National Policies

Overview

India is a vast country with varied cultures and hundreds of languages. The aspirations of people of such a vast country too are likely to be highly varied. Under such circumstances it becomes difficult to sustain the integrity of the nation and ensure that the nation as a whole is moving towards progress.

One of the factors that helps in maintaining the integrity of the nation is education. The country progresses as the people living in it are educated. So it becomes very important for us to frame policies that reflect a vision for the country. Ever since 1947 we have been trying to design a national curriculum which reflects the aspirations of the country as a whole and also reflects a philosophy of educaction that suits the learning needs of every child. In this regard several commissions were set up for designing a national curriculum. It is important for us to know the history of such efforts. We need to know at what point of time, what type of practices were recommended and so on.

Reading

In this section you will have an opportunity to read about different Education Commissions and also the National Policies brought out from time to time. With this understanding, it is hoped, you will be able to place the present system in a continuum of reforms and understand the needs of the future. COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNMENTS OF INDIA[1] REPORT OF THE EDUCATION COMMISSION, 1964-66 (EDUCATION & NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.)[2] NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION -1986, MAY -1986[3] National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCERT, November 2000)[4] NATIONAL CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK - 2005[5] Position Papers of National Focus Groups[6] For more information on National Policies you can go thorough the above sources.

Activity

Find out the main differences in the recommendations of NEP 1986 and the National Curriculum Framework - 2005. List 10 recommendations with regard to school education from NEP 1986 and NCF 2005 Visit this site of Wikipedia and find out the major initiatives in education by the Government of India http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_India