CHENNAI: At least 70% of classroom activities in classes 1 to 3 should involve active student participation, the Tamil Nadu School Education Department (SED) has directed the education officers, while issuing fresh guidelines for classroom observations under the new curriculum aligned with the Tamil Nadu State Education Policy 2025.
Teachers will be encouraged to adopt interactive teaching methods such as question-and-answer sessions, storytelling, role play, games, group activities, peer learning, hands-on exercises and smartboard-based lessons using QR code-enabled videos, instead of relying on rote learning.
The guidelines emphasise the primary purpose of classroom observation is to support teachers by identifying challenges they face in the teaching-learning process and providing academic guidance, rather than merely monitoring performance.
Education officers have been instructed to familiarise themselves with the new textbooks and teacher handbooks before visiting schools and to observe classrooms for a continuous period of 90 minutes.
During inspections, the officers have been asked to ensure teachers follow the day-wise lesson plans prescribed in the teacher handbook and effectively implement classroom activities, games, exercises and projects designed to promote competency-based learning.
The guidelines mention the teacher handbook serves as a comprehensive instructional guide containing day-wise lesson plans, teaching-learning materials, assessment guidelines, classroom management strategies and socio-emotional learning components.
Consequently, teachers should not be asked to prepare separate lesson plans. Instead, they need to only maintain the department-issued teacher logbook documenting the week’s teaching work.
The new curriculum for classes 1 to 3, developed under the State Education Policy, 2025, focuses on competency-based, child-centred learning through stories, songs, activities and play while moving away from rote learning. It also seeks to strengthen foundational literacy and numeracy and integrate arts, values, life skills and 21st-century skills into classroom instruction.