According to the New Curriculum Framework (NCF), children in classes 9 and 10 will henceforth be required to learn three languages, including two that are native to India, while students in classes 11 and 12 would study one Indian language and one other language. The national steering committee, led by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan, has created the NCF in accordance with the new National Education Policy (NEP).
Currently, students in classes 9 and 10 are required to take two languages, whereas those in classes 11 and 12 are only required to take one. As of now, students in grades 9 through 12 are required to take five subjects, with the option of taking one more. The number of required topics will be seven for grades 9–10 and six for classes 11–12, per the NCF recommendations.
”Language across stages will help students develop democratic and epistemic values, and dispositions of respect for culture and diversity in society (‘cultural literacy’),” said the NCF document accessed by PTI.
”Learning more than one language will broaden students’ horizons and learning another Indian language will enable a deeper connection with the country and develop a sense of pride and belonging to the country,” it added.
On Wednesday, during the joint meeting of the National Oversight Committee (NOC) and National Syllabus and Teaching-Learning Material Committee (NSTC), Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan handed over the NCF to the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), paving the way for the creation of the school curriculum and textbooks.
For classes 9 and 10, all schools must provide three languages, “at least two of which are native to India,” according to the NCF’s definition of the curriculum.
