Scripting a new course

Guwahati, Nov. 4: Dispur has asked the Board of Secondary Education, Assam, and the State Council of Education Research & Training to prepare a “model” school syllabi from Classes I to X.

The basic objective of preparing the model syllabi is to enable students from the state to be successful in all-India examinations and engage themselves in self-employment avenues soon after passing out from school, a state government official said.

“Under the proposed new syllabi, courses in English, personality development and business basics would be made compulsory for students from lower classes. The new syllabi will be made ready by the end of December 2010 and will come into effect from the 2011-12 academic session. The education department had issued an order in this regard on October 27,” the official said.

The Union human resource development ministry has already instructed the state to switch over to the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) model in preparing school and college syllabi.

“The HRD ministry’s instruction is part of its effort to bring uniformity in school and college education across the country but we cannot follow it fully because of certain factors,” the official said.

While the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council has prepared the Plus-Two syllabi on the lines of NCERT, SEBA and SCERT will combine the models of NCERT and the state board to prepare the syllabi for the school level. The school syllabi will include subjects like Assam’s history, culture and geography.

SEBA and SCERT will invite experts, educationists and research scholars to prepare the model syllabi.

The official said the school syllabi would be prepared keeping in mind the problem of unemployment so that students can engage themselves in self-employment soon after passing the matric exam.

He said the students would study English from Class I and business basics and personality development from Class IV.

SEBA secretary D. Mahanta said while the board would prepare the new syllabi for Classes IX and X, SCERT would do the same for Classes I to VII. The syllabi of general mathematics, general science and Sanskrit will be made on a par with the all-India level while subjects like modern Indian languages, social science, history, geography and English will have study materials relevant to the state, country and the world, he added.

An education department official said another objective of the model syllabi was to check the rising trend in the state’s leading schools to switch over from SEBA to the CBSE fold.

He said the SEBA would lose its relevance if it failed to come up with syllabi that could attract students and enable them to become successful in the competitive fields of education and job. “With the change of syllabus, the SEBA will have to change its examination system,” he added.