National Curriculum

Framework (NCF) 2023

and its Impact on the
Indian Schooling System
 Table of Contents

Introduction
03

Decoding the NCF 2023 Draft

04

Comparing the NCF 2023 to NCF 2022

06

What are the new proposed changes?

07

What are the big shifts?

08

How Is LEAD’s curriculum NCF-Compliant?

09

Partner with LEAD

12

02
 Introduction

A robust and holistic education system is the backbone of a

prosperous and equitable society — one where every individual is
empowered with essential skills. A promising education, therefore,
rigorously prepares students, regardless of their Socio-Economic
background, for a bright future in a rapidly changing world.

Keeping up with the ever-evolving global landscape, the Education

Ministry of the Government of India has recently unveiled the
National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for School Education.
Involving an innovative approach aimed at improving school
education, the framework offers students increased flexibility and
choice in their curricular decision-making. One of the most
prominent features of the framework is its consistent emphasis on
the enrichment of Indian vernacular languages within the
educational system at large.

In 2020 the National Education Policy (NEP) recommended a

complete transformation of the Indian schooling system, aiming to
offer the highest quality of education to students all over the
country. To this end, the NCF works to serve the needs and fuel the
aspirations of all school-going students. Equitable and inclusive, it
represents a giant leap in the direction of positive impact on Indian
education and the nation as a whole.

At LEAD, we aspire to offer the same dynamic learning experience

to all our students and have revised our curriculum to be
NCF-compliant. Read on to find out more!

03
 Decoding the NCF 2023 Draft

The NCF 2023 is an all-encompassing framework that accounts for

all the aspirations, intentions, arrangements, and practices that
shape the school experience for students. In addition to the subject
matter of textbooks, teaching-learning materials, and their
pedagogy, it also includes less tangible aspects like school
environment and culture. The primary objective here is to empower
all Indian states by implementing holistic and integrated changes
across schools with consonance and harmony.

The NCF 2023 places special emphasis on school culture. This is

because it influences learning in two significant ways: first, by
enabling an effective learning environment and second, by
impacting the students’ values and dispositions. School culture can
be divided into two components. The first includes values, norms,
and beliefs, and the second aspect involves behaviours and
practices through which the value system is manifested and
experienced. Such manifestations are further classified into three
categories: relationships among the people in the school, symbols
that are displayed and celebrated, and arrangements and practices
of the school. Systematic effort must be taken to mould these
manifestations into a conducive learning environment.

In order to achieve the postulated Aims of Education, school

culture must exhibit certain characteristics. They are:

Relationships must be built on mutual trust, respect,

openness, communication, care, collaboration, and
responsibility.

Symbols must be thoughtfully highlighted and celebrated

to uphold the desired values and dispositions.

The school’s arrangements and practices must explicitly

encompass these values in classroom practices, assembly,
mealtime arrangements, distribution of work, sports,
parental engagement, and also engagement with family
and the community at large.

04
 While proposing such changes, the NCF places great importance on
equity. It is for all the children in the country, without the barriers of
caste, class, or creed, who will have access to premium education
with full support from the system. Although the curriculum aims to
cater to the individual needs of each student, it has been drafted
with a far larger, macro objective in mind: to ensure the flourishing
of Indian society in its entirety. With the NCF 2023, the future of
India surely looks equitable, just, humane, and rooted in the nation’s
ethos and culture.

The highlights of the Policy pertaining to school education are:

The 5+3+3+4 stage design that divides schooling into four

stages based on learning styles across age groups. The four
stages are: Foundational Stage for ages 3-8, Preparatory
Stage for ages 8-11, Middle Stage for ages 11-14, and
Secondary Stage for ages 14-18.
Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) for educational
intervention considering all relevant developmental aspects
of early childhood.
Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) to ensure that
all students are adept in basic reading, writing, and
numeracy skills.
A focus on conceptual understanding and critical thinking
skills as opposed to rote learning, including
decision-making, creativity, and ethical, human, and
constitutional values.
Multidisciplinary and integrated education with equal
emphasis on the Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Art,
and Sports.
Increased flexibility in the choice of subjects in secondary
education, including physical education, arts and crafts, and
vocational skills, to empower students’ decision-making
process.
Vocational education to overpower social hierarchy and
remove discrimination on the grounds of one’s profession.
A focus on multilingualism to recognise and uphold the
diverse linguistic heritage of India.
Champion Indian values and ethos to instill deep pride in all
students, in spirit, intellect, and action, enabling them to
become global citizens.

05
 Comparing the NCF 2023 to NCF 2022

NCF 2023 and NCF 2022

The NCF 2022 closely resembles its 2023 counterpart. It focuses on
multidisciplinary and holistic education for all, with equal emphasis
on the Sciences, Humanities, and Art. Furthermore, the NCF 2022
gives precedence to critical thinking and analytical skills over the
more traditional methods of rote learning. Third, the Policy calls for
a transition to a new curriculum and pedagogical structure, with the
aim to standardise the quality of education received by students
across the country. Needless to say, the NCF 2023 bears a
significant resemblance to the NCF 2022 in terms of character,
tonality, as well as language.

06
 What are the new proposed changes ?

Perhaps the most distinct feature of the NCF 2023 is its affinity for
upholding, protecting, and propagating Indian culture and ethos. In
this regard, multilingualism becomes one of the key areas of focus,
so much so that the framework mandates teaching students three
languages: R1, R2, and R3. According to this, students of grades 9
and 10 will be required to study all three languages, while the
students of grades 11 and 12 will have the option to choose two
languages, one of which must be native to India. Through
multilingualism, the NCF 2023 hopes to foster cultural awareness
among students while also enhancing their communication skills
and employability.

To give you a brief overview:

R1: This language is the medium of instruction and is

employed for initial literacy attainment for all students.
Ideally, it is supposed to be the language that is closest to
the students, like their mother tongue.
R2: This can be any other language, including English.
R3: This may be any language barring R1 and R2.

The NCF has a specific step-by-step process of imparting literacy

through multilingualism. It envisions students attaining independent
writing and reading proficiency in R1 by the age of 8, similar
proficiency in R2 by the age of 11, and in R3 by the age of 14.
Moreover, the curriculum is designed to ensure academic linguistic
proficiency in all three languages by the age of 15, with at least two
being native Indian languages.

07
 What are the big shifts?

So far, we have seen certain common threads running through every

aspect of the NCF 2023: multilingualism, an emphasis on becoming
a global citizen, and great respect towards Indian culture. But what
are the practical implications of these ideas, and what are the
real-time changes that will be implemented? Let’s take a look!

Board examinations will be conducted twice a year to give

students the opportunity to perform well. The exams will
now focus on reducing the difficulty of the material by
assessing foundational concepts across subjects in place of
rote learning.
Two languages will be made compulsory for grades 11 and 12
as opposed to one language at present.
To complеtе class 10, studеnts will be required to complеtе
two mandatory coursеs from еach of thе 8 available
curricular arеas. Art еducation, physical еducation, and
vocational еducation will havе local assеssmеnts along with
board cеrtification.
The system will follow a 5+3+3+4 curricular and pedagogical
structure that divides schooling into four stages based on
learning styles across age groups.
Grades 11 and 12 will be semester-based, with a choice of
subjects available to students.
Between grades 6 and 8, the social sciences will be taught
using a thematic approach. Furthermore, the content
distribution for the Social Science Curriculum (Classes 6-8)
will be distributed as 20% from the local level, 30% from the
regional level, 30% from the national level, and 20% from the
global level. This distribution will ensure that students have
a holistic understanding of social sciences from a local to
global perspective.
All learning, from the curriculum to the intangible aspects of
school education, will be deeply rooted in Indian ethos and
values.

08
 How is LEAD’s curriculum NCF-Compliant?

At LEAD, we are committed to the all-round development and

education of our students. Therefore we have aligned ourselves to
the improved NCF 2023 as closely as possible. The following are the
ways in which our curriculum is NCF-compliant, thus paving the way
for the holistic education of learners across the country:

01 Focus on deep conceptual understanding

Each subject is developed with 5C+ unique subject level
pedagogies to enable deep understanding and includes key
21st-century skills in line with all competencies and skills
suggested by NCF.

02 Holistic and Experiential Pedagogy

We focus on activity-based learning with the help of activity
kits and field visits. Our teacher-led group practices and
individual-led practices are designed to equally encourage
peer learning and build independent working habits.

03 Age-appropriate learning goals with 5+3+3+4 pedagogical

structure
From the foundational to the secondary stage of education,
we focus on key skills and competencies according to
students’ age group.

09
 04 Focus on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy skills
For building foundational literacy, we emphasise phonics,
whole words, reading and listening, comprehension,
grammar, writing and speech. In the case of numeracy skills,
we also aim to sharpen students’ logical thinking skills,
spatial understanding, patterns, mathematical
communication, and computational thinking, in addition to
mathematical operations.

05 Multimodal learning
Through a multimodal approach, we offer Smart Classrooms
for AV-aided learning, activity kits, and books enabled with
digital visualisation for an immersive learning experience.

06 Competency-based holistic learning

We believe in assessing conceptual understanding and
real-time skills, rather than promoting to rote learning. Our
periodic assessments are both formative and summative in
nature, with AI-based remedial analysis from assessment
data shared with teachers.

07 Development of teachers
We conduct online and in-person training sessions and
provide detailed, integrated lesson plans to teachers. This is
further complemented by 200+ hours of resource material
and 4000+ resources for building capabilities.

10
 08 Personalised student support
We have designed several distinct courses that offer specific
support to students as required. These include the bridge
course to address learning gaps, level-based ELGA to hone
English skills, at-home learning support with digitised books
and learning videos, Launchpad for grade 10 students for
academic excellence, and AI-based remedial courses that
guide teachers to offer personalised attention to each
student.

At LEAD, we pay attention to the most minute of details with a

large-scale objective in mind to ensure the physical, cognitive,
socio-emotional, linguistic literacy, aesthetic, and cultural
development of students. Our lessons comprise free play, guided
play, guided activities, story-telling, and conversations to enable
learning that is enriching and life-long.

11
 Partner with LEAD

If you’re a school owner with a hawk-eyed focus on excellence or a

school administrator in search of expert assistance to polish your
institution’s identity, growth, and quality, you’ve arrived at the right
place. Partnering with over 9000 schools across India, the LEAD
School System is designed to accommodate all setups and deliver
the greatest impact. Our multidimensional approach brings
students and parents in touch with the top hierarchies in the field,
boosting exposure and confidence. In our mission to impart quality
education to one and all, we embody an inherent sensitivity and
holistic approach. Come, partner with us to make your school
future-ready and take it to the next level of innovation.

Know more about the

LEAD School System.

Call us at +91 7669071060

for a FREE consultation
today!

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