CHENNAI: From the coming academic year, thousands of students in the State will learn the Tamil classic Tirukkural, as the Tamil Nadu government has made it mandatory in schools.
This will be included under moral education, marks of which will not be calculated in the final tally. Also, unlike the order making Tamil mandatory even in CBSE schools, this direction is applicable only to government, and those private schools following State board syllabus.
As per the government order dated March 21, students from classes VI to XII will learn 105 athigarams or chapters of Tirukkural that will be included in the curriculum. Students in these classes will have to study 15 chapters per year.
Last April, while hearing a plea on the rising crime rate in the State and to include Tirukkurral in schools to improve children’s moral values, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had directed the School Education Department to reframe the syllabus in such a way that students learnt all 1,330 couplets by the time they finish Class XII.
Accordingly, the Tamil Nadu State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT) constituted an expert committee, which recommended inclusion of 105 chapters in two sections - namely Arathupal (dealing with virtue) and Porutpal (dealing with wealth).
However, couplets from Inbathupal (dealing with nature of love) will not be part of the syllabus, as it is considered ‘inappropriate’ for school students. (The court, too, had relented when the government raised concerns over Inbathupal)
The committee’s recommendation was sent to the Directorate of School Education on February 16, and after discussions with various stakeholders, the directorate recommended to the State government to pass necessary orders so that students can learn Tirukkural as a separate chapter in ‘Moral Education’ subject.
The government accepted it and made Tirukurral mandatory for all schools that follow the State Board syllabus.
As of now 275 couplets are to be taught to students and from the next acedemic year, they will learn 775 couplets in addition to this. However, scores of students in moral education will be out of their final mark sheet.
The State government has also ordered the SCERT and Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation to create more moral stories, songs, cartoons and animations based on Tirukkural in both conventional and digital format so that it reaches the global Tamil community. The order on Tirukkural will be applicable only to government-run and private schools following the State Board syllabus.