THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 05 March 2020 [A disconnected pedagogy (Indian Express)]

A disconnected pedagogy (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 2: Education
Prelims level: National Curriculum
Mains level: Limitation in the national curriculum

Context:

• Should there be a National Curriculum? And if yes, what should be its guiding principles?
• Given our heroic times, we may perhaps demand that it should be “in the spirit of the Constitution, respect the idea of India and serve its people without discrimination”.

About national curriculum:

• It turns out that we already have a national curriculum. It is a fixed set of topics prescribed in all subjects — from physics to geography, and engineering to planning.
• It is taught in English at our elite MHRD institutions.
• It has not been .............................

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Engineering curriculum problems:

• We already know that the national engineering curriculum fails miserably in meeting regional needs.
• Engineering for Himachal Pradesh needs to be different from that in Maharashtra or Kerala.
• And it must address the needs of core industries, local enterprises, the provisioning of basic amenities such as water and energy.
• None of this is in our national curricula or practised at the IITs. Moreover, there is no mechanism for engineering colleges to work with their communities.

Curriculum for social sciences:

• At the BA level, it is divided into several disciplines — for instance, political science, sociology and economics. Since much of life in India is interdisciplinary.
• As a result, many activities such as preparing the balance sheet for a farmer, or analysing public transport needs, and development concerns such as drinking water or even city governance, are given a miss.

Economics curriculum:

• The UGC-NET curricula in economics has 10 units, the very last unit is Indian Economics.
• Unit 8 is on Growth and ,............................................

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Sociology curriculum:

• In sociology, we see that as with economics, there is no preamble nor a list of textbooks or case studies. Again, there are 10 units, and each unit is a list of about 30 topics.
• Unit 1 is “Sociological Theory” which is a breath-taking list of 22 thinkers from the West, starting from Durkheim, wending through Foucault and ending with Castells. We then have six Indian thinkers — the usual four, Gandhi, Ambedkar, G S Ghurye and M N Srinivas, and two others.
• Under “Social Institutions”, we have a list of timeless words such as culture, marriage, family and kinship.
• Peasant occurs two times, but there is no farmer. Here is a sample question: “Who uses the phrase ‘fetishisms of commodities’ while analysing social conditions?” followed by four names.

National curricula need to be followed every institution:

• Indeed, the training at our elite institutions, and consequently, in the national curricula, is not to empower ordinary students to probe their lived reality.
• Or to contribute professionally and .................................................

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Needed to be removal of the limitations in social science:

• The social science curriculum has the same structural limitations as engineering.
• The national curriculum today is antithetical to the idea of India as an organic union of intelligent people, diverse in their ways of life and their geography.
• It diminishes their intellectual capability and hinders their right to pursue their culture and improve their material conditions.
• That is the real reason why higher education has become a waste of money. As per the Constitution, higher education is the business of the states.
• The role of the Centre is circumscribed by items 62-66 of Schedule VII.
• Much of the conduct of MHRD and its institutions, and certainly competitive exams, is against the spirit of the Constitution.

Way forward:

• One-nation-one-curriculum certainly has some advantages in enabling mobility of some jobs, especially in the national bureaucracy and a multinational economy. But it is at the cost of the developmental needs of the states and the emergence of good jobs there.
• This asymmetry .....................................................

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Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q1. With reference to the new Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), consider the following statements:
1. It is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) – a Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU).
2. It is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2

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Mains Questions:
Q1. What are the major objectives ...................................................?

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