The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Move to make education enjoyable, worthwhile

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Friday, May 04, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Move to make education enjoyable, worthwhile

Special Correspondent

NCERT trying to evolve state roadmaps of reform

ONE - ON-ONE: School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu (second from right), interacting with NCERT Director Krishna Kumar at the workshop on National Curriculum Framework at the Secretariat in Chennai on Thursday. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: The National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) Director Krishna Kumar said the council was trying to work with State Governments to evolve state roadmaps of reform on the lines of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF).

A sum of Rs.10 lakh had been given to each State to work with a core group that would compare the state syllabus with the NCF, map the differences and work towards reframing the state syllabus. The NCF had cut the syllabus by re-organising knowledge in creative ways, Prof.Kumar explained at a consultative meeting with educationists and school administrators at the Secretariat on Thursday.

Over 5,000 persons had contributed towards the framework and great efforts were taken to identify people whose work had been recognised by their local communities, especially youngsters and those in rural areas. About 500 people worked with 21 national focus groups and 2,000 more were engaged with the issues that came up, providing original ideas and action plans.

Behind the formulation of the NCF was the recognition that education had become a source of stress for children. "It is a joyless, worthless experience for millions of children," Prof. Krishna Kumar said. While pondering this issue, those working on the framework were also conscious that the document must be implemented and not remain in letter.

Innovative teaching

Earlier, the NCERT director visited a Corporation school where activity-based learning is being implemented. He was impressed with the "innovative teaching methods" used in the school and many of the aspects indicated in the NCF had already been implemented through the activity-based learning programme being followed in the school. He hoped that activity-based learning would be introduced even in the upper primary, high and higher secondary sections.

Speaking on the occasion, Thangam Thennarasu, Education Minister, said the equity that the NCF attempted to bring in was to be commended. Though there was a good atmosphere in the State as far as education was concerned, clearly the system required a lot of improvements. Quality issues would have to be addressed. However, the School Education department was keen on implementing progressive schemes, beginning with activity-based learning in the lower primary classes. There were plans to scale it up to benefit even older students, he added. He urged the educationists and experts invited to the meeting to respond with concrete suggestions to improve the quality of education.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan project director M.P.Vijayakumar said the Government was willing to implement a well-developed action plan that would ensure that reforms reached the grass roots. Even though teachers were being trained over the last 15 years to focus on activity-based learning and encouraged to introduce learn-through-play methods in their classrooms, the changes were not uniformly obvious in schools — some classrooms remained boring and teacher-dominated spaces.

During the meeting, suggestions also came up to improve teacher training, aligning all boards and departments of education to the NCF, engaging each child, involving civil society organisations and activists and detaching the importance currently being paid to examinations.

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