Piyush Dwivedi: Education is one of the main factors for the progress of any country. Taking a big leap in the field of education can take an edge in global competitiveness, but it also depends to a large extent on the condition and direction of your curriculum.
Talking about India in this context, recently the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to the Ministry of Education has given some suggestions while presenting a report in the Parliament.
The committee has suggested the implementation of a uniform curriculum in schools of CBSE, ICSE, and various state education boards.
The committee is of the opinion that this will bring uniformity in school education and a standard of education will be set for the whole country.
Since the country has got a new education policy after almost three and a half decades last year, through which many avenues of improvement in the Indian education system are seen an opening, so it is the right time to consider the above suggestion of the Parliamentary Committee. Consideration should be given to adopting the system of ‘One Nation One Curriculum’.
The debate on a uniform curriculum is not new in the country. This topic has been raised and discussed at many levels in the past as well.
Last year, public interest litigation was filed by Ashwini Upadhyay in the Supreme Court seeking a uniform education system with a common curriculum for all children in the age group of six to 14 years.
The petition had sought a direction to the Center to explore the possibility of setting up ‘One Nation One Education Board’ in the country by merging various education boards. However, then the court refused to entertain this petition and said, ‘How can you request the court to merge one board with another.
These are not the business of the court.’ Since this is a policy subject, the court should not interfere in it, but now that the Parliamentary Committee has suggested a similar course in the House, the policymakers of the country have to take a call on it. Attention should be given.
Considering the present educational scenario of India, the talk of a uniform curriculum across the country seems appropriate and beneficial in many ways. By adopting this system, many problems prevailing in the education system of the country can be got rid of.
The biggest advantage of the same curriculum would be that it would reduce the intellectual disparity among the students due to different courses from different boards. Although even after this, the difference in the qualification of teachers, infrastructural facilities, etc.
will remain in the schools of different boards, yet a similar curriculum can prove to be important towards realizing the concept of equal opportunity to acquire knowledge.
Another great advantage of uniform curricula is that they can to some extent prevent education from becoming an instrument of politics. History courses are often a victim of politics. We often see what kind of misconceptions are spread in Indian history courses.
Presentation of the same event that happened in history is found in different ways in different states. Sometimes governments start determining history according to their political agenda.
The example of Rajasthan can be given in this subject, wherein the history of class X it was taught that Akbar’s army had won the battle of Haldighati, but in the year 2013, after the BJP came to power in the state, it changed course in 2017.
While making it clear that Maharana Pratap had won over Akbar in the battle of Haldighati. Then in the 2018 elections, the BJP was out of power and after coming to the government, the Congress removed important episodes like Maharana Pratap’s struggle, Chetak’s valor related to the history of the Haldighati war.
In such a situation, how will the students know the true history of the country? Due to the arbitrarily set curriculum by the state governments, this important component of the education system is falling prey to parochial politics, the way to stop which can be found somewhere through a common curriculum.
Apart from this, as the Parliamentary Committee has said in its proposal to underline the contribution of ancient India in the curriculum, a similar curriculum is also necessary to give it a concrete shape.
India is a country of diversity, so one has to be very careful while prescribing a syllabus across the country. The curriculum should be such that the regional diversity of the country is taken care of and there is a sense of respect for the socio-cultural identity of all.
This task is not easy. The government may, if it so desires, constitute a Central Commission on the syllabus, which, through dialogue and coordination with the states, can prepare such a uniform curriculum at the national level.
It is possible that some State Governments may try to create unnecessary obstacles in this work, but since education is a subject of the Concurrent List, in case of dispute, the decision of the Central Government i.e. the Commission will be valid.
Whatever be done, but now the need of the hour is to build a national curriculum in accordance with the aspirations of the country, strengthened by the spirit of nationalism and in line with the needs of the future.
The Narendra Modi government has taken many big, historic, and bold decisions so far, so it can be expected that this government will also pay attention to this matter considering it important.