Guwahati, June 2: Shakespeare’s Macbeth stays and so does Wordsworth’s To the Skylark. But alongside these gems of literature, English textbooks for higher secondary students in Assam will include a “compulsory lesson” on the environment from the 2005-06 academic session onwards.

To drive home the message that the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) means business, there will be questions worth 10 marks from the new chapter in the 100-mark English examination paper.

The draft of the chapter, running into 14 A-4 size papers and covering topics ranging from radioactivity to the greenhouse effect, has been forwarded to the AHSEC’s syllabus committee for its approval.

The move was prompted by a letter from the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to the AHSEC in December last year to introduce environment studies as a “compulsory subject” in accordance with a Supreme Court directive dated November 22,1991.

The court wanted the subject introduced in the 1992-93 academic session, but most states dragged their feet till the they were reminded of the directive and asked to implement it by the 2004-05 session. However, some states cited certain constraints for not implementing the order straightaway.

The AHSEC woke up to the possibility of the apex court initiating contempt proceedings after receiving the NCERT reminder. But given the state government’s financial condition, introducing a full-fledged subject was ruled out.

The AHSEC instead came up with the idea of adding a chapter to the English course, which is a core subject and, thereby, compulsory across all streams.

“This was the only way to honour the court order and, at the same time, not put a big burden on the exchequer,” council chairman Dilip Kumar Kakoti said.

“Since we were in the process of revising the plus-two syllabus anyway, we chose to add the new chapter to the English course as it is the core subject and common to students from the arts, science and commerce streams. The lesson has been written in a style that will be easily comprehensible.”

The chairman said the chapter would make students interested in the environment. “There are bits of environment-related information in subjects such as biology, chemistry, economics, geology, geography and anthropology, but the lesson that we intend to add to the English course is concise. We are sure it will help spread awareness about the need to protect our environment.”

There are about 1.5 lakh higher secondary students in 124 recognised junior colleges, 603 higher secondary schools and 205 full-fledged colleges across the state.

The apex court had observed that “every state government and every education board connected with education upto matriculation and intermediate colleges should immediately take steps to enforce compulsory education on environment in a graded way”.

Apart from drafting the new environment lesson, the AHSEC has recast its syllabi to prepare candidates for national-level examinations.

There will be one article on Assamese culture in all language subjects and more stress on the use of functional English. Commerce studies will be job-oriented and extra-curricular activities, such as participation in the National Cadet Corps, sports, quiz, music and debating will be made compulsory.