NEW DELHI: Under fire from a section of the academic community for drafting a curriculum that "lacked a firm commitment against a sectarian and narrow vision of education," the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has revised the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 ahead of next week's meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).

The revised draft was unveiled here on Saturday by NCERT Director Krishna Kumar who said an attempt had been made to address the concerns raised by the critics of the NCF-2005 by elaborating on the issues in question. The NCF was put up for CABE clearance in June this year but the members decided to allow States more time to counter the charge that the Government was trying to push through the new curriculum in haste without consultation.

The new document, according to Prof. Kumar, seeks to make secular democracy a robust idea. Academics under the banner of Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust and Communalism Combat had accused the NCERT of "toeing a politically correct line" while drafting NCF-2005. Another charge was that it did not address the contentious issues that had dominated discourse in educational circles during the six years of National Democratic Alliance rule.

While the first draft proposed four guiding principles to address distortions in educational aims and quality, the revised document has added a fifth that seeks to nurture "an identity soaked in caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.'' This guiding principle of an "overriding national identity," Prof. Kumar said, was a suggestion made by the Bihar Government.

As for the controversial suggestion of board examinations being made optional at the Class X level for those who wish to continue to Class XI, the revised document clarifies the position. "Boards should consider, as a long-term measure, making Class X examination optional, thus permitting students continuing in the same school [and who do not need a board certificate] to take an internal school exam instead,'' it said.

About the charge that linking education to the child's surroundings could give rise to obscurantism, Prof. Kumar and Prof. Yashpal — who chaired the entire exercise of curriculum revision — said the concept had been elaborated upon in the revised document. "The document recognises India's diversity as its strength.

By stressing on local knowledge, the aim is to help the student critically engage and negotiate with what he sees around him. However, all forms of local knowledge must be mediated through Constitutional values."

Also, Prof. Kumar said there was no basis in the charge that NCERT had no authority to begin drawing up the syllabus and preparing the textbooks.

At the CABE meeting in June, the Human Resource Development Minister, he said, had asked NCERT to go ahead with the task of text-book making with the caveat that it would be subject to the changes made by the Board in the draft curriculum.

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