CBSE to include arts, music, dance, theatre in curriculum
Hyderabad: Students from Class I to XII in the schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) are all set to learn arts, music, dance and theatre from the next academic year. They will be included in the curriculum.
According to a decision taken by the CBSE, learning of arts, music, dance and theatre are made mandatory from the next academic year. In addition to this, the students of upper primary sections from Class VI to VIII will also have an opportunity to learn culinary art.
Giving reasons for the new initiative, the CBSE said the initiative is meant to inculcate an appreciation of the vast diversity of the Indian art forms.
Accordingly, the new initiative will be launched as an integrated Art with the teaching and learning process of all academic subjects from Classes I to XII.
The Board said the NCERT Position Paper by the National Focus Group on Arts, Music, Dance and Theatre pointed out that the in the current situation, "our approach to organising the curriculum is to present knowledge as package is usually in the form of textbooks, along with associated rituals of examinations to assess, where knowledge acquisition and marks becomes a way of judging competency in the subject area.
However, the watertight compartmentalisation of the subjects was providing fragmented knowledge rather than interrelated and integrated one, it said. For example, the notes in Hindustani Classical Music can be aligned with the teaching of fractions in mathematics.
However, without the knowledge of music notes, it will be impossible for the students to comprehend the link between the two, it said.
When Art is integrated with education, it helps the child apply art-based enquiry, investigation, exploration, critical thinking and creativity for a deeper understanding of the concepts/topics.
Also, Art Integrated learning also enhances experiential learning, besides, the integration not only makes the teaching and learning process joyful, , it said.