© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
In line with the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), the NCERT is set to release a new syllabus for Class 3 and 6 to be taught from the upcoming academic session 2024-25.
The NCERT has planned to release the books for these two grades as Class 3 is the commencement of preparatory and Class 6 marks the beginning of the middle stages. To ensure a seamless transition into the new syllabus, the NCERT has prepared “bridge programme” for Class 6 and brief guidelines for Class 3 for schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS).
So far, NCERT has released teaching and learning material for the foundational stage based on NCF.
To effectively implement the new syllabus, the NCERT’s director Dinesh Saklani has asked the chairperson of CBSE to help create awareness among school heads, teachers and parents in their affiliated schools. The NCERT has urged CBSE to facilitate changes in school timetable as per the “local needs and specific context in which they operate.”
“It is crucial to inform school heads, teachers, and parents about the suggested time allocations for Grades 3 and 6 as per the NCF-SE 2023, and to encourage schools to adapt their schedules in accordance with the local needs and the specific context in which they operate,” the letter said.
Accordingly, the NCERT has urged the CBSE to formulate a “strategy” to revise the school timetable and focus on a “holistic” method of teaching which will include arts, physical education and well-being, skill education in addition to language, mathematics, science, environmental education and social sciences.
The NCERT further said the new activity books and textbooks based on the new syllabi will introduce students to new areas of study including arts, physical education, vocational studies, and ‘The World Around Us’ for Class 3.
“This approach is not only expected to ease the students’ adaptation to the new curriculum but also aims to generate awareness about the updated educational perspective among the parents and wider community,” the letter said.
According to NCF-SE, for preparatory and middle stages, a working school year would have around 34 working weeks of around 29 hours of instruction hours every week. It further recommends that a working school week should include five and a half days with Saturdays as half working days. Aiming to reduce the burden on students, the NCF-SE also suggests 10 bagless days mandated by NEP 2020.
“The exact timings and order of subjects may be chosen to be the same each day (e.g. Language and Mathematics in the morning after a nutritious breakfast) in order to establish a daily rhythm for students; or they may be varied on a weekly basis to give different subjects different priorities each day within the time schedule. What works best for each school would depend on the local context, on whether breakfast or snacks can be offered to all students each morning, in the daylight hours in the local region, etc” the NCF-SE suggests.
