Lok Sabha Question No. 3791 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-19
Subject: NCERT Syllabus
Ministry: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: T. RADHAKRISHNAN, R. GOPALAKRISHNAN, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL, ANWHAR RAAJHAA, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO, NARANBHAI KACHHADIA, ANTO  ANTONY, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, P.R. SUNDARAM, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, GOPALAKRISHNAN CHINNARAJ, NAGARAJAN P., DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, SHOBHA KARANDLAJE, KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH, PRATHAP SIMHA, SUDHEER GUPTA, VIJAY KUMAR S.R., GAJANAN CHANDRAKANT KIRTIKAR

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL EDUCATION & LITERACY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3791 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19.03.2018

## NCERT Syllabus

## 3791.  SHRI T. RADHAKRISHNAN:

SHRI R. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH

SHANKARRAO:

SHRI A. ANWHAR RAAJHAA:

SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

SHRI BIDYUT BARAN MAHATO:

SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA:

SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

DR. C. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

SHRI P. NAGARAJAN:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE:

KUNWAR HARIBANSH SINGH:

SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

SHRI SUDHEER GUPTA:

SHRI S.R. VIJAYAKUMAR:

SHRI GAJANAN KIRTIKAR:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  contemplates  to  reduce  the  current  National  Council  of Education  Research  and  Training  (NCERT)  school  syllabus  by  half  from  the  next  academic year;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Government is likely to make it implemented for all classes by all the State Boards in the country;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not the reasons therefor;
- (e) the benefits, the students are likely to get from such move and the time by which new syllabus is likely to be introduced; and
- (f) the steps taken/to be taken by the Government for unveiling the proposed New Education Policy at the earliest?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (SHRI UPENDRA KUSHWAHA)

(a) & (b) The purpose of education is to bring out a good human being out of the system. For  real  development  along  with  knowledge,  Life  Skill  education,  value  education,  physical education, experiential learning is essential. Creative skills need to be nurtured. It was demand from all stakeholders that because of heavy curriculum, there is no time left for all these aspects. Also rote learning is not the way forward. Therefore, School Syllabus must be rationalized. To achieve  this,  the  National  Council  of  Educational  Research  and  Training  (NCERT)  has  been advised to undertake an exercise to review its syllabus with a view to reducing the curriculum load on the students.  They have conducted a workshop in this regard and have come out with following plan of action for reducing the Curriculum burden:

1. Analysis of NCERT's syllabi and textbooks across subject areas and classes focusing on the following:
- a. Learning outcomes.
- b. Curriculum linkages across classes and subjects
- c. Overlapping in  the  content  (science  and  geography;  physics  and  chemistry, etc.)
- d. Comprehensibility of language
- e. Age-appropriateness of the content
- f. Diverse contexts
2. Inviting  suggestions from  teachers, students, parents and other stake holders through web portal on the reduction of curriculum load.
3. Developing  framework  for  Experiential  Learning  through  mapping  of  curricular concepts, life skills and values for holistic development of children.

Suggestions  have  been  invited  from  various  stakeholders  through  the  website  of  the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) on 05.03.2018.  The suggestions can be made till April 6 th , 2018.  NCERT has also placed an advertisement in the newspapers informing the  stakeholders  about  the  MHRD's  website  for  sending  their  suggestions  on  rationalizing curriculum burden.

(c) & (d) The  National  Curriculum  Framework  (NCF)  sets  the  guidelines  and  direction for the development of syllabi and textbooks at all the school stages. As a follow up to the NCF, model  curriculum,  syllabi,  text-books  and  other  supplementary  material  are  developed  by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Education, being a subject in the  Concurrent  List  of  the  Constitution  and  substantial  majority  of  schools  being  under  the jurisdiction of the State Governments, it is for the respective State Governments to either adopt or adapt the model curriculum, syllabi and textbooks developed by the NCERT or develop their own curriculum, syllabi and textbooks based on the National Curriculum Framework for their schools.

(e) As explained in reply to the Parts (a) and (b) above, the rationalization of the syllabus would  facilitate  the  students  for  their  holistic  development.  The  Government  has  already initiated  the  process  to  review  the  syllabus,  however,  no  fixed  time  frame  can  be  set  up  for completion of the exercise at this stage.

(f) The Government has set up a Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan for preparation of the Draft National Educational Policy.

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