Bhubaneswar, Sept. 7: The council of higher secondary education (CHSE) will introduce a new syllabus on the lines of CBSE from the next academic year so that students fare better in various competitive and national-level entrance examinations.

“The executive committee, consisting of experts and senior teachers, is focusing on changing the syllabus in a manner that will make things easier for students appearing for competitive examinations such as JEE, CAT, MAT, XAT and other competitive jobs such as for banks,” said council chairman Nihar Pattnaik.

The council is also going to introduce “basic knowledge in computer and its application” for students admitted in the 2011 batch to help them meet the need of the time. Last year, the council had introduced compulsory environmental education and yoga.

Similarly, for the vocational stream, subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, accountancy, business statistics, salesmanship, history, political science has been included in the syllabus.

“This will enable students to opt for technical studies and professions,” said Jayakrishna Mohapatra, council secretary. The council today celebrated its 24th Foundation Day and felicitated rank holders of the last annual higher secondary examination.

Speaking on the occasion, the secretary of higher education, C.S. Kumar said that automation of the council is under process. “Once automation is done, the best reading material can be made available on the website. This will be very helpful for the students. The council has to make sure this work is carried out and the higher education department will facilitate this process in a time-bound manner. The work has already begun and will hopefully be completed in two years,” said Kumar, adding that students should try to keep abreast with IT and communication.

“There are government schemes in which colleges are given grants for internet connections. Students should make the best use of these resources and in case such facilities are not available in their colleges, they should bring it to the notice of the college administration,” he said.

The secretary also urged colleges to create a proper academic environment and provide maximum facilities to students. “Colleges must enrich their libraries with good reference material and teachers should guide students and advise them to spend time in libraries,” Kumar said.

Higher education minister Badri Narayan Patra said the council should be more than just an examining body. Stressing on the need for examination reforms, he said that the CHSE should work towards curbing malpractice and irregularity during the conduct of examinations.

The CHSE had this year deployed a three-tier full time squad as well as special squad team in vulnerable examination centres. To maintain transparency in evaluation, coding of answer scripts was introduced for vocational examinees.