous AIR Spotlight articles in the link.

AIR Spotlight: National Curriculum Framework 2022:- Download PDF Here