Govt releases pre-draft of new National Curriculum Framework for education

The Education Ministry released a "pre-draft" of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for school education on Thursday and invited suggestions from stakeholders such as students, parents, teachers and scholars.

"This is a pre-draft of the NCF-SE, which still requires several rounds of discussion within the National Steering Committee. Feedback from diverse stakeholders will further help NSC to look critically into different modalities and approaches that this framework is proposing," the ministry said in a statement.

It said feedback from students, parents, teachers, teacher educators, experts, scholars and professionals is necessary given the diverse needs of students, multiple pedagogic approaches and learning-teaching material at the different stages of school education.

According to ministry officials, the textbooks as per the new NCF will be introduced from next year.

The Education Ministry has designed four National Curriculum Frameworks (NCFs) based on the 5+3+3+4 curricular and pedagogical' structure that NEP 2020 has recommended for school education.

The ministry launched the NCF for foundational stage (NCF-FS) for children between ages 3-8 years in October 2022. In continuation of that policy, the next NCF for school education is being prepared.

Revamping class 10 and 12 board exams, aligning the shift from 10+2 structure to 5+3+3+4 structure and emphasis on developmental perspectives suggesting curricular and pedagogical shifts at different stages foundational, preparatory, middle and secondary are among the recommendations made in the pre-draft.

The NCF has been revised four times - in 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005. The new proposed revision will be the fifth of the framework. The pre-draft has been prepared by a committee headed by K Kasturirangan, former ISRO Chief.