The Government’s decision to drop curriculum load is welcome but not enough. lighter textbooks with relevant course work and better teachers can well be the recipe for improved learning
It is indeed encouraging that textbooks are under discussion on a nation-wide scale, consequent to the decision of the Union Government to ‘reduce the NCERT syllabus by one half’. In common parlance, it is interpreted as (mere) trimming of the size (and, obviously, the weight) of the textbooks. Even this has its relevance but that is not the entire story of initiatives to reduce excessive burden of the bag and let children get education without sacrificing the bliss, happiness and joy of childhood that is the birthright of every young one.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar’s courageous statement on the reduction of the curriculum load could have far-reaching consequences for the future of the education system, its immediate implication being the rewriting of textbooks. Parents are anxious and teachers are still ‘thinking about its implications’. Children are expecting better days ahead. Incidentally, textbooks are generally perceived as reading materials that must be mastered to sail through examinations, leading to a successful completion of study. Their impact on future generations and the destiny of the nation usually escapes the attention of most of the parents.
Planning and writing a textbook is a very sensitive process that requires high level of sensitivity, comprehension and empathy, apart from professional competence and commitment to the delineated task. Those writing and publishing textbooks; and also the agencies prescribing them, become part of the process of creating the future of the country. Not all of them comprehend the importance of this responsibility.
A small, yet significant personal experience could illustrate a couple of these aspects. One of the NCERT textbooks of Class III had a quarter page sketch titled, ‘The farmer is ploughing the field’. A handwritten letter was received by yours truly (as Director of the NCERT): “I am a student of class V. I was teaching my brother who is in class III. In this book, the caption under the sketch on that page is incorrect. You must correct your mistake.”
Immediately, the book was perused. In the sketch, the farmer was seen with the plough on his shoulder and a pair of bullocks standing nearby. Within half an hour, a handwritten response from the NCERT Director was mailed, acknowledging the error, apologising, congratulating the boy of class V for the initiative and also requesting him to convey regards and respects to his teachers and parents.
The MSS passes through a series of stages and even then how such an error could go unseen and uncheckedIJ Every textbook requires regular scrutiny, assessment and revision. The NCERT stands enriched with more than 60 years of experience in practically every aspect of school and teacher education which could indeed be unparalleled amongst institutions and organisations with similar responsibilities anywhere. It could very well claim the credit for ushering the process of educational reforms at national and State-level.
It has not only dexterously prepared curricula and syllabus, but also trained experts in textbook writing, evaluation of learning achievements, continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CUE), annual evaluation and gender sensitivity among others. In public perception, it is often remembered, praised and criticised mostly only for its textbooks.
The present discourse around Javadekar’s statement on reducing curriculum load has also been shifted to ‘curtailment in the size and volume of the NCERT textbooks’. Not many people are aware that the NCERT is an advisory body not a statutory body and every school education board has the authority to take its own decision in matters of curriculum, syllabus, examinations and other related issues.
The basic premise is that the NCERT shall set up levels and standards. And every State board must aim at ensuring comparability with these so that children are not put to any disadvantage in all-India level competitions. It has generally been achieved because of close links established over the decades between the NCERT, State-level agencies and experts spread throughout the country.
The process of load reduction shall involve every agency working in areas of education policies, programmers, teaching and evaluation, material development, IT induction, pedagogical implications and several other aspects. The major objective of reducing the avoidable curriculum load is to encourage curiosity, creativity, innovations and entrepreneurship.
Great attention should be paid to transform the content, pedagogy and work culture of each and every teacher education institutions. And that, indeed, is a tough task. While textbooks have to be redone to make them leaner, practical experiences must be enhanced and innovations must be encouraged. The face of teacher training institutions must undergo a transformation.
One could safely state that 90 per cent of these institutions pay little attention to physical fitness and participation in outdoor activities. One can expect no visible change in learning environment in schools if teacher training institutions permit purchase of lesson plans and project work from the market, just to complete the formalities.
Children would be extremely pleased to learn the views of Mahatma Gandhi on textbooks: “I do not want children to have any textbooks. The teacher may, if they so wish, read them. We may write as much for them as we please. If you write for children, you may make the teachers mechanical and destroy their originality and initiative. I do not, of course, wish to arrest the progress of teachers…Where the people need their books; all means buy them, but please understand what lies behind my attitude.”
Textbook is no longer the only resource available to students and teachers. The role and the presence of a teacher shall become more valuable as children would require guidance and counseling in charting out the right course and picking relevant information from the loads of information and knowledge emanating out of machines.
Every teacher shall require more intensive application of his professional competence and skills that needs to be renewed, upgraded and refurbished continuously. New textbooks, apart from laying only focus on reducing load, could also look into certain other responsibilities that are emerging in the fast-changing scenario in education.
In the words of Mahatma Gandhi: “Pupils should know to discriminate between what should be received and what rejected. It is the duty of the teacher to teach his pupils discrimination. If we go on talking indiscriminately, we would be no better than machines. We are thinking, knowing beings and must in this period distinguish truth from untruth. Sweet from the bitter language, clean from the unclean, and so on.” Coming from a visionary blessed with unparalleled foresight, this could be considered a statement of expectations from education of the future.
To err is human and textbook writers are no exception. The day a textbook is out of the Press, it is ready for revision. It may include corrections, additions of new and necessary inputs and simultaneously removal of redundant and obsolesce. It is a continuous process and this is the strong point of any organisation or publication house dealing with textbooks. Dynamic and distinguished systems of education are ever ready to take the next step ahead which will ultimately guarentee success.
(The writer is former Director, NCERT and an educationist)