THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Clarifying his earlier remark about slashing 25% of the syllabi for Classes 1 to 10, General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Sunday said that he intended a simplification of content rather than an exact cut of one-fourth of the portions.
“For the next academic year, 3.80 crore textbooks have already been printed. But to simplify the students’ learning, we will exempt some repetitive portions,” Sivankutty said, while reiterating that important portions will not be excluded.
Responding to criticism from various quarters regarding a potential decline in quality due to the syllabus cut, the minister stated that any decision would be made after proper consultation with expert teachers and educationalists. The syllabus cut will be discussed in the curriculum committee, which the minister said will convene next week.
Meanwhile, members of the curriculum committee said that discussions to reduce the syllabus by 25% were not held in the previous meetings. “Though there had been discussions about the heaviness of the syllabus, cutting such a huge volume will be a drastic move, and is practically impossible,” a curriculum committee member said, suggesting that higher officials would have understood the same after the minister announced the syllabus cut.
“Our syllabus has been set with national parity, analogous to the NCERT pattern. Though an internal study by the education department revealed that students found it tough to learn, especially in Classes 9 and 10, it isn’t clear if this is because of the heavy syllabus or the lack of working days due to extra-curricular activities,” the member added.
Another top official working with the department said discussions about the ‘overburdening’ in the syllabus might have resurfaced due to the new exam pattern.
“When the proportion of application-level questions increased for model exams, students might have felt it difficult. An upgraded pattern change is inevitable, especially for a state like Kerala, which has achieved big laurels in the field of education,” he said.
The minister made the surprise announcement after three students requested him, in Kollam, to reduce the syllabus for Class 10. Responding to that, Sivankutty spoke of the syllabus reduction at a public function in Thiruvananthapuram.
Concern over quality
The move to cut syllabi had invited criticism from various quarters regarding potential decline in quality
Any decision would be made after proper consultation with expert teachers & educationalists, the minister said