Schools as 'public spheres': An experiment on citizenship education

The National Curricular Framework 2005, among some of the major curricular documents worldwide, proposes one of the main goals of Social Studies Education to develop students' ability to think and act independently. The “Social and Political Life” textbooks by NCERT also motivate teachers to posit the school as a microcosm of society, demanding similar kinds of dialogic spaces. However, this aspect of keeping classroom discussion relevant to the socio-political context of the students gets left behind in the contemporary technocratic school environment.