Recreating Knowledge

Different capabilities, practices, and skills of understanding gets

categorized and are formulated in ‘subjects’ of study. These subjects
and related activities gets interwoven with ethical understanding.
Language as well as aesthetic domain require both approaches
(theoretical and practical). This approach to knowledge necessitates a
move away from ‘facts’ as ends in themselves, and a move towards
locating facts in the process through which they come to be known, and
moving below the surface of facts to locate the deeper connections
between them that give them meaning and significance. Children
engaged in undertaking environment-related projects may contribute
to generation of knowledge that could help create a transparent public
database on India’s environment.
But in India a traditional subject based approach has been followed to
organize the curriculum focusing only on the discipline. Thus, making
knowledge ‘packaged’, in textbooks with traditional ritual of assessing
via examinations and ‘marks’ judging competence in the subject area.
This approach has led to several problems in our education system.
1. Unorganized areas in textbooks and examination become
sidelined, described as ‘extra’ or ‘co-curricular’. They rarely get
attention and important areas of knowledge such as work and
associated practical intelligences get completely neglected.
2. The subject areas become watertight compartment. Knowledge
seems fragmented rather than interrelated and integrated.
3. And information takes precedence over knowledge because what
is already known gets emphasized blocking child’s own
construction of knowledge.
4. Contemporary knowledge gets formed into ‘new subjects’ instead
of them being incorporated into curriculum through existing
subjects and ongoing activities leading to increased curriculum
load.
 5. The principles for selecting knowledge for inclusion in the
curriculum are not well worked out.

CHILDREN’S KNOWLEDGE AND LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

NCF 2005 advocates for acquisition of knowledge to be based upon
child’s community and local environment in which learning takes place
primarily. Since domains of knowledge has grown enormously,
knowledge was selected on the basis of relevance (knowledge relating
to usefulness in later adult life), interest (it is a useful measure but
shouldn’t be reduced to simplistic notion of enjoyment) and
meaningfulness (knowledge being learnt should be meaningful). The
child’s interaction with the environment is where he constructs
knowledge and derives meaning. The local environment consists not
only of the physical and natural world but also the socio-cultural world.
Local environment is a natural learning resource available for critical
reflection. This practice has been neglected for long. And since the aim
of knowledge is to connect with the world, it is imperative of education
to inculcate it into the curriculum and pedagogic practices. Learning
helps us to connect us with a future vision of our community,
encouraging reflection on it and to use that knowledge.

SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE AND THE COMMUNITY

Experiences of socio-cultural world is imperative for a child learning, so

it should be a part of our curriculum. This knowledge helps him
understand plurality of people and ways of life further ensuring no
community oversimplified, labelled, or judged. The social context calls
for a much greater critical awareness and critical engagement on the
part of curriculum developers and teachers. Community-based
identities, of gender, caste, class and religion are primary identities, but
they can also be oppressive and reaffirm social inequalities and
hierarchies. Here School acts an institution of social reality where a
child can develop his critical understanding. And if communities have
any question the School must be prepared to engage with them and
persuade them to see the educational value of it. It also ensures the
participation of children of all groups in our secular education.

SOME DEVELOPMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

The school years are a period of rapid development, with changes and
shifts in children’s capabilities, attitudes and interests that have
implications for choosing and organizing the content and process of
knowledge. So, it is an important dimension of determining the
approach to, and selection and organization of the areas of the
curriculum with respect to a child intensive growth and development.
They create and recreate knowledge on the basis of experience,
language abilities and interaction with other human s and natural
world. They start constructing knowledge from the very first day of
school which is intuitive but School provides opportunities to build on
this in a more conscious and engaged manner.
At the primary level, an important place must be given to language and
mathematics in all activities across the curriculum. This should include
an enriching interaction with the natural and social environment,
working with one’s hands, and understanding of social interactions, and
developing one’s aesthetic abilities.
At the middle level, above mentioned forms of knowledge should be
taken into consideration. The creation of a space for explorations into
social issues and knowledge without boundaries could at this stage go a
long way in encouraging rational thinking.
And at the secondary level, children would have acquired a sufficient
knowledge base, experience, language abilities and maturity to engage
with different forms of knowledge in the full sense: concepts, structure
of body of knowledge, investigation methods and validation procedures
resulting into a close link of subjects.
Language

India is a country in which the Indo European family of languages is

spoken mostly in north and central India. Of this group, 54 languages
constitute 3/4 of the Indian population. About 1/4 of languages i.e. 20
belong to South India of Dravidian family. In Assam 20 languages are
spoken. In northeast India 98 languages are spoken, even though its
population density is much less than that of other states of the country.
In total therefore, in the NE 118 languages are spoken. In this context,
the role of Hindi and English becomes very important.
Language can be seen as an extremely complex and rule governed
system and NCF 2005 finds language being the foundation of
knowledge, imperative for the curriculum.
Here language has been assumed as bi/multilingual. And children are
born with an innate faculty for it. Sometimes children come to school
with the knowledge of two-three languages already. Even differently
talented children who can’t speak develop equally complex alternative
sign and symbol systems for expression and communication.
Language provides a bank of memories, the medium of construction of
most knowledge closely related to our thoughts and identity. Effective
understanding and use of languages(s) enables the child to make
connections between ideas, people and things, and to relate to the
world around.
It is important to recognize the inbuilt linguistic potential of children as
well as to remember that languages get socio-culturally constructed
and change in our day-to-day interactions. Language(s) in education
should ideally be built on this resource, and strive to enrich it through
the development of literacy (scripts including Braille) for the acquisition
of academic knowledge. Language skills like speech and listening,
reading and writing cut across through school subjects and Disciplines.
Their foundational role in children’s construction of knowledge right
from elementary classes through senior secondary classes needs to be
recognized.

Language Education

The linguistic diversity of India poses complex challenges but also a

range of opportunities. The three-language formula is an attempt to
address the challenges and opportunities of the linguistic situation in
India. This strategy serve as a launching pad for learning more
languages which needs to be followed both in letter and spirit. Its
primary aim is to promote multilingualism and national
Harmony. It could be achieved through the following points-
1. Language teaching needs to be multilingual.
2. Home language(s) of children, should be the medium of learning
in schools.
3. If a school does not have provisions for teaching in the child's
home language(s) at the higher levels, primary school education
must still be covered through the home language(s). It is
imperative that we honour the child's home language(s).
4. In the non-Hindi-speaking states, children learn Hindi. In the case
of Hindi speaking states, children learn a language not spoken in
their area.
5. Sanskrit may also be studied as a Modern Indian Language (MIL)
in addition to these languages. At later stages, study of classical
and foreign languages may be introduced.

Several studies have shown that bilingual proficiency raises the levels of
cognitive growth, social tolerance, divergent thinking and scholastic
achievement. Societal or national-level multilingualism is a resource
that can be favourably compared to any other national resource.
Mother-tongue Education

A child enters a school with thousands of words and a full control of the
rules of a language. He knows how to understand and speak correctly in
different contexts. She can modulate her behaviour in terms of person,
place and topic. Honing these skills by progressively fostering
advanced-level communicative and cognitive abilities in the classroom
is the goal of first-language(s) education. It is indeed hard to exaggerate
the importance of teaching home languages at school. Children
come equipped with basic interpersonal communicative skills, they
need to acquire cognitively advanced levels of language proficiency at
school. Higher-level proficiency skills easily transfer from one language
to another, it is thus imperative that we do everything we can to
strengthen the sustained learning of Indian languages at school.
Language education is not confined to the language classroom. A
science, social science or mathematics class is ipso facto a language
class. Such a policy of languages across the curriculum fosters a genuine
multilingualism in the school. At the same time, the language class
offers some unique opportunities such as stories, poems, songs and
drama link children to their cultural heritage, and also give them an
opportunity to understand their own experiences and to develop
sensitivity to others.

Second-language Acquisition

India is a multilingual country where English plays the role of a global

language. The goals for a second-language curriculum are twofold:
attainment of a basic proficiency, such as is acquired in natural
language learning, and the development of language into an instrument
for abstract thought and knowledge acquisition through (for example)
literacy. It led to across-the-curriculum approach that broke down the
barriers between English and other subjects, and English and other
Indian languages.
Initially English acts as a language for learning activities but later all
learning happens through language. The aim of English is the creation
of multilinguals who can enrich all our languages which is an abiding
national vision. Therefore English needs to find its place amongst other
Indian languages. English must be seen in relation to other subjects; a
language across the curriculum is of particular relevance to primary
education, and later all teaching is in a sense language teaching. This
perspective bridges the gap between "English as subject" and "English
as medium" creating a system that doesn’t make a distinction between
"teaching a language" and "using a language as a medium of
instruction".
Textbooks, learner-chosen texts, and class libraries, are a prerequisite
for language learning and all teachers should have the skills to teach
English in ways appropriate to their situation and levels based on some
knowledge of how languages are learnt. A variety of materials should
be made available to provide an input-rich curriculum, which focuses
on meaning.
Evaluation of English should be made on an enabling factor for learning
rather than an impediment, evaluation need not be tied to
"achievement " with respect to particular syllabus but also be
reoriented to the measurement of language proficiency.

Learning to Read and Write

Presently our education system needs to pay special attention to

reading and writing particularly in the case of home language. Whereas
second and third language requires all the skills including
communicative competence. Children learn much better in holistic
situations Rich and comprehensible input should be constituted in
different skills of language. Language – as a constellation of skills,
thought encoders and markers of identity–cuts across school subjects
and disciplines. Speech and listening, reading and writing, are all
generalized skills, and children's mastery over them becomes the key
factor affecting success at school. Language doesn’t stop at primary
level but goes up to higher level like development of life skills such as
critical thinking skills, interpersonal communication skills, negotiation/
refusal skills, decision making/ problem-solving skills, and coping and
self-management skills are very critical for dealing with the demands
and challenges of everyday life requires language faculty only.
For a language teacher training of speech should be associated with
expressive and participatory functions of language instead of
‘correctness’ of pronunciation. Same way during listening activities,
focus should be upon to what is being said and to value the other
person's point of view and to make flexible hypotheses about the
meaning. Listening can be enriched with the help of music, which
includes folk, classical and popular compositions. Reading has readily
been accepted as a focus area for language education, school syllabus
burdened with information-absorbing and memorizing tasks, kills the
pleasure of reading for its own sake.
The importance of writing is well recognized, but the curriculum needs
to attend to its innovative treatments. Teachers insist that children
write in a correct way. Whether they express their own thoughts and
feelings through writing is not considered too important and writing in
mechanically correct ways blocks the urge to use writing to express or
to convey one's ideas.
A language teacher should promote the culture of reading. Writing
abilities should be developed holistically in conjunction with the
sensibilities associated with talking, listening, and reading. Imagination
and originality should be allowed to play a more prominent role in
education.
Conclusion

In NCF 2005 one can find that the main emphasize propagated is to
provide learning without burden. It is well written and all the aspects of
child centered learning has been discussed but when it is seen
implemented in schools one finds a great failure on the part of
educational leaders. The policies made by educationists are found to be
old and stagnated. The main issue is who will take care of the need of a
child, teacher, parents or system. Since all these three things are
required to furnish the child centered approach. NCF 2005 is
emphasizing that for learning without burden we should adopt the child
centered approach of learning and must believe in the intelligence of a
child. A Child should be provided such a kind of environment where he
or she can learn without any force and fear. And since each and every
student is unique it is essential to understand their uniqueness and
provide knowledge as per their capabilities and interest. And for it we
need to be required a constructive approach of teaching and learning. If
we need to adopt constructivism in our teaching and the learning of
students. Then the finest solution is to let them free, to let them think
what they want to think and draw out the best possibility of interest in
his or her own area. Though it seems very difficult but if we exclude the
syllabus from the system then it is quite easy to implement. Though
now we are adopting a curriculum centered approach for teaching but
now activities are also turned to be the burden for a child. And if some
how they performed good in activities then the ultimate touch stone
for judging the overall assessment of a child is his or her academic
performance. Then what is the purpose of activities? And are we able
to draw the best from a child? Then we will find the answer that still
child feel burdened due to the failure of the implementation of the
polities of education in real life scenario.