National Curriculum Framework (NCF) - 2005

1. National Curriculum Framework (NCF) - 2005

2. NEED OF NCF • (a) the school system is characterized by an inflexibility that makes it resistant to change; • (b) learning has become an isolated activity, which does not encourage children to link knowledge with their lives in any organic or vital way; • (c) schools promote a regime of thought that discourages creative thinking and insights; • (d) what is presented and transmitted in the name of learning in schools bypasses vital dimensions of the human capacity to create new knowledge; • (e) the “future” of the child has taken centre stage to the near exclusion of the child's" present”, which is detrimental to the well-being of the child as well as the society and the nation.

4. Children’s voices and experiences do not find expression in the classroom. Often the only voice heard is that of the teacher. When children speak, they are usually only answering the teacher’s questions or repeating the teacher’s words. Common sources of physical discomfort • Long walks to school. • Heavy school bags. • Lack of basic infrastructure, including support books for reading and writing. • Badly designed furniture that gives children inadequate back support and cramps their legs and knees. • time tables that do not give young children enough breaks to stretch, move and play, and that deprive older children of play/sports time, and encourage girls to opt out. • Especially for girls, the absence of toilets and sanitary requirements. • Corporal punishment—beating, awkward physical postures.

5. Organizing experiences • Observing something happen, say, the process of seed germination, in a real situation or observing different stages of milk collection, processing and packaging different kinds of products in a dairy farm. • Participating in an exercise involving body and mind such as planning a role play around a theme and presenting it. • Talking about and reflecting on something the child has experience of (e.g. dialogue on gender-differentiated practices in the family and society or participating in a mental game of numbers). • Making something, say, a system of gear wheels or trying out an experiment to lift a load using a system of pulleys. • After the experience, teachers could organize a discussion, an exercise involving, writing, drawing and display. She could identify along with the children questions to be thought about and answered.

6. She could connect the experience with textbook knowledge and other references and deepen the experience. • Such experiences and post - experience activities would be valuable at any level of schooling. Only the nature and complexity of the experience would need to change over the years. Language is key to organizing experiences. Hence, there should be a proper coordination between the kind of experience and the level of language development

7. Library • One period a week to be devoted to library reading. • During this time, children sit and read silently in the library. They return the books borrowed the previous week and borrow new ones. • If there is no library room, the teacher can bring out books appropriate to the age group and allow children to choose from the set. It is important to let the child choose rather than having the teacher distribute the books.

8. Library books can be brought into the language class. • For class projects, children can be asked to look up a reference in the library. • Children can be asked to write about the book they have read that week during the language class. • Children can be asked to share a story they have read with the other children in class. • The school library should be kept open during vacations.

9. The concept of time on task is an essential reckoner for taking stock of the total time that children spend actively on earning. • This would include time spent on listening, reading, writing, doing activities, discussing, etc. It would not include waiting for one’s turn, copying from the board or revising. • Particularly in multigrade classes, planning and designing of learning activities for children need to ensure that children’s time on task is maximized. • Total study time that is expected from students in both face-to-face and self - study or homework needs to be accounted for while planning the syllabus or course of study for students, especially as they go into higher grades.

10. Total homework time Primary: No homework up to Class II and two hours a week from Class III. • Middle school: One hour a day (about five to six hours a week). • Secondary and Higher Secondary: Two hours a day (about 10 to 12 hours a week). Teachers need to work together to plan and rationalize the amount of homework that they give children.

11. CHILDREN'S RIGHTS • Inclusive education is about embracing all. • Disability is a social responsibility —accept it. • No selection procedures to be adopted for denying admission to learners with disabilities. • Children don't fail, they only indicate failure of the school. • Accept difference… celebrate diversity. • Inclusion is not confined to the disabled. It also means non-exclusion. • Learn human rights … conquer human wrongs. • Handicap is a social construct, deconstruct handicap. • Make provisions — not restrictions; adjust to the needs of the child.

12. Remove physical, social and attitudinal barriers. • Partnership is our strength such as school – community; school – teachers; teachers – teachers; teachers – children; children – children; teachers – parents; school systems and outside systems. • All good practices of teaching are practices of inclusion. • Learning together is beneficial for every child. • Support services are essential services. • If you want to teach, learn from the child. • Identify strengths not limitations. • Inculcatemutual respect and inter-dependence.

13. Teachers need to be prepared to √ care for children, and should love to be with them. √ understand children within social, cultural and political contexts. √ be receptive and be constantly learning. √ view learning as a search for meaning out of personal experience, and knowledge generation as A continuously evolving process of reflective learning. √ view knowledge not as an external reality embedded in textbooks, but as constructed in the shared Context of teaching-learning and personal experience. √ own responsibility towards society, and work to build a better world. √ appreciate the potential of productive work and hands-on experience as a pedagogic medium both inside and outside the classroom. √ analyze the curricular framework, policy implications and texts.

14. MAJOR SHIFTS From To • Teacher centric, stable designs • Learner centric, flexible process • Teacher direction and decisions • Learner autonomy • Teacher guidance and monitoring • Facilitates, supports and encourages learning • Passive reception in learning • Active participation in learning • Learning within the four walls of • Learning in the wider social context the class room • Knowledge as "given" and fixed • Knowledge as it evolves and is created • Disciplinary focus • Multidisciplinary, educational focus • Linear exposure • Multiple and divergent exposure • Appraisal, short, few • Multifarious, continuous