The Ministry of Education's (MoE) National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF) is meant to guide school education. Because education is important not only for its immediate participants but also for the well-being of society as a whole, it is crucial to grasp what the NCF is all about. In the interest of full disclosure, I am a member of the ministry's development group.

Curriculum refers to the complete educational experience of children in schools—the learning goals, syllabus, pedagogical practises, teaching-learning-materials, classroom practises, school culture, and more.

This broad concept of curriculum is preferable to a tight definition because all of these factors influence children's learning. This comprehensive definition of curriculum is more accurate than the limited one that just comprises the syllabus, content, pedagogy, and assessment.

The NCF is a framework for developing curricula, not a curriculum. It specifies the principles, aims, structures, and elements for developing curriculum, which will subsequently influence the syllabus, teaching-learning material, including textbooks, and assessment (examinations). All of these will need to be developed by relevant state organisations, such as school boards or other governing bodies.

While acknowledging that school education is the prerogative of states, such a shared national framework promotes harmony and coherence in school education among Indian states. As a result, the NCF is a vital tool that ensures the integrity of our country's federal system. 

The NCF's strategy and ideals may have stayed at a high degree of abstraction. However, decades of experience demonstrate that specificity is essential for educational practitioners. Teachers, school leaders, syllabus developers, textbook authors, education administrators, and others are examples of practitioners.

For example, the NCF could just say a school’s cultural practices must promote equity and pluralism. Instead, the NCF states this principle, but then goes on to specifically articulate practices that help develop the values of equity and pluralism.

The specific practices ground the principles and make them real. But these practices are illustrative, and schools are free to and develop their own practices based on these principles.

Over the next several columns, we will explore how the NCF deals with these many other specific and important aspects of school education, and how these may help in improving it.