NCERT’s new NCF panel has Sudha Murthy, Bibek Debroy, Shankar Mahadevan

NEW DELHI: Now, at the advanced stage of developing the National Curriculum Framework for School Education, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has appointed a high-powered committee to develop school textbooks and teaching-learning material.

The 19-member high-powered committee led by Mahesh Chandra Pant, chancellor of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), includes philanthropist and chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, Sudha Murthy, chairman of the economic advisory council to the prime minister Bibek Debroy, and musician Shankar Mahadevan.

The NCERT notified the National Syllabus and Teaching Learning Material Committee (NSTC) on July 21. The committee will be responsible for overseeing the development of school syllabus, textbooks and teaching and learning material for Classes 3 to 12. The committee will also undertake revision of existing Classes 1 and 2 NCERT textbooks to “ensure smooth transition to Class 2 to 3”, according to an official letter dated July 21.

Manjul Bhargava of Princeton University, who was also part of the national steering committee, will co-chair the high-powered committee. Michel Danino, guest professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar has also been roped in from the national steering committee to this panel. From the sports sector, U Vimal Kumar, director of Prakash Padukone Badminton academy has been included in the panel.

Apart from the NSTC panel, a National Curriculum Frameworks Oversight Committee or NOC has also been formed to support the work of the high-powered committee. According to an official letter, the NOC will “facilitate rigorous connection of textbook and learning and teaching materials being developed as a follow-up of NCF-SE”. Chancellor of Central University of Punjab, Jagbir Singh, as chairperson and NCERT director Dinesh Saklani as the member convenor, VC of Jamia Millia Islamia University, Najma Akhtar are members of NOC.

“To ensure that the textbook and teaching learning materials developed by NSTC bring to life purpose and principles of the NCF-SE 2023, the NOC will support and facilitate the NSTC in various ways, such as providing detailed orientation to the members of the NSTC and other including curricular area groups and other ways in which the NOC and NSTC may together decide,” the letter stated.

The NCERT has repeatedly found itself in the middle of controversies over the past few months, mainly for a “rationalisation” exercise it undertook during the pandemic that has continued. It saw large and critical chunks of the syllabus culled from across subjects in a manner that, said school teachers, made teaching difficult. It saw sections on Charles Darwin’s evolution theory as well as ones on Indian history and political science dropped.

NEP 2020 and National Curriculum Framework

The centre had released a draft of the school education curriculum framework in April. It was developed by the union government-appointed national steering committee led by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief K Kasturiranagan.

The new National Education Policy (NEP 2020) recommended a shift from 10+12 structure to 5+3+3+4 and emphasises on developmental perspectives suggesting curricular and pedagogical shifts at different stages- foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary. For Classes 11 and 12, the same set of eight curricular areas will continue to be on offer, but choice-based courses will be designed based on the disciplines.

The draft NCF released had suggested various changes in the school education system — including modular exams for classes 11 and 12, introduction of a semester system for class 12, emphasis on “no hard separation” between science, arts, and commerce streams and multidisciplinary education.

The National Curriculum Framework for the foundational stage is already in the public domain launched by the ministry of education on October 20, 2022.