The HRD ministry invites suggestions from teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders for “rationalising” of the school curriculum from classes 1 to 12.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has chalked out a detailed action plan to trim the school curriculum by identifying overlapping material across subjects, checking age-appropriateness of the content, and assessing the comprehensibility of language, among others.
The human resource development (HRD) ministry on Monday also invited suggestions from teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders for “rationalising” of the school curriculum from classes 1 to 12. Hindustan Times had reported on February 19 the NCERT’s move to reduce syllabus, make textbooks thinner and schoolbags lighter.
“There is an urgent need to rationalise the school curriculum because the objective of education is to prepare a good human being from the system,” HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said, appealing to all stakeholders to send in their views and suggestions by April 6.
Replying to a written question in the Lok Sabha on the topic, the minister said the NCERT was “advised” to undertake an exercise to review school syllabus “with a view to reducing the curriculum load on the students”.
Giving details of the action plan, he said the NCERT would conduct an analysis of current syllabi and textbooks prescribed by it, focusing on learning outcomes and curriculum linkages across classes and subjects.
The minister assured all stakeholders that the personal details of those submitting suggestions would remain confidential.
The minister had recently directed the NCERT to revise the school curriculum by slashing the existing syllabus by half so that students get time for “value education, physical education, life skill education, and experiential learning”, apart from academics.