National Council of Educational Research and Training director Prof Parvin Sinclair responds:
With reference to the interview, ‘Mapping progress’ (Sept 4) carried in The Hindu. I thank you for covering NCERT. However, the interview conveys several misunderstandings.
Regarding the faculty’s work, I did not say that MHRD does not recognise it and nowhere did the term ‘labour’ come up. I am also quoted as saying that NCERT prepares ‘perfect’ material. We always try to do the best possible in consultation and collaboration with all the experts across the country; however, I would be the first to say it is short of ‘perfect’.
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I was quoted as saying that I was ‘shocked’ to see the fear of math in children when I became Pro-Vice Chancellor in 2007. In fact I had told the reporter that math-phobia had worried me from the time that I was doing my Masters in Mathematics, to the extent that I started working then with young children to understand how mathematics needs to be taught. By 2007, I had already worked in the sector of math education for over two decades.