THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Ministry of Human Resource Development’s (MHRD) move to regulate the teaching of subjects and weight of school bags by instructing all states and Union Territories to frame guidelines in accordance with the Government of India instructions was well received across the country. However, the state government had already implemented similar regulations a year ago.
According to A Shahjahan, secretary, General Education Department, the guidelines issued by the MHRD are very similar to the ones that have already been implemented in all the state schools. “There is no problem of heavy bags in the schools following the state syllabus. We had divided the study materials for the entire academic year into three volumes. One volume per semester was followed so that the students won’t have to lug around huge weight on their backs,” he said.
He said even homeworks were limited. “In the smaller classes, homeworks are not given. The aim is to impart education in a stress-free and enjoyable manner. The Education Department has been successful in achieving the aim,” he said. However, in the case of CBSE and ICSE schools, the decision has to be taken by the respective boards and the monitoring too has to be done by them to see whether the guidelines are being followed, he added.
According to Ibrahim Khan, president, CBSE Management Association, the schools following CBSE syllabus had been issued strict instruction regarding adherence to the guidelines issued by the board. “The board had directed the schools to do away with multiple books in the lower classes. The schools had been instructed to design an integrated textbook, one which has all the subjects, in a single book,” he said. The schools are adhering to the rule, he added.
He said: “The schools were also instructed to keep the textbooks in the classroom itself and the students could take them home during the weekend. This was to help the students revise whatever they had learned during the week.”
In case of homeworks, he said: “The onus is on learning the lessons. The students have to learn their lessons under the guidance of their parents.”
However, Dr Johnny Cyriac, Gastroenterologist at Lisie Hospital here, who had petitioned the Kerala High Court to revise the curriculum to make it less burdensome for the students, said: “The guidelines issued by the MHRD doesn’t cover all the points raised by the petitioners. Though the MHRD and other departments issue guidelines, they never set up any monitoring authority to check if the schools are following the rules.” No proper study or discussion was done before the directive was issued, he added. “We will be continuing with our efforts and will submit our recommendations before the court very soon,” he said.