New Delhi: The new draft National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for school education has suggested that schools “may choose” not to provide chairs for teachers in classrooms “so as to enable them to stand and walk”. should remain”.
The draft guidelines issued by the education ministry last week said the arrangement of furniture in classrooms communicates a school’s “confidence in teaching-learning processes”.
According to a section of the draft NCF called ‘Symbols’, schools communicate through symbols what they value , “Visual cues of any kind, writings on the wall, paintings, sculptures, arrangements of physical objects” in classrooms.
It further mentions that “substitutes for material goods” also hold great symbolic value, adding that the principal’s chair “will look very different from the chairs for the staff”.
The draft rules emphasize that schools must consciously decide how to “use the power of symbols effectively” in line with their principles to enable students to share their ideas and learn in an inclusive environment. feel welcome
Similarly, the draft suggests a seating arrangement where children sit in circular groups for greater engagement.
In 2019, the Women’s Commission reprimanded a prominent school in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram for “not allowing teachers to sit for eight hours straight throughout the day”, as per a report. The New Indian Express,
What is NCF?
The NCF is being developed as part of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which proposes sweeping changes in the educational system. The initiative is being led by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), which develops curriculum for K-12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) students.
Ministry of Education on 6th April stretched out Drafted NCF for Secondary Education and sought feedback from various stakeholders. The ministry said the response was necessary due to the wide variety of student needs, instructional strategies and curriculum content across K-12.
The draft NCF for early childhood care and education has already been launched, while work has been initiated on NCF for teacher education and NCF for adult education.
The NCF, once adopted by CBSE and other state boards, will not only restructure the textbooks but also the methods of selection of subjects, organization of lessons and assessment of students.
The NCF was last updated in 2005 under the Congress-led UPA government. Barring a few exceptions, all existing NCERT textbooks have been taken from NCF 2005.
The NCF was updated thrice before 2005 in 1975, 1988 and 2000.
(Editing by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)