THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government’s recommendation to revamp higher education, by revising the curriculum as per UGC norms, is likely to hit a roadblock since a consensus on implementing it from the coming academic year has eluded the Kerala University Syndicate. Sources said apprehensions over the syllabus revision’s likely fall-out on the students’ performance due to the sudden change in the learning methodology led to the Syndicate remaining a divided house on the issue.
A Syndicate member, who sought anonymity, said not only will the immediate implementation of curriculum revision prove counterproductive to the students, but it will also adversely impact the results.
“The universities have to take a final decision on this. They need to take a judicious decision after discussing the matter with the various stakeholders, including student representatives, instead of resorting to aggressive unilateralism,” the member said.
M Lenin Lal, a fellow Syndicate member, said the curriculum revision has been a long-standing demand of the Syndicate and hence it should be implemented. Nonetheless, he said the changeover should be done without posing difficulties to the students. “Curriculum revision has been a long-standing demand of the Syndicate. But the universities should ensure the revised syllabus shall not adversely affect the students.
Hence, the issue should be discussed threadbare before implementing it. Similarly, the revision should be implemented only for freshers at the UG and PG level.
Those currently pursuing UG and PG should be allowed to follow the existing syllabus. This will avoid a gap in the learning system,” Lenin said. However, Usha Titus, Higher Education Principal Secretary, told Express the varsities should implement it at the earliest since periodic revision of curriculum is imperative. “The curriculum revision will not affect the scores or results.
The revision will help the students in a positive way. Objections on this count are pointless. It is upto the universities to take a call on this. The government has made this unambiguously clear to the varsities,” she said. The Centre had notified the state universities to revise the curriculum as part of unifying the syllabi under the Choice-Based Credit System (CBCS). Earlier, the UGC wrote to the Vice-Chancellors urging them to adopt CBCS and revise the curriculum.