Threats from militant groups have subsided, but must students in Tripura now take mismanagement in their stride? A file picture

Agartala, Dec. 25: School education is in dire straits in Tripura owing to rampant mismanagement in the education sector. Though the earlier threats from insurgency have subsided over the past three years, the erratic functioning of the Tripura Board of Secondary Education (TBSE) has now spawned a crisis.

The TBSE, from the beginning, has mishandled the process of changing the syllabus for secondary education. This has worsened the confusion of students and teachers in schools.

Just a year ago, the TBSE authorities had revised the school-level curricula for all classes to bring them on a par with the syllabus, followed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

However, the CBSE syllabus was not adopted in toto; the new curriculum was dubbed a “CBSE-pattern” syllabus after minor modifications.

New textbooks were published and the last batch of students with old textbooks will appear for Madhyamik (secondary) and Uchcha Madhyamik (higher secondary) examinations in February and March next year.

At a time when school students are settling down to the new “CBSE pattern”, the TBSE has announced a fresh overhaul of the entire school syllabus.

The reason for this is the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) introduced by the Union human resource development ministry in March 2006.

“We have no option because the state education department has received categorical directives from the HRD ministry for introducing the new syllabus,” said TBSE secretary Pratyush Deb.

The NCF is the outcome of the Centre’s plans to introduce a uniform curriculum at the national level as well as to establish a single academic year.

However, the TBSE syllabus will have the tag that it is on the NCF “pattern”, just as the earlier one was patterned on the CBSE.

“Education is part of the Concurrent list of the Constitution and once the Centre issues a directive, it becomes an obligation for the states to act upon it,” explained Deb.

However, many headmasters, including those belonging to pro-CPM teachers’ associations, have expressed reservations over the decision to of switch to a new syllabus within such a short span of time.

The education department is also planning to constitute a full-fledged joint entrance board to conduct admissions to higher educational institutions following strident criticism in this regard, sources said.