From the Chair

From the Chair

It is with a great sense of pride and satisfaction that I submit this National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE), on behalf of the National Steering Committee for National Curriculum Frameworks to Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon'ble Minister of Education, Government of India.

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is a transformative initiative to usher India to prepare itself to meet the challenging demands of a 21st century knowledge society. The NCF-SE is one of the key components of NEP 2020, that enables and energises this transformation, informed by its aims, principles, and approach. Its objective is to realise the highest quality education for all our children, consistent with realising an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by our Constitution.

This is the first ever integrated Curriculum Framework for children between ages 3-18 in India. It is a direct outcome of the 5+3+3+4 'curricular and pedagogical' structure that NEP 2020 has come out with for School Education. To ensure appropriate focus and fillip to the Foundational Stage (ages 3-8), the detailed National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCF-FS) was released on 20 October 2022 by the Hon'ble Minister of Education, which is integrated within the NCF-SE. The National Curriculum Frameworks for Teacher Education, and for Adult Education, will follow shortly.

To ensure that this NCF is responsive to the needs and aspirations of our people, and the nation, and is also informed by the very best experience and knowledge we have conducted widespread consultations across the country. This process has benefited from the engagement of over 13 lakh interested citizens including students and parents, and over 1.5 lakh Teachers and educationists from across the country, over 1550 district level consultations from 32 States and Union Territories, and 35 groups of institutions. These consultations are in addition to over 600 papers on 25 specifically relevant themes written by groups constituted by the States and UTs which all together had over 4000 experts, and 25 papers on these themes developed by expert groups with over 175 members, constituted by the National Council for Educational Research and Training. The pre-draft of the NCF-SE was placed for public comment on 6 April 2023, and over 100 institutions and educators gave more than 1500 detailed comments.

While the NCF-SE is informed by this collective knowledge and wisdom, the real challenge has been to analyse these inputs and develop a cogent, pragmatic, and effective synthesis that will enable changes in practices on the ground. This, in turn, has called for the NCF-SE to be presented in a language, structure, and with a variety of illustrations, such that practitioners, including most importantly Curriculum and Syllabus Developers, Teaching-Learning-Material Developers, and Teachers, should be able to relate it to their current realities. I emphasise this aspect of the work of this Committee, primarily, to highlight the several challenges arising from the needs of developing innovative methods and approaches.

We have been able to deal satisfactorily with the extraordinarily challenging task of developing this NCF-SE because of the vibrant teamwork and dedication of my colleagues in this endeavour.

I must express my personal gratitude to all of them -- the members of the National Steering Committee for the National Curriculum Frameworks, the Mandate Group for the National Curriculum Frameworks, and the Technical Secretariat Group, and equally to the team members from the National Council of Educational Research and Training, and from the Ministry of Education.

Together, we are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Indian education and to the country through the NCF-SE, which will influence not just today but the coming decades.

K. Kasturirangan
Chairperson
National Steering Committee for National Curriculum Frameworks
29 July 2023
Bengaluru