The HRD Ministry is seeking suggestions from various stakeholders on the portions of the NCERT curriculum that can be done away. (Representational image)
On the matter of reducing the NCERT syllabus, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry today said in the Lok Sabha that it is up to the states to “adopt or adapt” to its plan to reduce NCERT curriculum in schools to lessen the burden on students. “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 states to either adopt or adapt the model curriculum, syllabi and textbooks developed by the NCERT,” said Minster of State for HRD Upendra Kushwaha in response to a written question in the Lok Sabha.
The HRD Ministry is seeking suggestions from various stakeholders on the portions of the NCERT curriculum that can be done away with to reduce the burden on students as it felt that the current syllabus was only making them examination driven.
The Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar had recently said the school syllabus is more than that of BA and B Com courses, and it needed to be reduced by half so that students get time for other activities for their all-round development. This will be done in the next two to three years and the curriculum would be revamped to include physical education, value education and life skills education.
The suggestions on the reduction of curriculum load can be made to the HRD Ministry till April 6 following which development of a framework for experiential learning will be carried out through mapping of curricular concepts, life skills and values for holistic development of children.