Plz comment Anivar ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 08-Aug-2005 06:38
Dear All Following is a short summary of the report of the Focus Group of which I was a member and Anil Sadgopal was the convenor. This summary was prepared by the learning network people for inclusion in their newsletter. Please do take time to read the longer summary in the beginning of the report itself,(URL indicated below) and if possible, the full report (NCERT's website given beow) and pass on your comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED], preferably with a copy to me. Thanks. Ramki Ramakrishnan Visiting Professor Dept. Of Commerce North Eastern Hill University Shillong, India 793022 Tel:0364-2550075 Visit www.ramkishyam.blogspot.com for more of my 'Ramblings' ------------------------------------------------------------ Chiguru, Learning Network Newsletter, Vol. 2, Issue 2 14 Sharing Corner National Focus Group Work and Education We include below a summary of the position paper with the recommendations made by the National Focus Group on Work and Education. For more information and copies of this National Focus Group report, Read the draft of the NationalCurricular Framework 2005 with recommendations from all Focus Groups created to support the curriculum review at http://www.ncert.nic.in/sites/publication/schoolcurriculum/ncfr.htm This Position Paper aims to explore and institutionalize the pedagogic role of work in education in the context of building a truly national system of education. It examines how the rich knowledge base, social insights and skills of the marginalized children in relation to their habitat, natural resources and livelihoods can become a source of their dignity and strength in the school system. Based on a detailed critique of education policy and practice, the paper reveals how socially productive work has been marginalized in the pedagogy and curriculum offered in schools. It addresses the profound problem of growing alienation of the middleupper class children from their cultural roots and the central role played by the education system in aggravating and accelerating this process. The paper contends that this can be partly challenged by utilising the knowledge base of the productive sections of society to transform the education system. The paper makes the following two-pronged recommendations Reconstructing the school curriculum From the pre-primary to senior secondary stage, productive work will be the pedagogic medium for acquiring knowledge , developing values and forming multiple skills. Work-centred pedagogy will be pursued with increasing complexity, flexibility and contextuality as the child ages. The objective is to have a common core curriculum incorporating work-based pedagogy initially until Class X and, within the foreseeable future, up to Class XII for all children. A set of work related generic competencies (Basic, Inter-personal and Systemic) will be pursued at all stages of education. The evaluation parameters, assessment system, including public examinations, will be redesigned to accomodate these competencies. Generic competencies will include critical thinking, creativity, communication skills, work ethic of collaborative functioning and entrepreneurship-cum-social accountability. The idea is to provide a firm foundation to build a programme of 'Vocationalised Education' (different from 'Vocational Education') at the secondary/ higher secondary stages Designing a Vocational Education and Training (VET) program This will be based on the bedrock of 10-12 years of work centred education. The program will be designed for all those who wish to either acquire additional skills and/or seek livelihoods through vocations as a preferred dignified option, rather than as a strategy for diverting students away from the 'academic' stream. The noteworthy features of the proposed VET will include: flexible, modular certificate and diploma courses of varying durations multiple entry and exit points with in-built credit accumulation vertical and horizontal linkages with the academic, vocational and technical programmes accessibility at village clusters, block and district levels, and in urban areas provision for carving out 'work places' in the neighbourhood out of the existing economic activities, production and technical centres scope for engaging local farmers, artisans, mechanics, technicians, musicians, artists and other service providers as resource persons or invited faculty; and a decentralized accreditation and equivalence programme.
