NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
A Curriculum Framework indicates the directions in which the educational system of a country has to proceed in order to implement: its educational policy. The NPE and POA (1986, 1992) documents proposed a national framework as means of evolving a national system of education capable of responding to India's diversity of geographical and cultural milieus while ensuring a common core of values along with academic components. Both documents envisioned NCF as a means of 'modernizing the system of education.
The first attempt to develop the national curriculum for school education was initiated by the then The first attempt to develop the national curriculum for school education was initiated by the then Ministry of Education and Social Welfare in 1973 to develop the curriculum for the 10+2 pattern. For this purpose an Expert Group was appointed. The Group was expanded in 1974 and the NCERT organized the whole exercise of curriculum development. Finally, in 1975, a curriculum with curricula inputs and curricular sub-processes was prepared and titled as,” The Curriculum for the Ten Year School -- A Framework. The framework provides an impetus to the teaching of environmental studies, science and mathematics as a part of general education curriculum from the primary level. The re-orientation of science teaching first initiated through the new curriculum and me development of me activity based instructional material, gradually developed into a national movement for popularizing science-among school children-
The stage wise school curriculum of 1975- It is given below.
Primary Stage (Classes I to V)
Upper Primary Stage (Classes VI to VIII)
Upper primary and lower secondary schools should work for six days in the week. Assuming that there would .be 48 periods per week, each of 30-40 minutes duration, the instructional periods may be distributed as given below. However, schools may make suitable modifications, wherever necessary, since what is indicated here is notional.
Instructional Time in School
There .should be minimum of 240 working days in a year, out of which 220 days are for instruction and 20 days for school camps and. community services etc. Instructional time in the lower primary classes may be 3 to 4 hours a day. In the upper primary or middle classes and the lower secondary classes, instructional time should not be less than five hours. In addition to the instructional time, each school day is expected to devote one hour more in the primary classes for the daily assembly, routine activities and one or two recesses. In the upper primary and lower secondary classes, 50 minutes may be devoted to the morning assembly and one recess.
National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary Education - A Framework (1988)
The second major attempt to develop national curriculum was made to respond to major Thrusts and recommendations highlighted in the NPE-1986, This exercise was carried out both for elementary and secondary education. It addressed to evolve a national system of education and specifying minimum levels of learning at each stage. In this framework, emphasis was also laid on continuous and comprehensive evaluation, utilization of media and technology, strengthening and restructuring of teacher education and improvement of science education in school.
Medium of Instruction
It is widely recognized that mother tongue is the child's most natural medium of communication. The medium of instruction should, therefore, be mother tongue. In the case of those whose mother tongue is different from the regional language, the mother tongue may be used as medium during the first two years of primary education and regional language should be used for other classes at elementary and secondary stages.
Instructional Time in School
The instructional time in a year should be 200 days keeping in view terminal examination, school .functions etc. An early childhood education centre should function for three hours a day. A primary school should function for five hours a day out of which four hours should be available for instructional work. For the upper primary and secondary schools, the duration of a school day should be six hours, out of which five hours should be kept for instructional work and the rest utilized for morning assembly, recess etc. The duration of a class period should be around 40 minutes,
National Curriculum Framework for School Education (2000)
The NCERT initiated work on developing new curriculum framework for the entire school education in
September 1999. This was mainly undertaken for two considerations. One concerns expressed for making necessary changes in the curriculum by the POA, 1992 and the ninth five year plan document Second that. a curriculum should be reviewed periodically to make it more responsive to develop mental needs. The National Curriculum .Framework for School Education: A Discussion Document was developed and discussed widely in different sections of society. This document was finalized and released in November 2000. This document includes context and concerns, organization of curriculum at elementary, secondary and higher secondary stages, evaluation and managing the system. In this curriculum a common, scheme of studies, therefore, is advocated for Classes I to X. The core component areas and values shall form an integral part of the curriculum at all the stages and may suitably be integrated in different subject areas. Flexibility in the selection of the content and organizing learning experiences must be built in the system.
Early Childhood Education (ECE) - (2 Years)
This stage of education helps in preparing children for school and constitutes an important element of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), It is available in various forms such as preparatory schools, nursery and kindergarten classes, etc. both in private and government sectors, Learning at this stage may be characterized by group activities, play-way techniques, language games number games and the activities directed to promote socialization and environmental awareness among children,
Elementary Education (8 Years)
Primary Stage of education has been visualized in two -segments with inherent internal continuity. The first segment comprises Classes II and 3 and the second segment consists of class III-V. The
scheme of studies
for these two segments is given below:
(a) Classes I and II (I) One Language - the Mother Tongue/Regional Language
(II) Mathematics (III) Art of Healthy and Productive Living.
(b) Classes III to V
(I) One Language - the Mother Tongue/the Regional Language
(II) Mathematics
(III) Environmental Studies (IV) Art of Healthy and Productive Living
Upper Primary Stage (3 'Years)
(I) Three Languages - the Mother Tongue/the regional language, Modern Indian Language and English (II) Mathematics (III) Science and Technology (IV) Social Science
(V} Work Education (VI) Art Education (Fine Arts, Visual & Performing)
(VII) Health & Physical Education (including games and sports. Yoga, NCC, Scouting and Guiding)
