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By Express News Service
Describing the controversy over the rationalisation of NCERT books as “much ado about nothing,” Sanjay Kumar, secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Education Ministry, tells Kavita Bajeli-Datt that books could not be static and due process was followed before the changes were introduced in the textbooks.
Speaking on takeaways from the G20 education ministers meeting and learning losses due to Covid-19, he said the ministry is trying to get the new NCERT books revised as per National Education Policy by the next academic session.
Excerpts:
What are the major takeaways from the G20 education minister’s meeting?
The key takeaway for foundational literacy and numeracy is that the G20 countries are facing similar issues. So, you will see a similarity in approach in almost all the countries. The question is to what extent do you have to use technology? It is different for every country. But by and large, everyone’s on the same page that technology has to be used most innovatively. That is the biggest takeaway. The more significant issue is that it’s an excellent opportunity to showcase India. They see the Indian society, our cities, our culture, and our hospitality and the passion we have for development. It is an excellent opportunity to brand India worldwide. The general impression is that everyone is amazed by Indian hospitality.
At the end of the day, when you return with happy memories of the country, it is also good diplomacy. Most G20 countries are advanced countries. Most of the research is done there. They have some of the best universities. It is an excellent opportunity to partner with them. Ultimately, we are all living in what they say: One Earth, One family, One future. So, the message is clear that we live in an interconnected world. We are also looking at tech-enabled learning.
Covid-19 impacted the education sector severely. Are there any early indicators that we have been able to reach pre-pandemic levels?
We did a National Achievement Survey (NAS) in November 2020. There are two ways of looking at it. There have been learning losses all across the country in different subjects. But we also found that the learning losses concerning NAS 2017 were not as much as we had expected. It was just a marginal fall. This also shows that whatever we did during the Covid, we reached out to students through the DIKSHA platform, trained the teachers through NISHTHA and launched 12 TV channels.
We were able to reach out to children. The learning losses could have been much more acute. So that has been arrested. But there have been learning losses. I guess we are still catching up. We have started VIDYA PRAVESH. This is a three-month play-based school preparation module for Grade-I. Children have skipped an entire class. When the schools reopened, a person in class II found himself in class IV. Most states started a brief catch-up course for all the students. But I think it is going to take a little while. It isn’t easy to quantify how much time it will take. But it may take a year or two to catch up.
There has been a huge controversy about the rationalisation of NCERT books. Your comments?
I think it is much ado about nothing. You see, during the Covid times, we decided to reduce the course curriculum burden on the children. NCERT deleted some chapters. The new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is in the making. And once it comes up, all textbooks from pre-primary to class 12 will be reconstructed. We also must look at how knowledge changes with time. Many things change. Books also cannot be static. There may be differences of opinion on what has been dropped and what has been added. There is a certain process that is followed in the NCERT. Expert committees sit, deliberate, and based on their knowledge and expertise; they make specific recommendations about the books. So, NCERT takes decisions accordingly. The process was duly followed.
The political science textbook committee members have written to NCERT about dropping their names from the books. What do you have to say about this controversy?
They are entitled to their point of view. But I think the copyright of the books lies with the NCERT. Those committees are not in existence. They had been when the books were made. There is a certain process of adding or subtracting course content in our books. That has been followed. Some things have changed. We all come from different backgrounds. We may agree or disagree, but that is the essence of democracy. NCERT has made some deletions while rationalising the syllabus during the pandemic that the NCERT did not notify, like the portion on RSS, Gandhi and Gujarat riots. Those portions have gone through the process of the expert committee. If there is anything specific, then we can check and come back.
Hundreds of scientists have expressed concern over removing topics like the theory of evolution and the periodic table from tenth-grade textbooks. Your comments?
As I have said earlier, some course correction was done to reduce the load during Covid-19. It was a temporary reduction in the course curriculum. The new books will be out shortly.
When will the newly revised books based on National Education Policy (NEP) be rolled out? It was said that the new books would be rolled out by the 2024-25 academic year.
We’re working on it. We would want the books to come. But then we are also mindful that the quality of the books must not be compromised in any manner. We are also aware of the fact that we must get it right the very first time. If you are in the market and you go to buy books, you will get the first edition, second edition and third edition. So knowledge is something that is continually growing. Books are also continuously evolving, just like us. I am not a futurologist. But we are trying that in the next academic session; we must get as many books as possible.
We have made plans for how to roll out the books. We are waiting for the national curriculum framework (NCF) to be announced. The NCF is on track. We do hope that it will come out very shortly. Shortly means that it will come out in a couple of months.
Describing the controversy over the rationalisation of NCERT books as “much ado about nothing,” Sanjay Kumar, secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Education Ministry, tells Kavita Bajeli-Datt that books could not be static and due process was followed before the changes were introduced in the textbooks.
Speaking on takeaways from the G20 education ministers meeting and learning losses due to Covid-19, he said the ministry is trying to get the new NCERT books revised as per National Education Policy by the next academic session.
Excerpts:googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
What are the major takeaways from the G20 education minister’s meeting?
The key takeaway for foundational literacy and numeracy is that the G20 countries are facing similar issues. So, you will see a similarity in approach in almost all the countries. The question is to what extent do you have to use technology? It is different for every country. But by and large, everyone’s on the same page that technology has to be used most innovatively. That is the biggest takeaway. The more significant issue is that it’s an excellent opportunity to showcase India. They see the Indian society, our cities, our culture, and our hospitality and the passion we have for development. It is an excellent opportunity to brand India worldwide. The general impression is that everyone is amazed by Indian hospitality.
At the end of the day, when you return with happy memories of the country, it is also good diplomacy. Most G20 countries are advanced countries. Most of the research is done there. They have some of the best universities. It is an excellent opportunity to partner with them. Ultimately, we are all living in what they say: One Earth, One family, One future. So, the message is clear that we live in an interconnected world. We are also looking at tech-enabled learning.
Covid-19 impacted the education sector severely. Are there any early indicators that we have been able to reach pre-pandemic levels?
We did a National Achievement Survey (NAS) in November 2020. There are two ways of looking at it. There have been learning losses all across the country in different subjects. But we also found that the learning losses concerning NAS 2017 were not as much as we had expected. It was just a marginal fall. This also shows that whatever we did during the Covid, we reached out to students through the DIKSHA platform, trained the teachers through NISHTHA and launched 12 TV channels.
We were able to reach out to children. The learning losses could have been much more acute. So that has been arrested. But there have been learning losses. I guess we are still catching up. We have started VIDYA PRAVESH. This is a three-month play-based school preparation module for Grade-I. Children have skipped an entire class. When the schools reopened, a person in class II found himself in class IV. Most states started a brief catch-up course for all the students. But I think it is going to take a little while. It isn’t easy to quantify how much time it will take. But it may take a year or two to catch up.
There has been a huge controversy about the rationalisation of NCERT books. Your comments?
I think it is much ado about nothing. You see, during the Covid times, we decided to reduce the course curriculum burden on the children. NCERT deleted some chapters. The new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) is in the making. And once it comes up, all textbooks from pre-primary to class 12 will be reconstructed. We also must look at how knowledge changes with time. Many things change. Books also cannot be static. There may be differences of opinion on what has been dropped and what has been added. There is a certain process that is followed in the NCERT. Expert committees sit, deliberate, and based on their knowledge and expertise; they make specific recommendations about the books. So, NCERT takes decisions accordingly. The process was duly followed.
The political science textbook committee members have written to NCERT about dropping their
names from the books. What do you have to say about this controversy?
They are entitled to their point of view. But I think the copyright of the books lies with the NCERT. Those committees are not in existence. They had been when the books were made. There is a certain process of adding or subtracting course content in our books. That has been followed. Some things have changed. We all come from different backgrounds. We may agree or disagree, but that is the essence of democracy. NCERT has made some deletions while rationalising the syllabus during the pandemic that the NCERT did not notify, like the portion on RSS, Gandhi and Gujarat riots. Those portions have gone through the process of the expert committee. If there is anything specific, then we can check and come back.
Hundreds of scientists have expressed concern over removing topics like the theory of evolution and the periodic table from tenth-grade textbooks. Your comments?
As I have said earlier, some course correction was done to reduce the load during Covid-19. It was a temporary reduction in the course curriculum. The new books will be out shortly.
When will the newly revised books based on National Education Policy (NEP) be rolled out? It was said that the new books would be rolled out by the 2024-25 academic year.
We’re working on it. We would want the books to come. But then we are also mindful that the quality of the books must not be compromised in any manner. We are also aware of the fact that we must get it right the very first time. If you are in the market and you go to buy books, you will get the first edition, second edition and third edition. So knowledge is something that is continually growing. Books are also continuously evolving, just like us. I am not a futurologist. But we are trying that in the next academic session; we must get as many books as possible.
We have made plans for how to roll out the books. We are waiting for the national curriculum framework (NCF) to be announced. The NCF is on track. We do hope that it will come out very shortly. Shortly means that it will come out in a couple of months.
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