Uniform Board/Syllabus across India does not take into Account Local Context, Culture and Language: CBSE while Opposing ‘One Nation, One Education Board’ Plea

Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v. Union of India [WP(c) 6901/2022]

The Delhi High Court received a petition for the establishment of uniform school curricula and educational boards throughout the nation. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has objected to the case.

The local background, culture, and language are not taken into account by the uniform board/syllabus used throughout India. A national framework that allows for local resources, culture, and ethos to be highlighted is available. A curriculum that is more directly tied to a child’s life outside of school can help them relate to it better. Therefore, in addition to a primary shared element, diversity of curricula and other educational resources is preferred, the CBSE stated.

According to the CBSE, the States have also notified State agencies like SCERT and State Institutes of Education(SIE) for preparing the curriculum, even though the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) has been designated as the academic authority to frame a national curriculum in accordance with Section 7(6) of the Right to Education Act. This is due to the fact that a topic on the concurrent list is education.

Therefore, Stats/UTS are allowed to accept or modify NCERT textbooks, according to the CBSE. The Concurrent List of the Constitution includes education as a subject, and since the majority of schools are under the control of state governments, it is up to each state’s or union territory’s government to set the curriculum and administer exams for its schools. State Education Boards and the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERTS) either adopt or modify the model curricula and textbooks from NCERT or create their own curricula and textbooks based on NCF.

The ‘One Nation-One Education Board’ PIL was brought by BJP politician Ashwini Upadhyay, and the CBSE was responding to it. “The bitter truth is that school mafias do not want One Nation-One Education Board, coaching mafias do not want One Nation-One Syllabus, and book mafias do not want NCERT books in all schools, Because of this, a uniform education system up to the 12th grade has not yet been put into place”, the petitioner claimed.