by a Thinker, Sailor, Blogger, Irreverent Guy from Madras

Before Common syllabus correct the existing textbook errors


The HRD minister has announced that the whole nation would, should have common syllabus for mathematics, science and commerce and not as per standards set by the respective state governments.

This is a very welcome move.  There is no reason that these subjects along with geography, civics and English & Hindi should differ depending upon from where you study from.  The only exceptions should be history and the regional language to be set by the states.  There is also a proposal to introduce CET for arts, science and a combined Engineering and Medical Entrance exams.

My state TN has taken the lead by abolishing/unifying different boards within the state from this academic year and so should welcome this proposal.  TN had (has) a State board, a Matriculation, an Anglo-Indian and an Oriental syllabus plus the CBSE & ICSE.  What a bloody mess.

While this is all very good, will the HRD minister Kapil Sibal put in some ways and means to check the text books itself and ensure that the standards (of text books and teachers) are being maintained?

For example,  I found CBSE Social Studies, Class V, Term 3, page 15 – Agencies of UN stating that UNICEF is “United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund” – which actually had been renamed as ‘United Nations Children’s Fund’ way, way back and is now simply called ‘UNICEF’.  [Good Luck Term Books, 1st print 2006 and reprinted 2009]
:-P

Another perplexing issue is the pass mark in English is 20 in Gujarat for Gujarati medium students.  No wonder Narendra Modi doesn't speak in English.
:-P

And plus-two pass worthies want to be Elementary Teachers in Punjab! One girl even committed self-immolation, when her candidature was rejected.

So it is high time that someone stepped in and ensure that we have common syllabus all over India in subjects like Science, Maths, English, Geography, Social Studies and a broad History of India (with a special section of 50 marks dealing with state history).  Only the state language syllabus should be set by the state education boards.



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