Question Discussion & Solution

Ever since 1986 when the National Policy on Education was approved by Parliament, efforts to redesign the curriculum have been focused on the creation of a national system of education.

National Curriculum Framework (NCF):

• NPE proposed a national framework for curriculum as a means of evolving a national system of education capable of responding to India’s diversity of geographical and cultural milieus while ensuring a common core of values along with academic components.
• The NPE (1986) entrusted NCERT with the responsibility of developing the National Curriculum Framework and reviewing the framework at frequent intervals.
• The National Curriculum Framework 2005 is an official document laying down the needs of the school system of India envisioning the Constitution of India upholding all its tenets.
• The main purpose was to reduce the curriculum load, remove the anomalies in the system and to create a consensus with the help of new syllabi in the form of a thematically organized body of knowledge. 

Hence, it is clear that the National Curriculum Framework was developed by the NCERT.

The Five Basic Tenets of the NCF 2005:

• Connecting knowledge to life outside the school.
• Ensuring that learning shifts away from rote methods.
• Enriching the curriculum so that it goes beyond textbooks.
• Making examinations more flexible and integrating them with classroom life, and
• Nurturing an overriding identity informed by caring concerns within the democratic polity of the country.

• University Grants Commission (UGC): It came into existence on 28th December 1953 and became a statutory Organization of the Government of India by an Act of Parliament in 1956, for the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of teaching, examination and research in university education.
• National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE): The NCTE, as a statutory body came into existence in pursuance of the National Council for Teacher Education Act on the 17th August 1995. The main objective of the NCTE is to achieve planned and coordinated development of the teacher education system throughout the country.
• Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE): It was reconstituted in the year 1962. The main objectives were to serve the educational institutions more effectively, to be responsive to the educational needs of those students whose parents were employed in the Central Government and had frequently transferable jobs.

Motivation is the encouragement that drives a person to work for a specific cause. It allows a person to put efforts in a focused manner to achieve a goal.

• For example, Athletes are motivated to win the competition to earn the gold medal and the glory that comes with it. Corporate companies are motivated to develop new products to earn more profits.
• Motivation is also linked with learning. A motivated person enables himself/herself to learn new skills to overcome the challenges faced to achieve the goal. 

Key Points

• Motivation controls and directs/channelizes the focus of a person towards the work. E.g. an athlete is always conscious about the diet and calorie intake and eats strictly according to the diet plan. It helps an athlete learn about the significance of nutrition. 
• Motivation is objective and can be defined. An objective idea is one that does not change with persons. Motivation to win a gold medal speaks for the objective and is indifferent to the person who sets the target. A definite objective also defines the learning requirements as it clearly enlightens the skills required to complete the objective. 
• Motivation is concerned with reinforcement and rewards as the objective of the motivation always encourages a person to work for the reward. Reinforcement occurs through motivation as on the path of achieving something, a person undergoes skill development which bolsters a person and boosts the morale to achieve the desired results.

Thus, it is concluded that all the above options are correct in the context of motivation and learning.

Mistakes and Errors:

• When a learner can’t master a topic, he/she is vulnerable to make errors. Errors are nothing but incorrectness made by a child during learning. 
• It also takes place due to the mismatch in previously assimilated and newly accommodated knowledge. 

Key Points

Children’s Errors and Mistakes:

• are a window into how they think and learn. 
• are a significant step in the teaching-learning process. 
• are necessary in the learning process to give insight into children's thinking.
• help the teacher to be aware of learners' learning styles, to cater to them according to their needs.
• are considered as a part of the teaching-learning process as it helps to understand the child.

Hence, we conclude that errors of learners often indicate how they learn.

Additional Information 

Teacher’s Approach on Learner’s Error:

• The teacher should assess the types of errors made by the learners.
• Teachers should emphasize more on correcting errors affecting a large percentage of their students.
• The teacher should look upon the errors as a feedback.
• Remedial teaching should be done to overcome the errors made by learners.

Development refers to an increase in structure for better and enhanced functioning of organs. It is a product of the interaction of hereditary and environment. The major domains of development such as physical, mental, social-emotional, and language are developed in an integrated and holistic process.

Key PointsAnal powers of a child-like imagination power, intelligence, ability to make decisions, etc. are related to the child's 'mental development' as mental development:

• refers to the development of the ability to understand, learn, reason, think, perceive, and solve a problem.
• refers to the development of the ability to explore and process information to learn and understand the things around him.
• includes the acquisition of those abilities which help the individual to make sense i.e. perceiving, organizing, storing, retrieving, utilizing, and transacting. ​ 

Important Points

Other domains of development:

Hence, it could be concluded that the analytical powers of a child-like imagination power, intelligence, ability to make decisions, etc. are related to the child's 'mental development.

The generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) was earlier known by the name anxiety neurosis or anxiety states. The disorder is more commonly seen in primary care settings or in internal medicine clinics rather than in psychiatric practice.

• GAD is characterized by unrealistic and/ or excessive anxiety which is generalized and persistent, present all the time and is not restricted to certain situations or exposure to certain objects. The disorder has a prevalence of 2-5 per cent and is twice more common in females as compared with males. Onset is usually in the 20s, although persons of any age can be affected.
• Only one-third of patients who have GAD seek psychiatric help. Many go to the general practitioners, internists and cardiologists.
• Symptoms in GAD may sometimes occur in the background of chronic environmental stress. Many times, the illness runs a chronic and fluctuating course, but the response to treatment is good. Mild depressive symptoms are often an associated feature.

Hence, it is clear that GAD stands for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.