Toys, puzzles, posters, puppets, playbooks and flash cards will be the new tools found in the ‘Jaadui Pitara’ to teach children in the age-group of 3-6.

Launching the new teaching-learning material for the foundational stages, union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday announced that it will be made mandatory to implement it in at least 1,200 central-government run schools across the country from the 2023-24 academic session.

Under the new National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the government had launched a new national curriculum framework (NCF) for the foundational stages (3-8 years) on October 20 last year. The NCF emphasises on teaching students in their mother tongue, both in public and private schools, up to eight years. It focuses on conceptualised-learning instead of rote learning.

The ‘Jaadui Pitara’ with tools like puzzles, toys, posters, worksheets and drawing books will be used to teach children through storytelling, conversations, poems, rhymes and magic tricks, including folklore, cultural and social context.

The NEP envisages a ‘5+3+3+4’ curriculum pedagogical structure. The Department of School Education and Literacy under the ministry has formed a National Steering Committee, headed by K Kasturirangan, to develop the NCF for each of the stages. The NCF for the rest of the classes is being formulated at present and will be launched in phases.

DYNAMIC TEACHING

Play-based teaching is at the core of the NCF for foundational stages, while there will be no textbooks for teaching these classes. “I have tasked the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) to make this teaching-learning material reach 1200 central-run schools from this academic session and children to be taught with the new pedagogy from this year itself,” said Pradhan.

He further said that textbooks for classes I and II will be released shortly. The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been tasked with developing these books in 13 languages. “The NCERT can send two jaadui pitaras each to state councils for adopting the new material. It will also form teams for orientation of states into the teaching material. Schools can create their own pitaras and it’s not necessary to use the same box, as it’s a dynamic process and materials will keep changing with time,” the minister said.

The NCERT has developed a trainers’ handbook, mapping the curriculum goals for future training of teachers at the foundational stage, he added.

Pradhan also said that as a national think-tank, the NCERT must organise a conclave of start-ups in the country to share their ideas and develop tools for leaning.

While making a reference to the recent student suicides at two IITs in the country, he said, that the NCF has been formulated to cull out the fear and pressure from students minds from the very beginning where the foundation itself is strong and based on critical-thinking.

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