The school curriculum of a country, like its Constitution, reflects the ethos of that country as also its chief concerns. The values enshrined in our Constitution points towards the development of a pluralist open society and a state which is secular, democratic and socialist in nature. The school curriculum should reflect these aims and values in its structure, content, implied methodology - in fact, in its entire design.
The term "curriculum" is derived from the Latin world "currere", which means "run" and its signifies "a run way" or course which is run to reach a goal. In education, it is generally identified with a course of studies or list of subjects prescribed for a course. In fact a list of subjects forms only a part of the curriculum and not whole of it. A curriculum means the total situation (or all situations) selected and organized by the institutions and made available to the teacher to operate and translate the ultimate aim of education into reality.
The Secondary Education Commission, (1953) points out that a curriculum "does not mean only the academic subjects traditionally taught in the school but it includes the totality of experiences that a pupil receives through the manifold activities that go on in the school, in the class room, library, laboratory, workshop, playground and numerous informal contacts between teachers and pupils". Thus the term curriculum, in its broad sense, refers to all the planned learning activities or experiences provided by an educational programme to a group of learners or target audience.
As such it may include objectives, content, learning activities, materials, teaching aids and evaluation means and tools. In its narrow sense a curriculum may refer solely to the core contents or content outline of a particular programme or field. Curriculum Development in Population Education. Curriculum development is the most important component of an educational innovation, namely, Population Education.
The introduction of population issues in the school curriculum, the explanation of the inter-relationships between a wide range of social phenomena both at micro and the macro levels, the explicit attention to the preparation of students for their future role as adult decision makers in their families, the community and the nation. This innovation can have an impact on curriculum design and instruction and make it possible to assert that population education can become both a stimulus to and a support for wide-spread educational reform.
It is through the curricular materials that the future citizens receive population education messages. It aims at the development of awareness and attitudes that will make learners to develop responsible behaviour in the context of population issues. Why Population Education in Schools? The onus of meeting the challenge of population growth rests on the young people who will constitute the adult population in the coming two to three decades. It is their reproductive behaviour when they become adults, which is going to affect considerably the population situation in future.
In order to achieve population stabilization, the future parents, who are most important segment of society, must be involved. Their changed attitude towards family size is vital. Population education through the school system could be a potent instrument for developing these attitudes and competencies among this group and help them to take a rational decision. Different people have different opinion about the introduction of population education at different grade levels.
Some of the arguments given for the introduction of population education at the elementary stage in India are as follows: (i) Elementary stage has the highest enrolment. Children drop-out as they go up higher in the educational ladder. Introducing population education at this stage will benefit larger number of children. (ii) Elementary school curriculum generally provides flexibility for introducing new concerns. Since there is no public examination at this stage, a greater number of opportunities for the use of experimental materials are available.
(iii) A number of research studies have indicated that it is easy to bring about change in attitudes at this formative stage. (iv) Primary school teachers still play an important role in the rural areas. Their exposure to population related issues will help both students and the community at large in changing their attitude and behaviour in a right direction. Those who argue for the introduction of population education at the secondary level give the following reasons: (i) Students at this stage are in the process of growing up.
These are the students who are already or will be taking decisions regarding marriage and reproductive behaviour very shortly. Education in matters related to adolescent reproductive health and other population related issues is of immediate relevance. (ii) Students at this stage can grasp and understand population issues in greater depth. (iii) The number of teachers to be trained in population education is comparatively smaller. It would be better if population education is introduced at all the stages of school education. Efforts should be made to reach even those who are not in the school.
Approaches to Curriculum Development in Population Education The following two approaches are being followed in most of the countries, for the development of curriculum in population education. One approach is Separate Subject approach and the other is Integrated Approach. Separate Subject Approach In the first approach, population education becomes a subject area along with other subjects taught at one or more grade levels. A separate subject affords the greatest possibility of systematic and sustained learning. Some countries have started thinking of introducing population education as a separate subject at the secondary level.
For example, Philippines and Thailand are offering it as a separate elective course at secondary level. Although this approach is much effective and the chances of dilution and diffusion are less but it has not been put into practice in most of the countrie as Population Education is multi-disciplinary in nature and draws its content from various subjects. Secondly, school time tables are already over crowded and teachers find it difficult to accommodate a new course. Thirdly, new teachers will be required if it is introduced as a separate course.
Most of the countries have, therefore, used an integrated approach to include population education concepts in different school subjects. Integrated Approach A survey of the sparse literature in the field and discussion with its proponents suggest that separate population education course or a series of courses to be included at elementary and secondary stages is not the most appropriate way to develop the necessary awareness. The curriculum is already crowded, the demand from the traditional disciplines generally reduced the possibility of adding a new population course.
Further children will learn better if they are confronted with population related issues both throughout their school curriculum and during their entire period of schooling". Population education is multi disciplinary in nature and related to various subject/areas. The National Seminar on Population Education held at Bombay in 1969 also recommended "Population Education should be introduced into the curriculum of schools and colleges by including it in so far as it may be possible, in the areas of study such as Social Studies, Sciences, Health Education, Mathematics, Languages etc.
In fact this serninar was of the view that it may be possible to achieve all the objectives in view by including population education suitably in the curricula of appropriate subjects already included in the curriculum. " Integration of population education in different school subjects can be possible in two ways: i) Unit Approach : In this approach new units relating to population education are developed and added to the existing units in the course/syllabus of the subject area. This type of approach is adopted in countries like Philippines, the Republic of Korea and Thailand.
The subjects usually chosen for the inclusion of population education units are Social Sciences, General Sciences, Biology, Mathematics, Home Economics, Health Education, Physical Education and Geography; ii) Infusion Approach : This approach implies inclusion of population education concepts and data into the normal process of instruction throughout the curriculum without having to develop separate course of new units. Inclusion of this type involves enriching and expanding the existing unit in the syllabi of the accommodating subject areas to include population education related ideas.
In this approach examples can be substituted into the already existing materials by population related examples. Through the substitution of examples, education content remains the same, only the substance of the example changes. This infusion was done either by incorporating in the textbooks or by publishing them in teacher guides. In other words, infusion with existing subject of population education concept means that no major curriculum reorganization is necessary. Time table need not be disturbed and existing teachers can teach with very little training. This approach has also some demerits.
In this approach, there is danger of fragmentation of the programme and the consequent failure of the pupil to attain the kind of understanding that the programme requires. It is much easier to see integration on paper than it is to achieve it in the reality of the school situation. It has been observed that population education concepts tend to be lost in the process of integration and the whole purpose of population education gets diffused. In India efforts have been made to develop and integrate a few separate lessons as well as to infuse some ideas in the syllabi and textbooks of various subject areas at different school stages.
