Knowing NCF!

The National Curriculum Framework is a key document around which India is trying to transform its education. The report based on Study of 21 National Focus Groups advocates about a single core curriculum for all. Its focus is to improve the quality of education and to bring equality through education.

Some of the key points of NCF are as follows :

(i) connecting knowledge to life outside the school

(ii) ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods

(iii) enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks; and

(iv) making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom life.

One of the best things in NCF is identification of importance of teacher training program. The best part of this document is its Epilogue. The letter wrote by an Mother to NCERT board about how our system is killing the childhood of our children and how this systematic destruction is fatal for the future of this nation.

However, the committee headed by Prof.Yash Pal Sharma had beautifully elaborated this issues in the document it self and has also suggested necessary reforms to eradicate these problems. One cannot ignore the phrases where the report addresses to the irony of the lack of political will to implement the policies suggested.

As an administrator, as an teacher, as an parent and as an responsible citizen one must read this document , as it contains lots of answers to the questions each of us have had in our minds.