THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the state government has said it had earlier implemented the Centre’s decision to regulate the weight of school bags based on classes, the regulation of change in the curriculum of Classes I to V will be a herculean task for the state Education Department as all the contents of the books have already been printed. Moreover, the immediate change in the subjects by limiting it to language and mathematics in Classes I and II will also create a gap for the children in learning science and social studies.
However, Education Department sources said it could only be implemented from the next academic year and a high-level discussion would be needed for the smooth implementation. In a bid to ensure more leisure time for children and to reduce the burden on them, the Ministry of Human Resources the other day issued fresh directives to states and Union territories. As per an official order, the Centre has banned assigning homework for students of Classes I and II and said no subject other than language and Mathematics is to be prescribed for these classes. For Classes III, IV and V, schools are directed to teach only language, environmental science and mathematics as prescribed by the NCERT. The Union Government has also issued guidelines in terms of the weight of the bags of kids in Classes I to X.
A Shahjahan, General Education Secretary, told Express that a high-level meeting will be held soon to discuss changing the curriculum of Classes I to V. “However, the present curriculum will be continued until a final decision is taken in the meeting,” he said.
Sources said the curriculum in all schools, except CBSE schools, will be revised from the next academic year. Though the government has decided to only revise the curriculum of Classes IX and X, the high-level meeting will decide to revise the curriculum of primary school as well. The curriculum committee has given approval to the revision of the curriculum for Class 9 and 10 in the meeting.
According to a senior officer of the Directorate of Public Instruction, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) has been entrusted with implementing the curriculum revision. SCERT was earlier entrusted with overviewing the textbooks and make an entrepreneur-friendly environment in the classrooms as part of curriculum revision.
The curriculum was revised last during the tenure of the previous UDF Government. Earlier, the panel rejected some of the recommended changes in the textbooks. It was also earlier decided the recommendation for changes in Class IX and X social science textbook should be examined afresh by the committee.
The state government has implemented the regulation of weight of the baggage in all schools in the state as the textbook distribution to the schools is taking place in a phased manner. Private school managements raised their apprehension in the smooth implementation of the guidelines. All Kerala Self-Financing Schools Federation came out against the new regulations by the Centre.