We are living in an inquiring
and innovation-oriented society. The demand of twenty first century is novelty,
creativity, and integration of knowledge at global level, research, critical and
analytical thoughts. Rapidly social changes are creating uncertainty and
complexity in the society. To prepare the children and youth to cope with the
present situation needs to develop analytical and critical thinking, skill and
attitude that would make them more flexible and innovative to deal with
uncertainty and crises at national and global level. The utmost need of the hour
is to redesign curriculum, textbooks, teaching methodology and children’s
literature, formal and non-formal educational systems. It has been demonstrated
by researcher that active learning (questioning and investigate the nature of
topic) develop creativity and stimulate for learning.
Curriculum plays crucial role in national integration and harmony. Curriculum
role as observed in the National Education Policy (1979) should aim enable the
learners to learn knowledge, develop conceptual and intellectual skills,
attitudes, values and aptitudes conductive to the all round development of their
personality and proportionate with the societal, economic and environmental
realities at national and international level.
Whitehead (1962) says “culture is the activity of thought, and receptiveness to
beauty and humane feeling”. A child is a human being in embryo, a man to be and
we are responsible to the future for him. It is considered that a child learns
90 percent of his personality by his nurturing. It is, perhaps easier to educate
a child in beginning than re-educated him when he has already formed. Therefore,
books for children are not simply a source of entertainment rather inculcate
intelligence and values. In Russia, America and Japan children’s literature is
considered a great cultural and educational phenomenon, and creation of books
for children is responsibility of the states. The manifest and latent functions
of children’s literature is to transmit knowledge, myth, mores, values,
folkways, legendry personalities, superstitions and beliefs which are integral
part of a culture.
Textbooks are the most widely used as a teaching tool which represent our
national culture. Textbooks reveal our national values, culture, and ideology of
a nation. A good text book can be a “teacher in print”, and sometime even
superior to an average teacher. In fact they are influence towards national
integration by sharing common national culture. The selection, organization and
presentation of subject matter in textbooks show philosophy, integrity, values
and intellectual thoughts of a nation.
Questioning methodology is a powerful tool to built analytical and critical
skills in pupils. In the world of knowledge the emphasis has not to be merely
mastery to extant the knowledge but on the acquisitions of capacity to think and
analyze facts logically and conclude its own. Teachers must adopt such teaching
methodology by which students must learn how to discard old ideas and replace
them with modify ideas. As Toffler once said “learn how to learn”.
Schools of the future will be designed not only for “learning” but for
“thinking”. More and more insistently, today’s schools and colleges are being
asked to produce men and women who can think, who can make new scientific
discoveries, who can find more adequate solutions to impelling world problems,
who cannot be brainwashed, men and women who can adapt to change and maintain
sanity in this age of acceleration. This is a creative challenge to education.
(Torrance, 1967).