The NCF 2005 has recommended “Art as a subject at all stages covering all four
major spheres, i.e. music, dance, visual arts and theatre….We must bring the
arts squarely into the domain of the curricular, infusing them in all areas of
learning while giving them an identity of their own at relevant stages.” It also
states that “The importance of India’s heritage crafts, both in terms of their
economic and aesthetic values, should be recognized as being relevant to
school education.”
In all assessing the Arts Pedagogy situation in Karnataka and indeed in India, has been
complex given the problematic issue of there not being a clear history of developing an Arts pedagogical curriculum across the different age groups and education standard levels. When I have approached teachers in Government schools and discussed the topic of an Arts curricula most often I have been given a blank response to the effect that an Arts pedagogy is not seen as a key component in Education itself. So far as Art is concerned it is an extra curricula activity and not a main subject. Hence the necessity for there being criteria's or for that matter a set parameter to contextualise an Arts Education curriculum seems in the minds of most teachers seems far fetched and unnecessary.
It is of serious concern to Government schools in India, post National Curriculum Framework 2005, that Arts Education is concurrently given importance and valued as a core curricula activity.