On Thursday, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan declared the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for the foundational stage for children between ages 3 to 8.
Thanks to the National Education Policy 2020 (NEP), children just 3 years old will also be introduced to the traditional schooling system and that This is the first time the NCF has been prepared for the foundational stage.
The National Curriculum Framework consists of the following four sections:
National Curriculum Framework for School Education
National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education
National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education
National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education
K V S Seshasai, CEO, Pre-K Division, Lighthouse Learning, said, "Through this NCF initiative, it would help us educate the parents that the development of cognitive and socio-emotional skills is equally essential as developing literacy and numeracy skills, early in life." He also mentioned how hassle-free a process it will be for kids to engage in studies with more worksheets than textbooks. "The focus of NCF on story-based, project-based and theme-based approaches for educating children in the early years will help enhance the learning experience for the children," he further added.
"The pre-primary education sector has changed a lot. Every stage in a pre-primary section is very important for the kids. If initial years are not taken proper care of, then they face issues in the later years," said Mrs Aruna Agarwal, Principal, Kidzee Powai. She also said how due to the pandemic the children had absolutely no learning, and that there were kids who didn't even know how to hold a pencil. "Hence, it is a very good initiative by the government of involving 'play' in their curriculum. However, it has to be balanced at the same time. Along with playing, they must be taught how to hold and write at the right time, so as to avoid building of pressure later," added Mrs Agarwal.
