Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday said the Government is making concerted efforts to include agriculture as part of the school curriculum. The Minister was addressing a brainstorming session organised by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). He said agriculture, which is the priority and strength of the Indian economy, acts as its backbone in adverse conditions. He also stressed on mainstreaming agriculture curriculum under the New Education Policy (NEP)-2020. The session discussed the development of policy and pathway to introduce agriculture as a subject in course curriculum and provide optionsto students to explore a career in the various arenas of the farm sector.
National Council of Education Research and Training professor and head of department of curriculum studies Anita Nuna said: "The NEP-2020 will enable the overall development of school students besides just providing them with the bookish knowledge. It will also equip the students to convert the knowledge to action."
ICAR director general Trilocan Mohapatra, ICAR deputy director general (Education) R C Agrawal and Association of India Universities general secretary Pankaj Mittal were present in the session.
Experts from the ICAR, NCERT, CBSE along with various school principals and teachers participated and deliberated on the need and process for the introduction of agriculture as a subject in school curriculum.