Let’s start with a little imagination.
You are building a sandcastle, but it is somehow not getting its shape.
You have been carefully stacking the sand, but somehow it is crumbling down.
Know why?
9 out of 10 times the reason is because you are building on a weak base.
And the same status could be of education in India too, had NCF not been there.
So let’s understand what NCF is and how it is changing the gameplay of foundational learning in Indian Education.
NCF was first introduced in 1975 and since then it has been keenly working on making education in India a perfect option for all students in the country.
Over the years, it has been updated in 1988, 2000, and 2005 where every version tried updating the education based upon the societal changes, updates and new requirements.
The recent update of NCF, envisions to align with National Education Policy (NEP), to focus more on holistic, flexible, and multidisciplinary approach to education.
NCF is not just a rule book that institutions have to follow, it carries out an extensive research process and understands the global best practices and updates the policies in education accordingly to keep up with the changing world in the best way.
In this process, it lays down the best practices of what children should learn and what they should be taught at the different stages of their development.
And one crucial stage amongst others is the foundational learning, known to set the base of skills, understanding, and knowledge in every child’s life.
Whenever a child starts its education journey, this stage is the first one from which they walk through. As the name suggests, this stage covers the importance of pre primary education where children from 1-8 years in age attend their preschool or early years of primary school.
It is one of the most significant stages because children here learn the basics, like speaking clearly, recognizing letters and numbers, and starting to read and write.
And it does not just include academics, it also focuses on developing social skills, creativity, and emotional understanding.
According to research from Harvard University, “A child’s brain develops more during the first five years than at any other time in their life.”
Hence if the rhythm is set right at this stage, the child gets a better understanding of life and how to make the best of it with the right habits and learning attitudes.
It helps in building a strong learning foundation. The NCF lays out clear goals for what children should achieve by the end of the foundational stage. This helps teachers in guiding the children effectively.
The NCF helps in creating a strong base in the essential skills. They focus on basic literacy, numeracy skills, along with social and emotional development. If this solid foundation is not there or not implemented properly, children might find it hard to grasp more complex concepts as they move through school.
It promotes play based and experiential learning. Traditional teaching methods, like rote memorization, are no longer working well at this stage. So the NCF encourages activities that are fun and engaging, helping children learn naturally and not forcefully.
The main focus of the National Curriculum Framework is the Holistic Development of the child. They highlight the importance of a balanced and engaging approach.
It emphasizes schools to have a joyful learning environment where children are excited to learn new things.
There is an inclusive focus on education, where every child receives quality education, irrespective of his background, ability, or language.
It tries to devise a strategy where students don’t just learn educational skills but also the ones that are practical and relevant to their lives. It connects what children learn in school to the world around them, helping them see the value in their education as schools try to implement everyday activities like gardening, shopping, or cooking.
The NCF also sets clear learning outcomes for children at the foundational stage. This helps schools to set a focused and planned curriculum as they set these outcomes as goals for what children should know and be able to do by the end of their curriculum. This helps teachers to keep a track of what students are learning and identify areas where they might need extra help.
With NCF, students are not just gaining knowledge and completing their education. They are able to understand concepts that help them stay updated with their life, and tackle some real life situations easily.
And how can schools ensure that they follow all these guidelines to bring out the best in students? Sit with every policy in hand and understand the best practices that can be incorporated to make pre primary schooling better for kids?
This could take a whole year to research, plan, and devise a plan that suits the needs of kids who are going to cope with the future challenges of life, with new updates in technology, making things more difficult to adapt too.
But here’s Mittsure sorting everything for you. Doing the research of your part, planning, and devising an innovative learning series, made specially for Nursery, LKG, and UKG students.
We have created LumaLearn which is becoming the ultimate choice for early education as it brings a thoroughly crafted curriculum, interactive workbooks, and a complimentary Jaadui Pitara, taking inspiration from NCERT, for schools to transform their classrooms into immersive learning spaces.
So get play based learning and complimentary Jaadui Pitara with detailed manuals for teachers so that your school is completely NCF aligned for foundational learning.
