Students will feel lighter soon, literally! Thanks to the Delhi government’s decision to reduce the syllabus by 25 per cent, students up to class VIII in government schools will have less course work, and therefore lighter bags! The reduced time, the government claims, will be dedicated to “sports, theatre, art, culture, music, etc”. In fact, according to education minister Manish Sisodia, “preparations” are on to reduce the burden for higher classes (IX to XII) too. The government is “coordinating with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)” in this regard. But are schools ready for this change? There seems to be only one view...
Added burden for students: Dolly Dhawan, teacher, GD Salwan Public School, Delhi, thinks it is an irrational move. “At present, the entire syllabus till class X has been divided into two terms. Students are assessed term-wise. The course of the previous term is not evaluated in the second term.” Which means, reducing the syllabus will put pressure on students when they go to higher classes – they will have to study the complete syllabus for their Boards. Says Rashmi Raj Biswal, principal, DAV, Pushpanjali Enclave, Delhi, “Before classes XI and XII, that is, till class VIII, students have been used to reading small chapters, and will find it difficult to handle the vast course later.”
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Quality will suffer: In the long run, it is the quality of the lessons that will suffer. A concept needs to be thoroughly explained to students, say teachers, not in a truncated form. “The syllabus for various classes has been put into place after thorough research by educationists and experts. So, the content shouldn’t be shaken in a hurry,” feels Dr Sangeeta Bhatia, principal, KIIT World School, Pitampura, Delhi. Besides, there is no guarantee that reducing the syllabus will lighten the burden, she adds.
Implement it judiciously: Nothing can be done overnight. “The government should go the CBSE way and undertake a pilot project in few schools before implementing it,” feels Dhawan. More importantly, it shouldn’t go the CCE (Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation) way, says Bhatia. “CCE was one of the best initiatives of the CBSE. But its implementation brought nothing but rancour,” she adds. On the other hand, Usha Ram, principal, Laxman Public School feels, “It is important to be clear on what the ‘25 per cent’ reduction of the syllabus will entail. The integration of one subject with another to make it more interesting is important. It should be done
systematically to serve the purpose of reducing the burden on students,” she says.
