MHRD introduces CBSE guidelines for compulsory art-education & art-integrated learning in classes 1 to 10

The Minister of Human Resource and Development, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' in his latest tweet shared the latest guidelines made compulsory by CBSE in all of its affiliated schools. 

The Central Board of Secondary Education released guidelines for the implementation of Art-integrated projects for class 1 to 10 students. These projects would be mandatory for class 9 and 10 students and optional for class 1-8 students. The projects have to be group projects and should integrate any form of Indian art - visual or performing. The Minister of Human Resource and Development, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' shared the CBSE guidelines through his official Twitter handle on May 15, 2020. The outbreak of the pandemic novel coronavirus severely affected the education system. The nationwide lockdown imposed in order to contain the virus led to the closure of academic institutions and deferred academic activities such as exams, classes, results, etc. However, the government, as well as prominent academic bodies of India, left no stone unturned to explore other methods of teaching and learning to prevent the academic loss of students. 

 While introducing the CBSE guidelines, Mr Pokhriyal tweeted, "CBSE will implement Competency-based Education (CBE) for the development of practical and life-useful skills in students through school education." According to the official notice, NCERT in its alternative calendars introduced competency-based education in its alternative calendar with three main objectives - "To follow a more practical and professional approach where first of all predefined, real-life based, application-oriented competencies are
defined. To ensure attainment of competencies through precise measurable learning outcomes in behavioral terms. To go beyond the mere accumulation of knowledge from textbooks and tests to enable students to practice acquired competencies in their daily life."

The Minister further tweeted, "From the current session, art-based project work for students of classes 1-10 is being included in all CBSE schools." As per the guidelines released by CBSE, all schools have to introduce arts-integrated learning and ensure that students learn about the vast and diverse cultural heritage of our country. For class 1 to 8, students should be encouraged to take at least one Art-Integrated Project (trans-disciplinary project) in a given academic year, says CBSE. The project work can include more than one subject and can also be considered for Internal Assessment in the subjects concerned. For classes 9 and 10, the art integrated project has to be taken in all the subjects and will be marked for internal assessment. Art-Integrated Learning aims to use art as a tool to teach other subjects. Subject teachers can use simple art forms to teach various topics. CBSE has also released a list of art activities which can be integrated with different subjects. "The teachers and learners should not limit themselves in the rigid boundaries," says CBSE.

Talking about the promotion of national integration among students, Mr Pokhriyal said, "At least one project work to promote national integration will be based on 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Program'," The notice announcing the launch of the calendar reads, "The wide-ranging impact of COVID-19 pandemic is changing many things, including the way we do school education. We have been forced to rethink on the present system of an almost complete reliance of school education on prescribed textbooks, to instead make all-out efforts to replace it with a combination of an engaging and joyful blend of activity-based learning, do-it-yourself and learn projects, building self-reliance capabilities in our learners, etc. along with textbooks and use of technology. In this context, NCERT has shown the way by coming out with four-weeks activity-based Alternate Academic Calendars for learners of grades 1 to 10."

Talking about the formulated calendar for the academic year 2020-21, NCERT stated, “the week-wise plan consists of interesting activities and challenges, with reference to chapter/theme from the textbook. Most importantly, it maps the themes with the learning outcomes. The purpose of mapping of themes with learning outcomes is to facilitate teachers/parents to assess the progress in students’ learning. However, it is reiterated that the focus should be on learning, rather than testing for scores.” The board also created a portal for schools to report on Art-Education and Art Integrated Learning (AIL). Required data regarding (i) implementation of Art- Education up to class X, (ii) Art-Integrated Project up to class X, and (iii) implementation of Art- Integrated Learning up to class XII, to download board exam admit cards for class 10 and class 12 students.