In a written to reply to the Lok Sabha, minister of state for human resource development D Purandeswari said the National Curriculum Framework – 2005 for school education has proposed inter-disciplinary approach for syllabi and textbooks integrating components of agriculture and food manufacturing across subjects at all the levels up to class X.
“The syllabi developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training in Environmental Studies from Classes III to V include themes such as ‘Growing Plants’, ‘Growing Food’, ‘Who produces the food we eat?,” the minister said.
According to the HRD ministry, at present the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) offers “agriculture” as one of the elective subjects for Classes XI and XII across the country.
“In classes VI to X, the syllabi for science include themes related to agriculture such as crop production, plant and animal breeding, selection for quality improvement, use of fertilisers and manures; protection from pests and diseases; organic farming and plant hormones. Further, syllabi of classes VI to X of Geography include the themes such as types of farming, major crops, and cropping pattern,” Purandeswari added.