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Unit 21: Problems of Secondary Education...

Work, Arts, Heritage Crafts, Health and Peace Notes
The NCF also draws attention to the four other curricular areas: work, arts and heritage crafts,
health and physical education and peace. Certain radical steps to link learning from the primary
stage upwards with work are suggested on the ground that work transforms knowledge into
experience and generates important personal and social values such as self-reliance, creativity and
co-operation. Art as a subject at all stages is recommended, covering all four major spheres, i.e.
music, dance, visual arts and theatre with an emphasis on interactive approaches rather than
instruction. The goal of art education is to promote aesthetic and personal awareness and the
ability to express oneself in different forms.
The importance of India’s heritage crafts both in terms of their economic and aesthetic values
should be recognised as being relevant to school education. The success of the child at school
depends on the nutrition and a well-planned physical activity programme. The NCF recommends
that resources and school time must be deployed for the strengthening health and physical education
dimension at secondary and senior secondary stage both for boys and girls.. Peace has been
recognized as a pre condition for national development and as a social temper. It is proposed that
the potential of peace education for socializing children into a democratic and just culture should
be created through appropriate activities and judicious choices of topics in all subjects at all stages.

Secondary education spreads over the ages of 15 and 16, and then to 17 and 18 in the
senior secondary grades. These are the years of adolescence, and late adolescence. These
are the years of transition; indeed, most crucial years of life.

Curriculum Reform in States/UTs:
Considering the prevailing diversity and the federal character of our country, translating the
NCF-2005 vision into reality requires serious engagement of all States and Union Territories. This
concern seeks attention of all the stakeholders in the education sector. As the perspective of NCF
– 2005 is to be understood and internalized; the need arises for reviewing the existing curricular
practices in States/UTs which include syllabi and textbooks, classroom processes, infusion of
concerns and other areas such as Arts, Health and Physical Education, Work and Peace in the
curriculum domain. As a follow-up of the NCF – 2005 and new syllabi developed by the NCERT,
some of the states developed state curriculum frameworks whereas others directly moved on to
revision of their syllabi and textbooks. Some states, namely, Bihar, Kerala, Chattisgarh, Orissa and
Karnataka have developed their State Curriculum Frameworks. Eighteen States, namely, Andhra
Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand have revised their syllabi in the light of NCF – 2005. Among these states/UTs, a few
States/UTs (as mentioned in column A) have also adopted NCERT’s syllabi and textbooks for
different stages of school education. The table 1 depicts status of states/UTs on the revision including
adoption or adaption of syllabus and textbooks in tune with the NCF-2005.
1. There are a few states/UTs which adopt NCERT’s syllabus and textbooks at secondary level,
and also claim to have practicals in science are not able to actually conduct practicals regularly
due to lack of adequate laboratories and equipments. Researches have shown that lack of
hands-on experiences in science seriously effect learners’ performance in science, With the
introduction of science practicals at secondary level these states/UTs need to immediately
procure micro-scale science laboratory kits for every secondary school and initiate actions
for teacher training in this area for providing learners proper science education.
2. The Table 1 shows that there are a few states/UTs such as Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh,
Jharkhand, Uttarkhand, etc. which have adopted/adapted the NCERT’s textbooks for all the
stages or for maximum number of classes i.e. from VI – XII. These textbooks in consonance
with the NCF-2005 present new approach for subject teaching and provide opportunity within

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