Union Minister launches National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage and the pilot project of Balvatika 49 KendriyaVidyalayas across the country

Source: The post is based on the article “Union Minister launches National Curriculum Framework for the Foundational Stage and the pilot project of Balvatika 49 Kendriya Vidyalayas across the country” published in PIB on 20th October 2022.

What is the News?

The Minister for Education has released the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for foundational stage (children aged 3 to 8 years) education.

He also launched ‘Balvatika’ at Kendriya Vidyalayas.

What is the National Curriculum Framework?

National Curriculum Framework essentially serves as a guideline for syllabus, textbooks and teaching practices for the Education system in India. 

NCF is usually published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

NCF has been revised a total of 4 times – 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005. NCF 2022 would be the fifth revision of the framework.

About the NCF 2022

NCF-2022 has four sections — a) The National Curriculum Framework for School Education, b) The National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education, c) The National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education and d) The National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education.

The framework includes the ‘panchakosha’ concept for education with five components: 1) Physical development (sharirik vikas), 2) Development of life energy (pranik vikas), 3) Emotional and mental development (manasik vikas), 4) Intellectual development (bauddhik vikas) and 5) Spiritual Development (chaitsik vikas).

It uses ‘play,’ at the core of the conceptual, operational and transactional approaches to curriculum organization, pedagogy, time and content organization, and the overall experience of the child.

What are the recommendations and observations made by NCF 2022?

Observations: Currently there is a learning crisis in India, as children are enrolled in primary school but are failing to attain basic skills such as foundational literacy and numeracy.

– Only 50.9% of the students admitted to Grade 1 in 2020-21 had prior preschool experience.

Recommendations: Mother tongue will be the primary medium of instruction in both public and private schools for children up to the age of 8 because learning a new language reverses the entire learning process in the early years.

– English could be one of the second language options. However, it avoids providing any specific timetable for introducing English.

– Children in the age group of 3 to 8 should not be burdened with textbooks. In the last two years of the foundational stage, or ages 6 to 8 years, simple and attractive textbooks can be considered.

What are Balvatikas?

Balvatika Classes for students in the age groups of 3+, 4+ and 5+ years of age are being introduced in a set of 49 Kendriya Vidyalayas. 

Since more than 85% of a child’s cumulative brain development occurs prior to the age of 6, providing appropriate care to stimulate their brain and support their physical and emotional development is essential for every child.