NEW DELHI: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday launched the National Curriculum Framework for foundational stage education of children in the three to eight age group.
Describing the NCF, which emphasises that early childhood care and education are critical areas of development, as an important step taken to implement the New Education Policy - 2020, Pradhan appealed to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to complete the curriculum, syllabus, and textbooks by next Basant Panchami.
“This will help equip our young ones with cognitive and linguistic competencies of the 21st century,” he said at the launch.
As it is considered that children learn best through play, the curriculum thus envisages knowing by providing stimulating experiences for their development in all dimensions – cognitive, social-emotional, and physical. It will also enable the achievement of foundational literacy and numeracy for all our children.
Pradhan also launched Balvatika for students of age group 3-5 years in 50 Kendriya Vidyalayas (VK) on a pilot basis, one of the most important recommendations of NEP 2020.
“Foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary are the four stages of NCF for school education. Developing the foundational framework was one of the most important and challenging aspects under NEP 2020, as it has a huge bearing on shaping the future of our country,” the minister said.
Balvatika will be implemented from the next academic year in all Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools. “We will also discuss with state governments to implement this initiative in their schools,” he said, adding that Uttarakhand has implemented and institutionalised Balvatika in more than 4,000 schools.
He also said that in the next few years, 100 percent of children in the 3-year age group would be brought under formal schooling.
NCF, for the foundational stage of school education, will lay a strong foundation for building a 21st-century India and asked NCERT to translate into regional languages. “It is a pathway for nurturing global citizens who will take responsibility for humanity,” he said, adding that the holistic development of a child takes place in the first five years.
Innovative technology and game-based education are bringing new paradigms in teaching pedagogy. “We have to work together on a war footing to create innovative, games-based content,” Pradhan said.
The NCF-2022 has four sections - school education, early childhood care and education, teacher education and adult education.
The framework said that "brain development is most rapid in the first eight years of a child's life, indicating the critical importance of cognitive and socio-emotional stimulation in the early years."
The framework has listed the 'panchakosha' concept for children's education, and its five parts are physical development, development of life energy, emotional and mental development, intellectual development and spiritual development. Panchakosha is an ancient explication of the importance of the body-mind complex in human experience and understanding.
All these engagements aim to achieve the three developmental goals of maintaining good health and well-being, becoming effective communicators, and becoming involved learners.
The framework said that while staffing of Anganwadis is not complete, it is at high levels. However, it did not have data for private institutions. The number of institutions offering relevant teacher education programmes is low and inadequate.
The NCF will be transacted over three months, with four hours a day devoted to familiarising children with the school environment and providing well-being experiences.
The entry-level education will enable learning of ethical values and cultural diversity and interaction with the physical, social and natural environment, the NCF said.