Implementation of National Curriculum

-Gita subedi २०७५ माघ २१ गते १०:३६ मा प्रकाशित

Curriculum is defined differently by different scholars based on their experiences and study. Different countries are applying different types of curriculum to guide their future generations and societies. Curriculum which specifies the learning standards of learners in a systematic way is the reflection of any country.

Curriculum is made to engage the learners touching with human feelings and skills. Some countries are more focusing on explicit curriculum while others are emphasizing on hidden and null curriculum as well. Whatever the context, the curriculum guides the educational system and brain of any country in terms of many regards. It matters because of its potential impacts on students and nation’s development.

Much progress has been made since long however most Nepali youths today lacks employment opportunities. It is said “Life is a curriculum unique to every student where every child should be taught how to think, read and write” but because of fragmentation in political system, Nepal is an increasingly important sending country for international students.

If curriculum is functional and could integrate the experience and demand of current society, it will definitely contribute towards the multifarious progress of nation. It shapes the thought process of citizen and contributes in the overall development of country. During curriculum designing process, national goals are developed targeting current and future generations. In the context of Nepal, the curriculum is theoretically well-designed considering all possibilities of contextual society where we can find all the most beautiful words of dictionary that it should ideally possess. Curriculum is well designed to explore the students’ creativity, criticality, collaboration and communication skillsto meet the national vision. But,there is a huge gap between its theory and practice. There is no research on how many teachers are understanding and internalizing the true meaning of its ultimate message. Misinterpretation and linguistic intelligence is being provoked too much. If someone speaks loudly and negatively, it is considered as the true advocacy of system. Instead of materializing the concept into context, academicians are playing with words. Researches are much centered on academic purposes only.

There are provision of local curriculum to help the learners in multiple ways to rural and urban transformation which can be applied in different contexts and provides platform to utilize learners’ learned skills, knowledge and attitude in daily social as well as personal activities. However, the culture of blaming others is becoming the part and parcel of lives. Everywhere, people give speech but they hardly follow after them. Commitment are becoming fashionable. Best interests of learners are becoming the slogans of many educationists.

Limited educational and employment opportunities in Nepal are among the factors driving the outflow of Nepali students however the national curriculum seeks to enhance the independent and problem solving approaches. There is the provision of optional subjects to contextualize the resources as per demand and importance. There are a lot of chances for teachers to devise the curriculum based on their own context. The provision of continuous assessment system or teacher made tests are encouraging things for the practioners to be creative and innovative in terms of assessment strategies and remedial teaching. But, we are creating dependent mentality from our schooling however there is written independent citizen will contribute in nation development to a fuller extend in curriculum.

Child friendly national framework and school sector development plan of Nepal Government is also clearly articulating and giving a lot of opportunities to teachers or educational leaders to make their learners competitive in this changing context. Children’s act and regulations, educational act and directives, national policies and strategic plans are adopting the international practices in to our curriculum. To apply or adopt the best child friendly strategies, activities and locally available resources, there are no obstacles for educators. But, the implementation part is hardly seen in community schools to a greater extend.

To respect the self-esteem of students, a lot of concepts related with child psychology and learning with fun are well integrated into curriculum.  For integration of ICT into pedagogy, many alternatives ways are provided to the institutions. The competencies of teachers are defined which are very scientific. In capacity enhancement programs also, the provision of project works are in place to enhance the learning of students. It is envisioned that action researches should do from educators for enhancing the quality education of country. In an essence, theoretically, existing curriculum is meaningful and academic as well but the ground reality is different. It is the matter of great discussion at all levels of our country. It is easier to formulate the policies but the concentration of concerned entities is lacking on implementation in the real sense.

The prerequisites to implement the national curriculum are not sufficient enough in many regards. There is no provision of curricular program audit in the country. Hidden and null curriculum is equally important to make a good citizen but we are investing many schooling years in an explicit curriculum without considering life skills of students. If such is a case for a long time, very catastrophic situation will be invited inside the country.

Nepal is a small country situated on top of the world but the completion rates in Nepal’s school system is not satisfactory because of transitional governance system. The implementation of the new federal system is not fully functional yet to materialize the national curriculum to a great extent. Different organizations are practicing different type of contents however the ultimate goal is same. The effective monitoring system from authoritative persons is neglected highly. Many people who speak, do and believe now is the essence of their schooling system. Despite this, many political parties’ first priority is not educational reform however they want to see the prosperous nation. By talking a lot, we are destroying the mind and heart of our nation builders. By creating the environment of staying inside the country, we can make happy Nepali, prosperous nation. If the citizens are capable enough, they can challenge and compete with other developed countries soon.

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