The BJP government is attempting to repeat what the UPA had done to NDA's national curriculum framework (NCF) 2005. The human resource development (HRD) ministry has asked the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to stall the process of revising NCF 2005.
The HRD ministry is set to begin the work on the new education policy. NCERT, in 2013, after a delay of three years, had initiated the process of revising the framework. But with BJP coming to power, the process was held up.
The ministry, which is trying to link the framework with the new education policy, says it plans to redesign NCF's structure.
"The revised NCF will be revised in accordance with the new education policy. The process has been put on hold only for the time being," said a senior officer in the ministry.
Technically, the curriculum is revised every five years. But there was no revision from 1988 till 2000 when the NDA government came up with NCF 2000. It was to be rolled out in 2003. But with the change in government in 2004, NCF 2000 wasn't allowed to complete even five years with the UPA govt announcing the 2005 framework.
"Before 2005, a team of two to three academicians would work on the content of a textbook. For the first time in 2005, a textbook development committee was created," said the officer. The committee had heterogeneous stakeholders including the government, academicians, NGOs and members from the civic society.
Going by the five-year deadline, the 2005 curriculum should have been revised in 2010. UPA initiated the process in late 2013, and the files on NCF 2013 had been making the rounds at various levels within the ministry. But then the new government came to power, and the process came to a halt.
With NCERT director Pravin Sinclair quitting office mid-term this October, the council is waiting for a new head. NCERT, meanwhile, has been told that all major decisions should be cleared by the ministry.
"There is not much that a headless NCERT can do now. Till we get ministry's approval, we have nothing to do. As of now, we are not working on any framework," said a NCERT officer.
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