"Innovate the curriculum"

MUMBAI, September 28: Educationists called for a major overhaul of the curriculum and examination system in schools at a seminar held recen...

MUMBAI, September 28: Educationists called for a major overhaul of the curriculum and examination system in schools at a seminar held recently.

An innovative curriculum, continuos assessment in place of exams and student appraisal of teachers’ performance were the major demands voiced at a seminar on curriculum and exam reforms organised by the Forum for Fairness in Education, College Employees Association and Association of Students, Parents and Teachers.

“The new syllabus of Standard I and II does not fulfil our expectations. It has age-old poems like Jack and Jill and Little Miss Muffin, which do not cater to Indian culture. Four alphabets have to be taught in each lesson. Plus, the syllabus has nothing on animals and toys that would interest children,” said principal Shirin Choksey from Udyanchal Primary School.

Story continues below this ad

Some participants expressed disappointment over the Standard IV book Shivachhatrapati on history, civics and administration. The history section of the book, prepared by the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbook Production and Curriculum Research, Pune, following the national policy on education, 1986, is devoted to the life of Chhatarapati Shivaji Maharaj. Questions were raised about the desirability of devoting the whole history section to the life of just one outstanding personality.

Choksey said the book has many grammatical and spelling errors, and several chapters in it deal with a series of battles which hardly impart any values to a child. President of the Forum for Fairness in Education (western suburbs), Bhagvanji Raiyani said the forum has already sent a letter to minister for education Anil Deshmukh, requesting him to appoint an inquiry committee of child educationists and psychologists to study all textbooks up to Standard X and suggest alternatives.

Journalist Sudhir Jadhav said we need action like that taken by Swami Vivekananda College against two of its teachers, who had to part with their jobs for teaching at private tutorials. Professor Jitendra Shah from Veermata Jeejabai Technological Institute (VJTI) maintained that the number of failures at the recently declared results of first year engineering exams showed that the system had failed. “In some colleges, computer programming is taught without computers,” he pointed out.

Principal Madhuri Munim from Nanavati High School said most questions are memory questions, when they should be formed on the basis of application. There is hardly any orientation course for teachers and no inspection of schools. Senate member C R Sadashivan observed that nowhere in the world are exams treated as a necessity. As for the syllabus, it has shown little improvement as it is done by an ad hoc committee, he said.