The draft National Curriculum Framework (NCF) proposes to integrate Mathematics with arts, sports and language to make the subject more creative and aesthetic for school students. The document also emphasises taking measures to address the fear of Mathematics among students.
The draft mentions that the subject has been traditionally "robotic" and "algorithmic". Noting further that arts and Mathematics are linked through several concepts, the document suggests the use of rangoli patterns, origami, weaving, embroidery and recognising geometry in the architecture of monuments, among other ideas, as mentioned in a report by PTI.
"Teaching mathematics through sports could be fun for most of the students those who really struggle in understanding the Math concepts. Through sports, concepts related to measurement and mensuration could be easily taught and related unit conversions can be discussed simultaneously," the draft reads.
Two major aspects of Math cause fear
The draft additionally notes that two major aspects cause the fear of Mathematics. They are the nature of the subject and how it is being taught and how it is being perceived in society. "We must rethink the approach of teaching where students see mathematics as a part of their life, enjoy maths with a greater focus on reasoning and creative problem solving," the document says.
"At the same time, we need to work with the society to understand objective of education and some of the beliefs that cause harm to learning of students," it adds. Assessment reforms in the subject have also been suggested. "Tasks for problem solving, MCQs, data handling and analysis, investigative projects, Math lab activities, models, research projects, peer assessment, presentations including use of ICT may help formative assessment in Mathematics," the document says.
Girls not adept at Math?
It also seeks to break prevalent social beliefs that girls are not adept at Math and upper caste students have better computational abilities. "Prevalent social attitudes see girls as incapable of mathematics or association of formal computational abilities with the upper castes. Such social discriminations also cause fear and anxiety in students. We need to break these beliefs that exist in society," the NCF reads.
The NCF has been revised four times previously, in 1975, 1988, 2000 and 2005. The present revision will be the fifth. The draft was prepared by a national steering committee, headed by former ISRO Chief K Kasturirangan. It is based on the new National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
According to the PTI report, it suggests that an interdisciplinary approach offers students a chance to expand themselves beyond one subject domain by allowing them to tackle problems that do not fit exactly into one subject. It also changes how students learn by asking them to synthesise multiple perspectives, instead of driving their thoughts unidirectionally based on the understanding of one discipline.
Officials from the Ministry of Education have informed that the draft is in the final stages and will be placed in the public domain soon for feedback from stakeholders. The new system is proposed to be implemented from the 2024 academic session.
