DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government has decided to drastically change the school curriculum for government schools. The new syllabus will include the state’s rich cultural heritage, besides the state’s political history. The government wants to introduce the changes from the next academic session.
The government believes that the students have little knowledge about the state’s ‘who’s who’ under the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus. The new syllabus will have as much as 30% of the state’s information.
A new syllabus for classes one to XII for government schools is being prepared under the recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP), which is expected in November this year.
State education minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat has said the syllabus will be finalized within the coming one-and-a-half months. Currently, the NCERT syllabus is applicable in the state. Information about the state is negligible as NCERT books are in the national perspective.
The Education Minister said a pool of teachers from Uttarakhand Board, CBSE and ICSE will help suggest a better educational environment to students.“Teachers will be available in each other’s board. Eminent scientist K Kasturirangan has been invited to visit the state,” said the Education Minister.
Secretary (education) R Meenakshi Sundaram told TNIE that the arrangement has given the state an opportunity to include local celebrities in the curriculum. “Senior officials of the education department and experts are jointly preparing and compiling this state-level curriculum. It will soon be sent to the Central government for approval,” he said.
The government will focus on developing intellectual capacity development, management and administrative capabilities of state teachers. At least 1,000 teachers of the state will get special training in the National Institute of Science, sources said.Meanwhile, more than five lakh students have dropped out of government schools in the last 15 years. The continuous decline in the number of students in government schools has added to the woes of the education department.
On the other hand, private schools have seen an increase of nearly two lakh students in the same period.
According to the education department data, in 2021, the number of government schools from class one to eight is 14183. The number of students is 4,41,457. The number of private schools is only 4,313, while the number of students in these schools was 5,38,499. The number of students in government schools has dropped by more than three times. Education Minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat says efforts were on for quality education in the state. Infrastructure facilities such as buildings, classrooms and furniture are being spruced up in government schools.
The Minister said the ratio of the number of teachers to students in the state is good. “After the implementation of the new education policy, government schools will see a qualitative improvement. We expect an increase in the number of students in government schools,” he said.
Comparative figures of government and government-aided secondary schools have also become a headache for department officials. Their number in the state is 2,718. The number of students studying in these is 5,51,977. In comparison, the number of students in 1,083 private schools is 6,53,996.
Educationist Sujata Paul says the challenge before the government getting bigger. “Previous governments focused on increasing the number of schools. However, the attitude towards the quality of education was lackadaisical. Interest in government schools is declining not among parents but also students who prefer quality in a competitive environment,” says Paul.Within 15 years, 5.83 lakh children from government schools have moved to private schools from classes one to eight.
1,000 teachers to get special training
The government will focus on developing intellectual capacity development, management and administrative capabilities of state teachers. At least 1,000 teachers of the state will get special training in the National Institute of Science, sources said. State education minister Dr Dhan Singh Rawat has said the syllabus will be finalized within the coming one-and-a-half months. The Education Minister said a pool of teachers from Uttarakhand Board, CBSE and ICSE will help suggest a better educational environment to students. The new syllabus will include the state’s rich cultural heritage, besides the state’s political history.